PP's Site

Scientists now know that it’s usually more dangerous to not stay active, no matter how old you are. And you don’t need to buy special clothes or belong to a gym to become more physical.

Most people don’t get enough physical activity. Here are some reasons why they should:

* Lack of physical activity and not eating the right foods, taken together, are the second greatest inherent cause of death in the United States. (Smoking is the number one cause.)

* Physical exercise can help people feel right and enjoy life more.

* Regular exercise can halt or put off some diseases like cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. It can also perk up your mood can be a direct result along with helping depression.

* Being active can help people stay independent and able to keep doing things like getting around or dressing themselves as they get older.

There are four types of physical activies you need to do to have the right assortment of physical activities.

1. Get at least 30 minutes of activity that makes you breathe harder on most or all days of the week. That’s called “endurance activity,” because it builds your energy or “staying power.” You don’t have to be active for 30 minutes all at once. Ten minutes of endurance activity at a time is fine. Just make sure those 10-minute sessions add up to a total of 30 minutes most days.

How hard do you need to exercise? The right level of effort is described this way: If you can talk while exercising without any trouble at all, you’re not working hard enough. If you can’t talk at all, it’s way too hard.

2. Keep using your muscles. When muscles aren’t used, they waste away at any age. How important is it to have “enough” muscle? Very! Muscles step-up your metabolism, allowing you to burn off more calories during the day when your body is at rest. Using your muscles may also make your bones stronger, too.

3. Do things to help your balance. Every now and then walk heel-to-toe. When you walk this way, the toes of the foot in back should almost touch the heel of the foot in front.

4. Stretch. Stretching can help keep you flexible and will be able to move more freely. Stretch when your muscles have warmed up. Never stretch so far that it hurts.

So, make physical activity a part of your everyday life. Find things you enjoy. Go for brisk walks. Ride a bike. Dance. Work around the house and in the yard, take care of your garden, climb the stairs, or rake your leaves. Regular day to day chores around the hous can keep you moving and active.

Over the years, there have been people making up plenty of excuses to avoid exercising. Some of these excuses are creative, some are ridicules, but most are in a group of common excuses used everyday to justify not having to make the effort to improve their health and well being.

How many people do you know who were going to start exercising and start getting in shape and they were going to start this coming week, but that was two weeks ago and they still haven’t started yet? What excuse did they have this time? Maybe this has happened so many times, you stopped counting. Maybe this has even happened to you more times than you can remember. Well, what’s stopping you?

Here are some of the most common excuses used by people to not exercise, and the ways that you can get around those excuses if they have plagued you and are stopping you from partaking in a healthier lifestyle.

By far and away, the most common excuse used today is; “I don’t have the time to exercise”. The old perception that you have to exercise for 1 to 2 hours a day is just nonsense. A good, solid exercise routine doesn’t have to last for more than 20 to 30 minutes a day to be very effective. If you can’t find up to 30 minutes a day to exercise, then how do you manage to find up to 2 hours or more a day to watch TV?

Another popular excuse used often is; “I can’t afford to pay for a gym membership or for home equipment”. The fact is, you can get in better shape and lose weight without ever setting foot in a gym. Walking and or jogging around your neighborhood or in the local park don’t cost a dime and will give you all of the benefits of a cardio workout at the gym. Doing callisthenic exercises such as crunches and pushups and so on at home also cost nothing. Home fitness equipment can also be purchased that will give you a good resistance workout for under $50.00 such as resistance tubing bands and an exercise ball.

“I don’t know how to exercise or what exercises to do” is an excuse that gets used from time to time, but there are several ways to learn how to exercise right and what exercises to do. Using the services of a qualified, certified personal trainer is the best way to get you going in the fight direction. If affordability is an issue with a trainer, there are workout videos and books that you can buy to help you out, you can even find loads of exercise books at your local library that you can check out free of charge.

Another excuse that seems to be fairly common is; “I’m too old and/or out of shape to start exercising”. This excuse is really only valid if your doctor has told you that you should not exercise for some medical reason. If you are very out of shape or you are a senior citizen, then you may just have to start out slowly. Even starting out with only 5 minutes a day of exercise and slowly increasing as you go is much better than doing no exercise at all.

Last but not least and by far my favorite excuse is; “I hate anything to do with exercise”. This one always gives me a laugh. Most people who really think they hate exercise do so because they are stuck with the image that exercise is a series of boring, grunt and groan exercises involving heavy weights, or jogging far enough to complete the Boston marathon. The old adage of “no pain, no gain” is still embedded in the minds of many people, and who wants to have to go through pain every day to get in better shape? Exercise is really all about getting active and getting your body moving. Even playing in a softball league or hiking on a trail or bicycle riding is good exercise. Just find activities that you like to do and you will find that exercise can be fun.

Ok, no more excuses. The time is now. Making the time to spend even 30 minutes a day to get active, get in some exercise, and get yourself more healthy and fit will by far be the best thing you can do for yourself and your family. Think of how much more you can enjoy doing the things you like to do when you are in better condition and better yet, think about how much more you can enjoy your children as they grow up and how much more you can enjoy your grandchildren later in life.

Anybody can lose weight; it’s no big deal. You only have to be careful about the food you eat and to make more effort than you usually do. Dieting doesn’t have to mean food deprivation and money spent on gym subscriptions. You can keep your body in shape with simple exercises that do not require gym equipment or professional advice and supervision. If you’re also using a dietary supplement like ProShaperx, losing weight will be the simplest thing in the world.

A simple exercise that anybody can perform at home or the park is called Stair Sprinting. The name is pretty self explanatory. All you have to do is run up and down the stairs between several floors; the more floors, the better off you’ll be.

It’s a good idea to start small, even if you’re in a good physical condition. Run up and down four floors two times. First timers and overweight people are unlikely to manage more than two reps anyway. However, it’s no big deal if you can’t do more than two reps in the beginning. Resistance to effort is built in time. Do the two reps every other day for two weeks.

After two weeks increase the number of reps to either three or four, depending on how you feel. If you can take four reps up and down four flights of stairs, then by all means do so. If you can’t, then stick to three reps. As the weeks go by, you can add even more reps to your routine in order to increase your endurance and to really put the muscles to work.

This exercise is perfect for the legs and ass. Ladies and gents looking to build shapely asses and strong thighs ought to try stair sprinting. Having to carry your own weight up the stairs instead of flat terrain puts more stress on the muscles and helps the feet gain more endurance. However, be very careful when doing this exercise. Running up and down the stairs makes it very easy to trip or miss a step and splay an ankle. Even more serious injuries might happen if you’re not careful enough.

Everywhere you look you will find exercise information.  It can come in fitness magazines, the beauty salon, your co-workers, the Internet, and infomercials.

You will see snappy headlines such as, “Lose 10 Pounds in a Week with No Exercise at All!”, and “Melt Pounds without Dieting.”  These marketing ploys don’t end.  They will use any tactic to get you to buy their product.

Along with the vast amount of exercise information coming to us at every conceivable angle, there are many myths leaving the consumer thoroughly confused.  In this article I will be discussing several exercise myths, giving you the facts and dispelling the fiction.

Myth #1: Exercising with weights will bulk you up. Fact: - Excess calories from protein, carbohydrates, and fat will bulk you up, not resistance training. Fat is bulky and inactive while muscle an active, lean and dense tissue.  The more muscle you acquire, the more fat you will burn at rest and during activity.

Myth #2: Muscle weighs more than fat. Fact: - A pound of muscle and a pound of fat weigh the same, a pound. As previously stated, muscle is more dense, and takes up less space than fat. Adding muscle to your physique will create curves and make you appear smaller in the absence of excess fat.

Myth #3: If I stop weight training, my muscle will turn to fat. Fact: - Muscle cannot turn into fat any more than fat can turn into muscle. The two are not interchangeable. They are two completely different tissues. You can increase or decrease fat and muscle, but the two cannot change into the other, ever!

Myth #4: Crunches will make my abs visible. Fact: - Crunches will build the abdominal muscle, but your abs won't shine through until you remove the layer of fat covering them. When it comes to "ripped" abs, they are built with balanced nutrition, coupled with proper exercise.

Myth #5: Weighted crunches will make my midsection thick. Fact: - The abdominal muscle is a thin layer of muscle tissue, and not able to grow much in size like other body parts.  Therefore, adding resistance to your abdominal training will just increase your midsection strength.  It is the side bends and twists that can contribute to a thick waist.

Myth #6: Exercise burns fat. Fact: - Exercise burns calories, and eating correctly with added exercise can aid in fat burning. Weight loss is not a one-shot approach. There are many angles, and you have to tackle each of them in small to moderate amounts. Knowing the right food combinations can give you the advantage on fat burning.

Myth #7:  Exercising with light weights and a lot of reps will get me defined. Fact:  Training with light weights will build muscle endurance.  If your goal is to get defined, you should also incorporate a healthy diet balanced in macronutrients and add some cardiovascular exercise.

Myth #8:  I just want to tone up, not build muscle. Fact:  When you weight train you build muscle.  There is no “toning” about it.  As a woman, you have the ability to control the amount of muscle you add to your frame to a certain extent.  Hormonally, women will not build a large degree of muscle mass.  However, you can add more muscle size by increasing your protein intake and overall calories.  For a woman to add a lot of muscle, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication, and sometimes steroids.

Conclusion to Exercise Myths

Now that we have dispelled exercise fact from fiction, you are better equipped to get in the shape you desire.  Always strive for excellence and keep a positive attitude.

Quite often, when our children return from afternoon play, they look exhausted, and ready for a nap.  That is the most accurate description, and quite the truth.  Play is hard work.  It is exhausting to the mind and body of the young person, and plays an extremely important role in helping them to become productive, healthy citizens.
 
The role of exercise and play in a young child’s life provides them with many benefits.  Exercise of the body is an important part of keeping the young body fit as it grows into an adult body.  When we reach adulthood, if we have had the benefit of exercise and play, we tend to continue that habit into our adult years.


What else is to be gained from the opportunities that play affords?  We often participate in organized sports, coordinated play times, and are a member of a large group during all of these activities.  Play on this level teaches us how to interact with our peers, develop camaraderie and perform as a team with other players.  These skills are absolute necessities in today’s business world.  But what else is happening here, during this time of play and exercise?

What we learn in body language, coping skills, and the interaction of the mind and body during our interaction with others, is invaluable.  When we learn these skills well, we not only learn how to interact with others, we learn how to interact with our self.  Interact with our self?  That seems like a pointless exercise, but it is an all important part of maintaining our health and wellness.  There are times that our bodies try to tell us things about our physical or mental condition, and we simply refuse to listen.  If we have learned how to listen to others around us when they attempt to point out a need or desire, we have a useful tool in listening to ourselves.  This often can mean the difference between optimal health, and creating an unhealthy situation.
    
What else do we learn?  We learn what our physical and mental limitations are.  During play, you see children and young adolescents push themselves to the very limit.  But as children, we are better able to distinguish between a real limit versus what society deems our limits.  As a child, or young adult, the pressures of the world do not weigh on us as they do when we are adults.  We are better keepers of the temple at ten, than we are at twenty.  We are still very in tune to what our body tells us, because it is our true master as a child.  As an adult, we have let outside influences master our body and mind, and dominate our time.
    
As you can see, the benefits to be gained during our exercise and play time as children, is a benefit to us for the remainder of our lives.  Too often, we adults forget the importance of exercise and play and the principles that are to be learned from time spent in these activities.  We want to rush our children into their daily responsibilities, forgetting that their chief responsibility during the younger years is the play and interaction of young minds.