I follow a ton of diet/healthy eating pages on Facebook and a post that I see ALL the time is that weight loss is 90% diet so working out really isn’t important. This drives me NUTS. While losing weight does require a caloric deficit which mostly comes from what you put in your mouth, working out is a vital component to overall health and wellness. As we lose weight, our body starts to shrink. Working out along with your dieting will naturally tone your muscles and tighten your skin as you lose weight which is going to leave you much happier in the end. Maybe your goal isn’t weight loss. You might just be working to make healthier life choices in general. Exercise is a vital part of this too!
There are two important types of exercise: cardio and strength. Both are important and both can be achieved in many different ways! Let’s start by defining each type of exercise. Cardio is any activity that increases heart rate and respiration. In other words: any movement that gets your heart rate up and makes you breathe heavily. Strength training is the ability to exert force in order to overcome resistance. Or essentially any activity that will strengthen your body.
Let’s look at the benefits of each type of exercise:
Cardio:
- Reduces anxiety and improves mental health
- Lowers blood pressure
- Increases blood flow
- Lowers cholesterol
- Regulates blood sugar
- Aids sleep
- Strengthens the immune system
- Improves brain power
- Reduces risk of falls
- Reduces the risk of heart disease by 60%!!!
- Helps reduce the risk of dementia by 30%!!!
Strength:
- Improves bone health and fights against osteoporosis
- Improves cardiovascular health
- Increases energy levels
- Better flexibility and mobility which will keep you moving longer as you age
- Enhances brain health
- Improves your ability to burn calories for efficiently
- Increases metabolism
- Improves joint health
- Reduces your risk of getting cancer
- Reduces stress
- Increased lifespan!
Do you really need to do both? In my opinion, yes. Both forms of exercise are incredibly important to overall health. If you wear a fitness tracker of any kind, you might have noticed that you burn significantly more calories during your cardio workout than you do strength which makes it appear that cardio is much more effective. This is not true! When you do a strength workout you burn calories during your workout AND after it’s over. When our muscles are growing, you get tiny microscopic tears in them. As the body works to repair these tears, you are getting stronger AND burning calories at the same time! So, when you combine cardio and strength you get the immediate burn of a cardio workout PLUS the continued burning of calories after while your body recovers.
I hate jogging and doing push ups, now what? There are SO many fitness options out there. If you’re someone that loves community and needs accountability, there’s nothing like a group fitness class. I’m a Jazzercise instructor and absolutely LOVE it!! The beauty of Jazzercise is that they combine strength and cardio using a specific formula to help get you the best workout for your time. You can go here for more information! Jazzercise has over 8,300 studios in 32 different countries so chances are there’s a studio near you! If group fitness isn’t your thing there is also Jazzercise on demand (just click the “on demand” tab once on the website). This allows you to workout in the comfort of your own home! They also offer a hybrid option where you get both! Maybe Jazzercise isn’t your thing or you need something you can do for free. Here’s a list of free and easy exercises you can do at home:
- Walking
- Jogging/running (if you’re interested in running and don’t know where to start couch to 5K is fantastic! You might also check out local running groups. They often have groups that meet and run together).
- Walking your stairs
- Put on your favorite music and have a dance party! (if you’re like me, a little early 2000s does the trick)
- Deep clean your house
- Gardening
- Youtube! There are tons of free workouts there
