Benefits of Stretching Exercises

Stretch Trainer Machine

Most of us are aware of the importance of performing stretching exercises before and after training/workout sessions to warm-up and cool-down to help prevent the risk of injury from intensive exercise.

But there’s so much more to stretching exercises and many people could benefit from adding some simple stretching exercises into their daily routine to help with a wide range of conditions such as improving overall body flexibility and range of motion, relieving muscle stiffness, strengthening the lower back, improving blood circulation and much more.

Let’s take a look in more detail at how regular stretching exercises performed correctly could have a positive impact on your overall health and fitness:

Exercise Health Benefits

Besides helping to keep our bodies trim, regular exercise can help to improve our overall health and general well-being, including reducing our risk of developing a range of diseases and lifting our moods.

Keeping active doesn’t have to be hard work.  If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like going to the gym, don’t despair, there are plenty of other ways to introduce exercise into your daily life that won’t hurt!  Try taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or getting off the bus a stop earlier than you need to and walk the rest of the way.  Little activities done regularly all add up!

Exercise can be fun!  Why not try working out or going for a walk or cycle ride with friends or family to make it more enjoyable.  There’s nothing like the exhilarating feel of the fresh air outdoors but for those days when the weather’s not so good, consider investing in an indoor exercise bike or other piece of home gym equipment so you can continue to reap the benefits of exercising in the comfort of your own home.

Low-impact exercises like walking, swimming or cycling all bring great health and fitness benefits but with less impact on your joints.  Even everyday activities like housework or gardening count towards your fitness goals.  Try to aim for at least 2x or 3x 20-30 minutes of activities weekly to maintain your exercise health benefits.

Let’s take a look in more detail at how regular exercise can benefit your health:

Calories Burned Exercising

The amount of calories you could burn exercising is dependent on a number of factors such as the type of exercise performed, the intensity at which the exercise is performed and the amount of time spent performing the exercise.

Because of the difference in physiology, men naturally tend to burn more calories than women and in addition your age and weight can affect the overall amount of calories you could burn exercising.

Actual calories burned exercising can vary from person to person and the tables below are a guide to approximate calories a person could burn exercising  based on a woman weighing around 152 lbs and a man weighing around 185 lbs.

Remember to try to combine healthy eating with a sensible exercise regime to control your weight and keep your body toned.  Other benefits of exercising include reducing your risk of developing a range of diseases like heart-disease or diabetes and also helps to improve your overall mental well-being, boosting your mood and reducing stress levels.

The tables below indicate how many calories you could burn based on the type of exercise and amount of time spent exercising.  The tables are grouped into different types of exercises:  gym machines, indoor sports, outdoor sports, and everyday activities like walking, housework and gardening.  You’ll be surprised at how many calories you could burn performing simple exercises or activities on a regular basis.

Benefits of Strength Training Explained

Dumbbells

Strength training can include exercises like weight lifting and working out with resistance bands to tone the body and strengthen muscles.

One of the biggest advantages of weight-lifting is that it continues to burn fat even after you’ve finished exercising, making it the most effective form of exercise in burning calories.

With weight-training the fat you lose is almost all pure fat whereas with other types of exercise you lose both fat and muscle (around 25% of the weight you lose comes from muscle with other types of exercise).

It’s interesting that the more lean muscle mass you have, the more calories your body will burn as the muscles contract more frequently.  Therefore the more you increase your body’s strength with muscle-training, the more lean muscle mass you will develop and the more your body will deal with calories more efficiently.

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Strength training is suitable for both men and women and offers a whole wealth of health benefits including helping to:

Low-Impact Exercise and its Health Benefits Explained

Definition of Low-Impact Exercise

Low-impact exercise is defined as any form of gentle activity/exercise that does not put your joints under stress, helping to avoid impact-type injuries like sprains or tears to joints/cartilages that are typically associated with higher-impact activities.


Examples of Low-Impact Exercises

Types of low-impact exercises or activities include walking, cycling, swimming, yoga, pilates, and playing bowls.  Even activities such as light housework or gardening are examples of low-impact activities which help to keep you fit and burn calories in a natural way.

As far as exercise machines for your home gym are concerned, exercise bikes, elliptical trainers and rowing machines all offer a very effective way of working out in a low impact way.  With these examples, the machine supports your body weight and there is no impact to your joints as there would be with a treadmill for instance.