Exercising

To supplement a healthy diet you really need to exercise. There are so many benefits to exercising:

Exercise protects you against diseases in the future such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer.
Assists in weight loss by burning those extra calories
Makes you feel better. Research suggests that it enables you to enter into a calming state of mind which evolutions has put as a requirement for our bodies wellbeing.
Increases your lung capacity and heart strength. This speeds up your bodily systems and assists in nutrient absorption.
Improves your love life, giving you more energy for intimacy.
Promotes sleep, which is an essential part of the human cycle for wellbeing.

These are some of the major benefits of exercise, but there are plenty more.

Where to start

There are 3 main areas of exercising and fitness that need to be considered, each of which having different benefits for the human body.

Cardiovascular Exercising

Cardio exercise involves the use of oxygen and raising your heart rate substantially above normal. Examples include running, cycling, swimming, tennis, basketball, soccer and walking. If you are serious about weight loss the best cardio training for you is interval training.

Interval training is as simple as going hard for a set period of time and then easing off and relaxing for some set period of time. For example, sprinting for 20seconds and then jogging for 20 seconds and then repeating this over.

Doing interval training for 20 minutes has been shown to be more beneficial then jogging one pace for an hour. The power of interval training is enormous, and is really the great secret for efficient weight loss.

The time intervals for this sort of training can be changed to suit your needs. If you cannot sprint for 20 seconds then do it for 10 seconds and jog for 30 seconds.

Strength Training

Involves the use of resistance usually weights, to improve muscle strength. Girls do not think that by doing weight training you will turn too muscular. Weight training will actually tone your body and give it the shape you have been looking for. To become as large as a body builder you have to be lifting very heavy weights all the time!

When strength training make sure you work all range of movement such as biceps and triceps using different grips on the bar.

Weight training is actually extremely good for weight loss. When you build muscle your metabolism speeds up and your fat burning ability is enhanced. Weight training should be incorporated into your program.

Strength training can also include resistance using your own body weight. The classic example of this is push ups.

Isometric Exercises

Isometric exercises involves holding resistance for a certain time without contraction or expansion of muscles. This area of exercising is often overlooked. It is very important for joint strength. You should incorporate a few isometric exercises into your routing every week.