“Nothing can exhaust and destroy the person so much,
as a durable physical inactivity”
Aristotel
You want to look and to feel good? And you understand that physical exercises can help you. Numerous sport clubs offer a lot of different services. This article will help you to understand what will fit you personally.
For today fitness include the main elements of aerobics, calanetics, work with training apparatus, strength trainings, swimming (or popular aqua-aerobics).
Another fitness difference is that you can’t just do what you want. If you run 2km and then swim for 30 minutes every day, it doesn’t mean that you are engaged in fitness. Fitness is a system. To make up your own complex, you’d better ask an instructor for help. He will choose the proper elements from the majority of exercises, so that the trainings will strengthen your health, but not undermine it.
Running
Health-improving running is the easiest and the most technically accessible type of cyclic physical exercises.
Influence of running :
+ People who run regularly have a better health and higher capacity for work. Often a person enjoys the process of running itself.
+ It’s a wonderful way to get rid of negative emotions. Run improves sleep and health, it increases the capacity for work. Evening run is especially useful.
+ The level of cholesterol and triglycerides in blood is decreasing. This type of physical exercises is the most effective for loosing weight, due to the activation of fat exchange. After the end of run, muscles continue to consume more oxygen for the next few hours. It leads to the additional energy consumption.
- Jogging (run under 6 km/hour) is not recommended. While you are jogging there is a risk of feet injury, cardiovascular and respiratory systems are not strengthened. Use walking trainings if you can’t run. It is acceptable and even recommended to alternate running with walking.
Swimming. Aqua-aerobics.
If you are using swimming trainings, you’ll feel its benefit for loosing weight and for the whole health. This type of physical exercises develops endurance and beneficially influences the work of heart and lungs.
Influence on the person :
+ General vitality is improving. In the process of swimming your body struggles with water resistance, so absolutely all muscles are working.
+ Swimming doesn’t injure joints, it recreates their flexibility. You may not worry about injuring joints in the water, and move fluently and easily.
+ In water you may engage in aqua-aerobics. Physical exercises in water are recommended to people suffering from osteochondrosis and other spine diseases. During the aqua-aerobics there is a constant massage and the metabolism becomes more intensive.
+ Kidneys are more effectively provided with blood, it leads to toxin excretion. Moreover, water decreases the risk of haemostasia, that’s why physical exercises in the water are necessary for women with varicose veins.
+ Besides, you don’t have to work very hard in the water; there is no feeling of awful weariness. Everybody chooses his own level of work. If you regularly exercise in the water, you will feel better.
- The only disadvantage is – if the water contains chlorine, you skin may get too dry, so it is recommended to use special moistening cream.
Shaping
How does shaping differ from aerobics? At least once every woman has asked it. Some of us has already got the answer, others will get it after reading this article.
Shaping is a system of shape changing and health improvement. It includes a special program of physical exercises and corresponding diet. Shaping has a following influence:
+ allows to realize all the methods of plastic body transformation in complex: increasing or decreasing of muscular tissue volume; lowering the fat content in the organism.
+ Shaping system consequently engages all muscular groups, including those, that are not used in our everyday life. Changing the work of specific parts of the body and managing the metabolism in the recovery period (through proper rest and diet) different problems of body shaping can be solved.
+ Distinguishing feature of shaping is that the muscles that are not used in everyday life, work during the training. The choice of such muscles is expedient methodically, because unlike trained muscular groups, here huge energetic changes are possible.
+ Conation, used for the last repeats of physical exercises and mental effort to overcome the pain in working muscles lead to the increase of adrenalin and noradrenalin hormones. These hormones can stimulate glycolysis and tissue respiration, and also mobilization of fat acid.
After the end of muscles work, in the end of training you can notice the following influence:
- large energy losses, including the increase of liver glycogen and fat acid.
- exhaustion of energy recourses in the working muscles (glycogen and other carbohydrates, lipids and others), accumulation in muscles and blood big quantity of lactic acid, high concentration of hormones and products of metabolism in blood. This changes cause activation of metabolism during next few hours after the end of muscle work.
Pilates
Pilates is called non active sport.
Some people say that you can die from boredom on the pilates trainings, while waiting for a result, others believe it’s the only sport, which can really improve your health.
The second ones are closer to the truth. This type of gymnastics was created by Joseph H.Pilates almost hundred years ago. He had a weak health since he was a child. Active physical exercises were contraindicated for him. Having done a lot of research, Pilates draw a conclusion, that when the muscles of the central part of the body (prelum, thigh and others) are working, then the organism tonus is heightened.
He has created a special method of physical exercises, in which there are 6 principles:
1) Concentration. While doing the exercises, you shouldn’t think about your problems. You should concentrate your attention on every move.
2) Control. It is the basis of the method. You should always control the correctness of exercises. They should be done gradually, from easy ones to hard.
3) Work of the muscles in the central parts of the body.
4) Softness of movements.
5) Eupnea. Cells are provided with necessary quantity of oxygen, coordination of movements improves.
6) Discipline. In pilates the quality of movements, but not the quantity is important.
According to one classification, pilates is referred to «Body&Mind» fitness. Pilates reminds calanetics. The same softness, slowness. The same combination of elements from different types of gymnastics, both eastern and western.
+ And the influence is quite the same – flexible, strong body without big muscles. But the ways are different.
+ This type of gymnastics is very democratic. There are no age limits, or the necessary initial physical training. It is the ideal variant for people with weak health, especially if we recall its history. Besides, pilates helps in recovery after the injury.
- Pilates won’t give you quick results. You’ll have to work and work. These are really physical exercises for those who are not in a hurry.
- The biggest danger is all kinds of stretching. Especially often it happens with beginners, who try to exercise themselves. It is better to begin in the sport club. Instructor will control the quality of training and will give an advice.
Yoga
The word “yoga” is translated from Sanscrit as “connection”, “unity”, “concentration”, “effort”. It isn’t a secret that these studies appeared in India. For 5000 years of its existence, yoga became a philosophy and art. But the followers of these studies didn’t expect, that in the future these exercises that they used for the soul perfection, would be used for body perfection. Modern people treat yoga as gymnastics, buy it doesn’t become less useful.
Though nowadays there is a type of so-called fitness-yoga, the essence of physical exercises hasn’t changed for many centuries.
+ Yoga doesn’t accept any strength exercises, but it perfectly develops joint flexibility and mobility.
+ Physical exercises, directed to stretching, improve the bearing, assisting spine in its hard everyday work. As a result of yoga trainings, coordination improves.
You may think that slow exercises don’t affect muscles. But it’s not true. Yoga trainings stretch the muscles and make them stronger, besides, they correct internal
organs.
+ Yoga perfectly helps to overcome stress. Breathing exercises will help to relax and to stay calm in the most difficult situations. Yoga has much more advantages. But there are also some advices.
- First of all, you have to feel warm during the training. Then it will be easier to relax and your joints will be more flexible. Another useful advice – don’t hurry. Don’t try to do the difficult exercise from the first time. You can be injured. That’s why you should stop the exercise as soon as you feel pain.
- Nothing should “disturb” your organism from training. That’s why it is better not to eat anything for 3 hours before the training. Besides, if you want to loose weight, you should know, that you won’t feel hungry after the training for a long time. As any other type of gymnastics, yoga requires patience, calmness and caution. And you’ll be successful.
Stretching
Stretching is a complex of physical exercises, aimed at making your muscles elastic and your joints flexible and mobile.
Experts believe that stretching has a positive influence on human body:
+ because of the stretching, muscles get more blood, they relax and become more elastic;
+ joints become more flexible;
+ these are the best preventive measures from salt deposits;
+ concentrated, deep breath beneficially affects brain, especially after the working day;
+ possibility to train at home, individually, in the convenient time.
Few rules for stretching trainings:
It is better to stretch less, then too long;
Every stretching position should be fixed for 10-30 seconds, so that even light tension should disappear. If it doesn’t happen, then the stretching was too strong and should be weakened to get the necessary pleasant feeling;
You should breathe slowly, deeply and evenly. You mustn’t hold your breath. Every physical exercise should begin from breath. You should breath out only before the inclinations;
Try to keep stable position, while doing the exercises;
Concentrate your attention on that part of your body that is being stretched right now.
Calanetics
Calanetics. What’s that? At first it’s a modern word that appeared not long ago. It’s a complex of physical exercises, aimed at muscle stretching and contraction.
The author of this gymnastics – Callan Pikney – included in this complex all kinds of physical exercises, which make all your muscles work. Here there are dancing movements, yoga elements, breathing exercises and some static types of physical training.
Calanetics is considered to be gymnastics for lazy bones. It is calm and measured. There is no jumping or running. So the possibility of different injures reduces.
It is claimed that 10 hours of calanetics rejuvenate the organism on 10 years. The essence of exercises is to hold a necessary position for 1-1,5 minutes. It seems to be very easy, but at the beginning muscles can’t hold more then 10-15 seconds. It is believed that, 1 hour of calanetics equals to 7 hours of classical gymnastics or 24 hours of aerobics. But calanetics influences not the muscles, but flexibility and slenderness.
+ calanetics calms nervous system, regulates blood pressure and helps with osteochondrosis.
+ calanetics is considered to be useful for women in puerperal period.
The bearing improves, the stomach becomes firm, the state of spine normalizes.
But you should be careful on the calanetics trainings.
- The quantity of movements in exercise can be from 30 to 100. They should be done calmly and equally. You should stop training as soon as you feel pain in muscles. Or you may injure ligaments.
- Usually first results appear after 2 weeks. But it depends on your personality. This type of gymnastics, as any other, requires constant and careful work.
Bodyflex
What’s bodyflex? It’s a breathing gymnastics, created by the American Grir Childers. The influence of this complex of physical exercises:
+ Her exercises enrich blood with oxygen.
+ Besides, Bodyflex strengthen stomach muscles and massages the internal organs. It helps to solve the problems with bowels and constipation.
If you want to use bodyflex, you’ll have to learn to “breath with stomach” or, in other words, to make a deep diaphragm breath. All infants breathe with stomach, and the breast stays calm. As we grow, nervous tension is also growing and our internal organs are more and more strained. The breath stops in the middle of the breast and we use only 20 % of our lungs, because we use only the upper part. But people used deep diaphragm breath for centuries to improve their health. If we breathe correctly, we naturally clean the cells of our body, increase the capacity of lungs, improve the cardiovascular system, and strengthen the immunity.
The main formula of your success on the way to healthy body:
Proper diet + inner harmony + physical exercises.
It is important to remember that without even one component of this formula, the system won’t work.
Stay healthy and pretty!