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7 Types of Exercises to Help You Lose Weight
Village Green Nutrition Team on
The physical, mental, and emotional benefits of exercise are well-documented. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans aren't making their health a priority through regular exercise, with just 23.2% meeting CDC guidelines for strength and aerobic activities.
In this article, we're looking to put you on the right side of that figure and will try to do it by giving you seven types of exercises you can work into your daily routine.
There are a few directions you can go when building a personalized exercise plan. They are strength training, cardiovascular, or a balance of both. Ideally, you want balance
1. Strength Training
For strength training, decide on one of the following paths – building muscle mass or toning your muscles.
Muscle Mass
Building muscle mass means increasing the size of your muscles. This is typically done by lifting heavier weights with fewer repetitions. Society tends to think of men as the gender that needs to care about building muscle.
That's a stereotype, however. Women should refuse to let the "bulky" stigma scare them off from picking up a weight bar or kettlebell. Experts agree that weightlifting has many advantages for women, including a variety of physical, mental and emotional benefits. A few examples are:
- Feelings of empowerment
- Better immune system performance
- Improving bone density to ward off osteoporosis
- Finding it easier to lose or control weight
- Converting fat to muscle
- Improving flexibility
The point is this. Building muscle is for everyone. But it's also not the only way to receive the benefits of strength training.
Toning
Lifting lighter weights at higher reps will allow you to build more lean muscle rather than muscle size. It has many of the same benefits mentioned above as well, though with outcomes like promoting bone density, lower weights may not result in as large of an increase in muscle mass.
Lifting to tone is certainly a good way to stay in shape. It may also be less intimidating for people who have never lifted weights before, and it could make it easier to make strength training a habit.
2. HIIT
HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, packs a lot of exercise into a relatively small amount of time. Don't be fooled into thinking you're working out less, though.
A typical HIIT workout might consist of sprinting for one minute, walking for 30 seconds, and sprinting for another minute. That's overly simple, but it effectively illustrates what you're trying to do.
You're maxing out the body's capabilities for short periods of time, then allowing some recovery before doing it again. One of the more popular forms of HIIT that you'll hear about today is CrossFit.
CrossFit goes well beyond the primitive example above. It incorporates weightlifting and other forms of resistance training into a round of exercises embraced by millions of people across 13,000 gyms and 120 countries.
3. Cardio
Another "must" to have in your individualized health plan is cardio. There are all kinds of ways that you can build cardiovascular health, from playing team sports like basketball to riding a stationary bike. In this section, we'll talk about four of the most popular (and most easily accessible).
Walking
Walking is a good exercise to start with if you've never been particularly active or you're coming off a long layoff. What's good about walking is that you can fit an effective walk in during 15-minute breaks, at lunch, or after work without working up too much of a sweat.
You don't need a gym membership for walking, nor do you even need to go outside. Sometimes the island in your kitchen or going room to room at a sustained pace can get the job done. It can also serve as a gateway to other forms of exercise.
Running
Running is an upgraded form of cardio when compared to walking. It results in a much higher expenditure of calories.
You may be able to find a running group to get involved with in your community. This can help you move past that initial discomfort and continually upgrade your performance.
As you run more, you'll burn a higher number of calories. That makes it easier to lose weight and to handle additional forms of exercise. It's also an easy way to assess the improvements you're making over time as you look at how quickly your running times improve.
Cycling
Cycling is an excellent exercise for leg and core muscles. It allows you to get in a great workout while enjoying your natural surroundings. There can also be a social component to it for those who enjoy camaraderie and encouragement from other cyclists.
Some may prefer a stationary bike. You can get a decent one nowadays for $200 or $300. This option allows you to get some of the cardiovascular benefits of cycling while parked in front of your television or a good book.
Water Workouts
Swimming and other water workouts are terrific cardio exercises. Swimming laps allows you to use every muscle in your body to go long distances from one end of the pool to the other. Furthermore, your ability to do it relies on your being able to control your breathing.
Breath control is an important aspect of most exercises, but it's especially important with swimming. That's because your ability to do it relies on your ability to keep the water out of your lungs.
Mastery over your breathing is a skill that you can hone as a swimmer. That skill can then be taken to other forms of exercise.
4. Stretching
When studying the different types of exercise and specific health benefits, you might not expect stretching to get its own section. Even so, it deserves recognition.
Stretching is an exercise that can help support other exercises. It does this by loosening and elongating the muscles so they're better prepared for strength and cardio training intervals.
It can also improve your energy levels and focus. Anyone who's ever found themselves with a stiff neck after sitting at a computer too long during the workday can attest to that.
5. Yoga
Yoga combines tenets of stretching, mindfulness and strength training using the body's natural angles and movements. Practicing yoga has many health benefits, such as increased flexibility, increased muscle strength and tone, improved energy, and much more.
Yoga can help you find the connectedness between your body and mind. The International Yoga Federation estimates 300 million people regularly practice yoga, and those numbers are growing.
6. Mindfulness
Mindfulness is similar to yoga in the sense that it involves following your breathing, emptying your mind of distracting thoughts, and forming that connection between mind and body. It differs, however, in that it does not incorporate any of the movements.
You can practice mindfulness simply by sitting comfortably in a chair, eyes closed, and following your breathing. Doesn't sound very physical, does it?
Well, maybe not. Research shows that it can improve the mental well-being, focus, and performance of individuals in high-demand professions such as law enforcement and active-duty military in as little as 12 minutes of practice each day.
A 12-minute meditation session, according to researcher and University of Miami psychology professor Amishi Jha, can help individuals improve their attention, as well. This can result in better work performance, improved relationships, and more energy for the things in life that matter.
7. Simple Movements
Standing up for 30 minutes per day, according to the research group Get America Standing, can result in 5.2 pounds of weight loss per year. Unfortunately, the average American spends 10 hours sitting.
That's a lot of sedentary time, and it could be killing you. That's because more sitting has been shown to increase the likelihood of developing obesity as well as diseases such as colorectal cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
Simple movements like standing up more, walking around your house or yard, and parking further away from retail stores and restaurants can help. Simple movements can create a higher "baseline" of activity levels that you can use as motivation for a workout later in the day.
Let's say you want to average 10,000 steps per day. Well, if your "baseline" of simple movements can get you about 3,000 steps, you only have to do 7,000 more steps each day to meet your goal. You can do that as a run, walk, or some combination of exercises.
How Much Exercise Is Enough?
The question of how much exercise is enough is not an easy one to answer. That's why you'll find dozens of different recommendations online citing everything from 30 minutes per day to a single minute.
Is more better? It seems like it would be, but what if you have a health condition that prevents it? In this section, we look at three rules for how to know what is enough.
Start Where You Are
Get a reading on how much or how little exercise you're currently doing. That could entail tracking your time each day or wearing some kind of activity tracker that calculates time and intensity (such as a FitBit).
Push Yourself
Once you know what you're doing, it's time to see what your capabilities are. Start with a simple exercise.
How much can you lift? How far can you run before stopping? Start by setting manageable, realistic goals for improvement, and then push yourself a little further over time.
Check Your Joy
Nothing is sustainable if you hate doing it. Don't like running? Hit the pool. Haven't learned to swim? Ride a bike or lift weights. Can't do free weights? Try the machines or resistance bands.
There are enough choices out there to find something you can do without having your soul crushed as you go through the motions.
Gravitate to the exercises that bring you some level of joy, even if that's just the feeling of fulfillment when you get through the workout. You can think about what to add next when you've formed the habit of exercise.
Embrace the Physical, Mental & Emotional Benefits of Exercise
The physical, mental, and emotional benefits of exercise are clear. Why would you not want to enjoy all the gifts that an active lifestyle will bring you?
That said, we know it can be challenging to get started. Try not to overwhelm yourself in the beginning. We hope you are inspired by some of these ideas. You can always increase the intensity later.
Looking for a more personalized plan? Contact Village Green Apothecary to see how we can help you with your nutrition, exercise recommendations, and any other questions you may have.
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