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Adding Exercise

Exercise, fitness, cardio

Now that you know what to put into your mouth, let’s talk about exercise.
Exercise plays a key role in maintaining good health and fitness. It boosts your energy, improves your mood, promotes better sleep and improves your overall quality of life.
Being fit requires you to exercise. As long as your diet is good, weight loss will be the least of your concerns. You’ll be more focused on how you can improve at the sport/fitness activity you have taken up.
Depending on what your goals are, you’ll have to tailor your workouts. Here, I’ll talk about the different types of exercise and their effects on the body.
Physical exercise can be broadly classified into three types:
1.       Aerobic exercise
2.       Anaerobic exercise
3.       Flexibility

Aerobic

Aerobic exercises cause the body to use more oxygen and primarily make use of carbohydrates and a smaller amount of fat.
This includes all forms of exercise which can be done repetitively, for a long amount of time. Running, cycling, swimming and certain sports (such as tennis and rowing) are aerobic exercises. In general, these forms of exercise help improve cardiovascular endurance and skill in a particular sport/activity.
Aerobic exercise usually works the type 1 muscle fibres. They generally burn calories more efficiently (more calories per hour of exercise). Recovery from aerobic exercise is quick and as a result, can be performed every day.

Anaerobic

Anaerobic exercise requires energy very quickly and use the glycogen stored in muscles.
This includes exercises where one has to be very explosive for short amounts of time. Sports such as American Football, Weightlifting and 100m dash are examples of anaerobic exercises. They usually help improve the strength and size of muscles and athleticism.
Anaerobic exercises typically work the type 2a and type 2b muscle fibres. They run out of energy very quickly (about 30-45 seconds) and the muscle takes a couple of minutes to replenish its glycogen stores. This type of exercise causes micro-tears in the muscles, and as a result, the body rebuilds this muscle stronger and bigger, in response to the stimuli.
Type 2a and 2b muscle fibres have much greater size and strength potential as compared to type 1 fibres whereas type 1 fibres have a greater aerobic capacity.

Flexibility or Mobility

It is the ability of a muscle to elongate itself. A muscle must be able to move through its full ROM (range of motion) without pain.
Both exercise and inactivity often lead to tightening and shortening of muscles. This can affect posture as well as optimal use of the muscles. Muscle imbalances caused by inflexibility can lead to joint pain such as knee pain and shoulder pain. It can prevent injuries occurring due to incorrect form as a result of being too tight.
Foam rolling, static stretching and exercising with proper form help improve mobility and flexibility. Stretching for about 10 minutes every day can be enough to see good progress.


What you must remember is this a broad classification of exercise. Running doesn’t just work the aerobic system; it works the anaerobic system too, albeit to a lower extent.
Similarly, powerlifting isn’t just a purely anaerobic form of exercise. High repetition squats and deadlifts can work the aerobic system to a certain extent.
The mistake most of us make is to neglect one form of exercise for the other since we don't like it. Some people (like me) find steady state cardio boring. What I do instead is incorporate some HIIT (high-intensity interval training) into my weekly routine. This way I’m improving my overall fitness while still enjoying what I do.
In my next post, I’ll talk about how to find your goal and what you should be doing to achieve it.


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