Aerobics: Helpful Advice and Stuff You Need to Know

A person’s health can be defined by many factors, such as physical, social, mental, emotional, and even spiritual conditions, all leading to the goal of wellness. The overall physical health of an individual can be termed as fitness, in which all body systems are functioning properly. Some of the elements of fitness that should be considered are cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, muscle strength, and balance.

Aerobics is an excellent way for a person to achieve physical fitness. Through the activities associated with aerobics, one is able to target all the elements of fitness. As a person performs aerobic exercise, he increases his heart rate and oxygen intake. Metabolism may be sped up, so sweating and fat burning becomes accelerated; thus, resulting to weight loss.

Aerobics can be the combination of the following activities, each involving the elements that will consider one to be physically fit. Dancing and continuous sports activity like running can improve circulation and the overall cardiovascular health. Sports that are termed as “stop and go” activities like football and tennis are not considered as aerobic workouts, although they can be done to accompany existing exercises.

A way to check the body’s ability to balance is by standing on one’s toes with the other foot raised off the ground. Both arms should be extended forward, and this position should be held for ten seconds. Many people, regardless of weight class, have difficulty in performing this test, so balance is not a result of body mass. The same goes with flexibility. Flexibility is defined as how expendable the muscles are, and how easily they can resume their normal size. Persons may be thin but not flexible, and vice versa. Ways of improving in these departments include gymnastic workout and stretching exercises.

Muscular strength is another element of fitness that aerobics aims to fulfill. Most aerobics programs suggest periods of cardiovascular activity, coupled with strength training, to gain maximal results. Strength training may require the use of weights, or simply the body’s mass for resistance. These activities are meant to give strength as well as tone the muscles and promote their growth.

When you combine aerobic exercises with weight training, your body’s metabolism increases further, so you burn more fats. It is suggested that progression and intensity should be gradual whenever you begin a fitness program. Aerobic exercises are best done at least three to four times per week. Weight training can be done in alternating days.

By progression, it is meant that if aerobic exercise is initially done at five minutes per day, this should be maintained for about a week. The following week, you can increase this to ten minutes per day, then fifteen, and so on. Likewise, the amount of time spent for weight training should be in progression. The first week, you can do ten to twenty repetitions using light weights first, and increase the repetitions after a week. The common mistake many persons do is that they immediately subject themselves to long exercise periods, which will take a toll on their bodies. This will not guarantee faster fat burning, but can lead to fatigue or even muscular strain. Progression is the key to gently getting yourself used to the activities.

Intensity is regarded as the level of difficulty of the activity performed. In aerobic exercise, intensity can be increased by heightening the pace from a walk, to a jog, to a run. Intensity in aerobic dancing can be achieved by using steppers, elastic bands, or weights. For weight training, intensity is increased by adding more weights to the usual workout, along with more repetitions. Again, intensity should be increased gradually, and should be done on a weekly basis until the body gets accustomed to it.

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