Here is the 4 most important types of exercise.

Exercise for Health, Maximise your wealth

What is an optimal health? A regular exercise routine? Strenuous activities? Or just wanted to sweat it all out? If so, you may ignoring some aspects of fitness and exercises. Running or jogging is only one type of exercise and it is not doing enough for your body. You should be doing all four types of exercise: aerobic, strength, stretching and balancing. Each type of exercise has different benefits. It is effective to your overall health by doing all four types of exercise, maximize your health. But what to do? How to do and how much do we need to do?

Aerobic/ Endurance exercise

Aerobic exercise is one of the most common exercise, is any type of a cardiovascular condition. It is simple and easy as running, hiking, cycling or swimming, they are all aerobic exercises — “cardio.”

What is exactly the meaning of aerobic exercise, it means “with oxygen” exercise. Meaning of oxygen is heavily involved in the cellular reactions that provide the body with the energy necessary to perform activity.

There are many types of aerobic exercises, here are some basic examples and benefits of each.

1. Walking : No matter slow or in a fast pace, it is a great aerobic exercise for everyone in any age. If you are not currently doing much exercises, walking is definitely a good start to build up your routine.
2. Running : It is a harder version of walking, it makes your heart work harder and it involves more oxygen. But what is the different between short distance and long distance run? They both require time to slowly build up and they both are good for your health. All you need is a running shoes and you good to go.
3. Cycling : Is a very good exercise and it can improve you fitness and building your strength, especially in your leg muscles — mostly in quadriceps and hamstrings.
4. Swimming : a great form of exercise and it is great for people in any age and abilities. It is a full body exercise, and it does not put any stress to you body, however, it is a good exercise for rehabilitations.

How often should I run?

In research, it is good to run a minimal of three to four time per week with an at least 30 minutes to start with. Of course, everyone is different, therefore there is no right or wrong in terms of “how far,” “how long” or even “how fast” should you run.

Theoretically, you can run everyday but running is monotonous, but a lot of beginners worried about getting bored and running without purposes. It will be great by adding some varieties to keep your running plan greater which I will explain in other post. For example: short distance vs long distance, run plus walking method, intervals running method and speed training, etc.

There are a lot of methods and varieties for running but remember don’t focus on a fast pace but running with your own pace and it is an effective way to build up your endurance and stamina and remember consistency is the key.

Strength Training Exercises

In other words, weight training or resistance training. It is an exercising by adding external forces to improve your muscular fitness or specific muscle group, including free-weights, weight machines, or your own body weight.

Strength training is a combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Studies show that strength training provide a lot of benefits to your body. It is very important to know strength training is not just about body builders lifting weight at the gym but regular training is beneficial to prevent loss in muscles (Sarcopenia) that comes with aging. Strength training is also good for those who is having health issues such as obesity, arthritis, or a heart condition.

Fun Facts: Ladies are scared of getting into the gym or doing strength training especially in the Asia-Pacific side. They scared of getting “big”. And I am here to tell you all that strength training is not just making you bigger but makes you healthier, stronger and fitter.

There is a variation of strength training and each type having its own benefit.

Type of strength training

There are 3 main types of strength training but I am going to share with you the 2 basics types of strength training.

Isometric vs Isotonic Exercise

Isometric exercises is referring static muscle contraction without movement — “holding,” “squeezing.” It builds strength but not effective.

Isotonic exercises is talking about contraction with muscles shortening against constant load.

Isometric Exercises

Here are some examples for isometric exercises that can do with you own body weights and do as long as you can hold it:

Planks

Make sure your back is completely straight when doing this exercise. Squeezing or holding your core to perform with a smooth breathing. But remember do not do it if you have any upper body injuries or when you are pregnant.

Wall Sit

This exercise is focusing on your quadriceps (front of your thighs), calves, glutes and your abdominals muscles. It is a good exercise to build strength over your lower body and also strengthen and support your lower body joints.

Make sure your back is flat against the wall and adjust and keep your thighs at 90 degrees to both your back and your lower legs.

Hip/Glute Bridge

This exercise is to activate your glutes and hamstrings. By squeezing and holding it, to strengthening and improve hip mobility and lower back.

This is very good for someone who is having a weak glutes and lower back problem, especially for any office worker.

Isotonic Exercises

Here are some examples for isotonic exercises that can do with you own body weights:

Squats with FitBall

It is one of the most isotonic exercise, involving your whole body basically which I will explain in depth in the next following post. It is complicated but challenging.

For beginners, squatting with a fit-ball or Swiss ball is more safe and easier to control. Make sure you're back straight, pressed against the wall, with you heel flat and knee pointing out, squat down and return to the starting position. Remember inhale and brace when squatting down, exhale it while upward movement.

Push up with kneeling position

Similar to squats, push up is using your whole body, pecs (chest), shoulders, arms, and abs. Push up with kneeling is working exactly the same as a normal push up. With knees on ground, it is lessen the load and easier to control.

Make sure your arms straight and back straight, engage your core and glutes, inhale and brace when going downward exhale when pushing upward.

Flexibility vs Mobility

Many people usually confuse about this two exercises, so what is the difference between flexibility and mobility?

In short, flexibility is talking about muscles to lengthen and mobility is about the ability of a joint movement through a range of motion.

Flexibility Exercise

Here is one great flexibility exercises for beginners, especially for office workers.

Knee to chest

It is a great stretching exercise to stretch your glutes and lower back muscles.

Lie down on your back with your knee bent and hug it to your chest. Hold it for 30 second each side. Great exercise if you sit on the desk too long during the day.

Mobility Exercise

Here is one great mobility exercise for beginners.

Cat-Cow

This is a yoga poses which is a combination with a cat pose and a cow pose. This exercise is focusing on spine movement and torso movement.

To begin, ensure your knees and arms, palms four point on ground and strong with spine straight. Inhale as you arch your back, lift your head towards the sky to perform a cow pose, and gently echale as you lift your torso above toward the ceiling to perform a cat pose and feel stretching in your back.

Balancing Stability

It is one certain area that we cannot ignore. Balancing exercise is good for core muscles and improve stability in your daily performance.

Stabilisation usually require using only one side of your body. The above exercises, they all required of balancing and stability but how to improve it?

Here is a simple exercise for you.

Step up/ Box step up with knee up

It can be perform in any step, chair, place neither your right or left foot on it and bring your left foot up with knee up bends to a 90 degree. Make sure back straight, chest up. Inhale with stepping up brace your core and focusing on balancing over one side of your body and return to your starting position.

Hope you all find some ideas for the workout routine, make it regular and exercise for your health. But most important thing is, we need to invest time to take care our body, can’t rush. More haste, less speed.

Andy