Looking for healthier living in your life? Then one thing you must be prepared to do is exercise. Combined with a healthy diet, this will improve your overall fitness and well-being, not to mention the strong chance of increasing your lifespan. Looking and feeling good can translate into various other aspects of your live, most of which are for the better, making it a no-brainer to try and at least improve your lifestyle into something healthier.
Exercise is one of the most effective ways to improve your health. Whether it’s losing weight, gaining muscle or reducing the chance of illness and disease (or all three) exercise can only improve your life. There is, however, a lot to choose from, and when beginners look at what is available to them, it’s easy to see why so many people put it off.
It’s all about find what’s best for you and your personal situation, but luckily you have plenty of options to find something you like. The following forms of exercise are the healthiest out there, so starting here is a great way to achieve healthy living.
Swimming
Perhaps the perfect workout, swimming is one of the best forms of exercise for beginner and expert alike. Water provides the ideal environment for working out because the water reduces any stresses that could potentially be placed on the joints through other forms of exercise.
It also provides both strength and cardio training, which increases the muscles and burns of calories. Lung functioning is improved too, not to mention your blood flow.
Try arranging to swim a few lengths in a pool every few days and see the improvements take place first hand.
Tai Chi
This form of ancient Chinese martial art is not only great for your body, but your mind too. It’s based around focusing the mind and body to perform certain movements, with the goal of transitioning seamlessly between the positions. It’s great for improving balance, which can deter fitness in later life because our balance declines as we age.
It’s also accessible to everyone, regardless of age, weight, and fitness levels, thanks in no part to the various levels that can be taught. Each offers a more challenging level of tai chi that can be practiced.
Strength Training
Most people think of strength training they think of muscle bound freaks lifting ridiculous weights in the gym. And while you can gain muscle through heavy lifting, light weight lifting helps to strengthen the muscles you have.
Losing strength over time makes you weaker, which in turn makes day to day life that bit harder, so maintaining a certain level of strength is important for healthy living. Having more muscles can also help burn calories too, as the more muscle mass you have cultivated, the more calories the body naturally burns.
Try to ease yourself into strength training. When lifting weights, start light and try to improve your form and lifting technique before increasing the types of strength exercise you do.
Walking
Walking is almost universally accessible, with people of all weights; ages and fitness level capable of it. It burns calories and helps to improve your heart by keeping blood pressure low and reducing cholesterol. The chances of contracting diseased such as heart disease and diabetes can also be reduced through walking.
The more you walk, the better your fitness levels can progress. Start with shorter, less strenuous walks before upping the time and pace. You could even progress into jogging and running to gain even more cardiovascular exercise.
For those who walk or run long distances, most days can benefit immensely in the long term.
