The quick answer: Aerobic exercise—it's an essential ingredient for good health.
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Aerobic Exercise
It was an ‘80s thing, aerobics. This new form of exercise was devised and popularized by Dr. Kenneth Cooper, author of a handful of books on the subject. He defined it as “A system of exercise . . . to cause marked temporary increase in breathing and heart rate.” It’s not all that intense—the point of aerobic exercise is to do something you can maintain for, say, 20 minutes.
You can walk, run, swim, row, jump-rope, or do calisthenics. (Scratch jump-rope, 20 minutes of that is amazingly hard.) Essentially you have to engage major muscles, usually the legs. Just do something enjoyable that sustains increased breathing and heartbeat and do it at least three hours a week. You can do six 30-minute workouts, or three 1-hour stints. But get those three hours of elevated respiration and heartbeat.
Safe Heart Rate (Revised)
What should your heart rate be during exercise? There are a variety of answers but it’s best to consult your doctor because everyone is different and we vary in our health. If you’re about to have a heart attack, for example, your doctor can guide you to a safe fitness regimen.
The Mayo Clinic offers a heart rate calculator for your aerobic exercise. The calculator is based on two considerations:
The prudent course for the novice, after determining whether to consult with your doctor, is to start cautiously and proceed with patience. Make your aerobic fitness goal a long distance process rather than a sprint.
The Big Idea
The big idea behind aerobics was to extend exertion long enough to burn off blood glucose and force the body to free up triglycerides for fuel. Triglycerides are the main form of fat storage in the body and a high serum triglyceride level is a risk factor for heart disease.
When we eat too much sugar or refined carbs, the excess calories are converted to triglycerides and stored as fat. Because our blood sugar will also be high, the body will respond with insulin. Unfortunately, chronically high insulin locks the fat into the cell. So the key is to minimize sugar and refined carbs, and exercise in stretches long enough to burn off the glucose, lower the insulin, and release triglycerides for fuel.
There’s another benefit: Aerobic exercise also improves the ratio of “good” HDL cholesterol to the “bad” LDL cholesterol. In fact, we need both forms of cholesterol, but the modern lifestyle has gotten them out of whack and that’s a risk factor for chronic disease.
Any of you who have done aerobic exercise can also attest to the stress reduction benefit. I have a clear memory from my high school days, of walking out of the locker room after a cross-country workout. The sun was setting, I was freshly showered, a bunch of endorphins had been triggered, and I had this wonderful feeling of well being that I still remember all these years later. Its called the "runner's high."
What We Do
In the morning the beautiful wife rises early and walks with her girlfriends. She wears a pedometer and her daily goal is the 10,000 steps Dr. Cooper popularized. The girls talk constantly, never run out of things to say, and the BW comes home rejuvenated and full of news.
About mid day I take my walk. I go down 125 steps and touch the sand of the beach. Then I walk back up and hike to the top of a nearby hill, about 700 feet high. The round trip takes an hour; I get plenty of noontime sunshine, do some push-ups and sit-ups at the hilltop, and come home refreshed. On alternate days I ride a mountain bike.
Your schedule will be different, especially if you have an armful of kids. But figure out a way to get regular aerobic exercise for at least 20 minutes, a total of 3 hours a week, and it will transform your health, reduce your stress, and give you vitality.
Healthy Change
We dedicate four of the Healthy Changes to exercise. They cover the concept, stretching, aerobic, and resistance (weights). This week we offer Healthy Change #44:
Add aerobic exercises to your workout, three hours a week if possible.
Please comment
What do you do for aerobic exercise? Please share what you’re doing and how it has improved your life.