A good rounded fitness training routine includes four elements which are:
• Aerobic fitness
• Muscular fitness
• Flexibility
• Stability and balance
In part I of this series I will discuss aerobic fitness.
You might be very much into the commitment of fitness and just looking to optimize your results. Or you might have just begun your journey (which is where I am now) to improved health and you want to establish a rounded fitness training routine. Regardless of which category you fit into it is important to base your exercise goals upon these four primary elements of a well rounded fitness training routine.
Aerobic fitness includes any kind of activity you do, from taking a simple walk down a lovely, scenic path to mowing grass and tending flowers in your flower garden. All aerobic activities require oxygen. Regular aerobic fitness exercise increases your body's ability to use oxygen. How well your body uses oxygen is called your "aerobic capacity." Your goal for good health and long life is to keep your aerobic capacity high. An aerobic capacity in high gear delivers large amounts of oxygen throughout your body efficiently through your heart, lungs and blood vessels.
In addition to keeping your major life sustaining organs working properly aerobic exercise helps you in daily activities. Suppose you suddenly need to run to your car in an unexpected rain shower just as you stepped out from one of your favorite department stores or worse yet, right out of the beauty salon. A high aerobic capacity will allow you to rise to this unexpected challenge without leaving you all out of breath. Your joints and bones will also rise to the occasion and help to transport you safely and quickly to your car.
The key to achieving aerobic capacity is to find fitness training activities that you enjoy and can do regularly. I just recently took out a membership in our local YMCA. Thus far, I am still on the treadmill at a moderate speed and duration. I noticed, however, this past Sunday, there was a jazzercise class going on. I thought how wonderful, I might try that later on as I gain more and more aerobic capacity to do so. They were really taking some high steps and they were not all the younger generation either. Many were as me, from the baby boomer generation.
In the gym I also saw one of my old male classmates from 6th grade. I was sorry to see he had let his hair turn grey! However, I suppose in a way, men do look more distinguished with grey hair.
I am keeping my grey hairs covered at the moment! This is not actually a source of pride, I feel, but just a style I feel best in at the moment. We need to continue throughout our lives to do the little things that raise our self esteem.
This is another area I continually have to work on since growing up among a traditional sect of Pentecostal people. For the most part, I have endured more scorning, condemnation and judgments from this tribe of people than any other I have ever been associated with.
I do not believe it is the Good Lord's plan to position tribes or sects of people in this world to continually look out onto others with scorn, condemnation and judgments. I am forever finding ways to set myself apart from those types of sins and unrighteousness. I now call myself just one of God's elect. I claim no other religious affiliation.
However, it seems this certain tribe or sect of people feel like they can put on a dress, never put the scissors to their hair, never bother with the slightest type of make-up to enhance their appearance, and then proceed to scorn, judge and or condemn, use their tongue in all kinds of unkind words of malice toward others, and then leave that person to suffer with the consequences of all that, while they go on about their merry way, with their long dresses and long hair swaying in the wind.
I find myself saying, God forgive them, for they seem to know not what they do to others with that type of behavior. I get back up off the ground or out of the corner where these people have pushed me and proceed to try and live a quiet, healthy life. Every opportunity I find, I do something good to those that do evil to me. Another scripture that comes to my mind at this moment is where it is says: "it is better for a man to live on the housetop than to live inside the house with a brawling woman." Thus, is an example of a traditional Pentecostal woman....... At least in the tribe and sect of people I have been associated with.
At any rate, back to another important part of life is gaining a high aerobic capacity. You need not ever limit yourself to a single activity, such as running or walking. Add variety to increase your motivation to stay active. Try some simple dance classes such as the jazzercise.
Continued in: "Four Important Elements of a Good Rounded Fitness Training Routine Part II."
Source: Mayo Clinic (2005)
Disclaimer: *The information in this article is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or health care provider. Please consult your health care provider for advice about specific medical concerns and especially before beginning any type of exercise routine. The statements in this article has not been evaluated by the Food and Health Administration and not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any kind of a health problem.
This article is FREE to publish with the resource box. This article was written 2-2007.