Fitness Tips

Get Moving! It's easy to fit physical activities into your daily routine. Walk, bike or jog to see friends. Take a 10-minute activity break every hour while you read, work on the computer or watch TV. Climb stairs instead of taking an escalator or elevator. Try to do these things for a total of 30 minutes every day.

Exercise is easy. Just 30 minutes of exercise per day can help prevent and treat numerous chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and joint pain. Thirty to sixty minutes of activity broken into smaller segments of 10 or 15 minutes throughout the day have significant health benefits.

Work up a sweat. Vigorous work-outs - when you're breathing hard and sweating - help your heart pump better, give you more energy and help you look and feel best. Start with a warm-up that stretches your muscles. Include 20 minutes of aerobic activity, such as running, jogging, or dancing. Follow-up with activities that help make you stronger such as push-ups or lifting weights. Then cool-down with more stretching and deep breathing.

What is the best exercise? The best exercise is the one that you will do. Walking is considered one of the best choices because it's easy, safe and cheap. Brisk walking can burn as many calories as running, but is less likely than running or jogging to cause injuries. And it doesn't require any training or special equipment, except for good shoes. Walking is an aerobic and weight-bearing exercise, so it is good for your heart and helps prevent osteoporosis.

Get fit with friends or family. Being active is much more fun with friends or family. Encourage others to join you and plan one special physical activity event, like a bike ride or hiking, with a group each week.

Make healthy eating and physical activities fun! Take advantage of physical activities you and your friends enjoy doing together and eat the foods you like. Be adventurous - try new sports, games and other activities as well as new foods. You'll grow stronger, play longer, and look and feel better! Set realistic goals - don't try changing too much at once.

Keep yourself in balance. The key to weight control is keeping energy intake (food) and energy output (physical activity) in balance. To lose weight, you must burn more calories than you eat. Exercise is the best way to do this. When you exercise regularly, you build stronger muscles, even if you do not work out with weights. Muscles use more calories than fat throughout the day, even while you are resting.

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