The Simple Life

Work/Life Tools

Family and Friends

You don't have to run marathons or play sports to enjoy significant health benefits. Studies show that even moderate exercise can go a long way toward improving your health. If you're not a natural jock, don't fear! BeyondWork understands how time and energy constraints can limit fitness programs for people with busy schedules. The following suggestions outline a few steps to take in creating a moderate, beginning fitness program--one that works for you!

 

 

The Surgeon General reports that inactive people can improve their health by exercising moderately. Longer periods of moderate activity (such as 30 minutes of moderate walking) provide the same health benefits as shorter sessions of intense activity (such as 15 minutes of jogging).

This graph from the Surgeon General's report on Physical Activity and Health shows that any kind of activity would be a vast improvement for a large proportion of Americans. If you fall into the "inactive" or "not regularly active" pieces of the pie, it's time to get off that couch and start moving!

 

1. What are your fitness goals? (Do you want to lose weight, tone up or strengthen your cardiovascular system?)
2. What do you like to do for fun?
3. What kinds of barriers (such as too little time) keep you from working out? Are they legitimate?
4. What do you do to relax?
5. Do you budget time and money for exercise? Do you consider it a priority? If you were to sit down and weigh health as a priority, where would you realistically place it now, and where would you like it to be?
6. Are you realistic about your fitness goals? Are you trying to set goals for yourself that exceed practical time and energy constraints?
7. Are you happy? Do you often find yourself unmotivated as a result of inertia, or unhappiness?

• Losing weight: This requires cardio workouts, strength training or some combination of the two. Jogging, rapid walking or aerobics provide cardio workouts; weightlifting provides strength training.
• Strength training: Supplement cardio workouts with strength training to tone your muscles and increase resting metabolic rates.
• Toning: Strength training increases toning. Cardio workouts do, too, but not as directly. Weight training and yoga will help with toning.
• Cardiovascular endurance: If you want to be able to climb stairs more easily, you have to practice climbing more stairs! You might also bike, swim, do aerobics (on land or in water), dance or any activity that increases your heart rate. Heart rate should be kept within a target range for 20 minutes to gain cardiovascular benefits. A formula for calculating the lower and upper limits for your target heart rate follow:

• Swimming. Don't paddle around. Take a kickboard to the pool, plan a workout, do the laps. If long repetitions don't interest you, try varying your strokes or doing sprints.
• Walking. Try to keep a quick pace and vertical upright position. Wear a weighted backpack to increase the calorie burn of a walk. Experts do not recommend using hand or leg weights while walking because they unevenly distribute your weight.
• Biking. You don't have to be an expert mountain biker to push those muscles. Try a route that has some slopes. Set a goal to keep yourself motivated, such as a nice view of the city or a stop at a juice shop.

 

• A moderate amount of physical activity is roughly equivalent to physical activity that uses approximately 150 calories (kcal) of energy per day, or 1,000 calories per week. Some activities can be performed at various intensities; the suggested durations correspond to expected intensity of effort.

 

Exercise and Your Kids

Make sure your kids are exercising too! This chart shows that a little less than half of all adolescents ages 12-21 are not vigorously active.