How Much Exercise Is Enough?

May 3, 2010 - PRLog -- Exercising is increasingly becoming popular in Australia but the latest research still shows that close to 50% of Australians still not managing to do a minimum level of physical activity that is required to maintain a good health.
Idealbody4life clients often come to us with misconceptions about the appropriate level and duration of the training that is required to reach their goals and maintain a good health. This misconceptions are generally derived from fake and "shock therapy" reality TV shows such as The Biggest Loser.

Here at Idealbody4life we believe that is important to prescribe a correct balanced training plans to our clients that allow them to slowly adjust their lifestyle to meet their long term as well as short term fitness goals.

Consequently for a healthy person the minimum amount recommended for good health is 30 minutes of 'moderate' activity, five (or preferably, seven) days a week.  Moderate intensity is defined as a level that causes a "slight but noticeable increase in breathing and heart rate".

Start by  walking as it is cheap, needs no fancy equipment apart from supportive shoes, and is less daunting for those used to doing nothing at all. A kilometer in 15 minutes is a good guide. But you can also mow the lawn, vacuum, dig in the garden, swim or cycle – as long as your breathing and heart rate are sufficiently raised. If you can talk but not sing, you've got the pace about right.

If you increase your level of activity through out your day, you dramatically reduce your odds of coronary artery disease – the fatty buildups in blood vessels which are a key risk factor for heart attacks, risk of depression, diabetes and stroke.

However, one must remember that above is only a guide line for a minimum amount of physical activity average person should do everyday.  Based on what most people eat these days, high calorie intensive diets, we need approximately 60 minutes of moderates physical activity, everyday of the week or alternatively at least 20 to 30 minutes of vigorous physical activity 7 days a week.

On the other hand if you are after improvements in your fitness as well as health benefits, you need to increase intensity of the physical activity, which will lead to improved efficiency of your heart, lungs and major muscles groups. Hiring a personal trainer can help you to push yourself to the higher intensity level under a professional supervision. However, we believe that personal training should only be used as a support tool in order to help motivate as well prescribe correct exercises. Majority of training should be done by the individual outside the personal training sessions!

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IdealBody4Life provides highly experienced personal trainers, ready to help you anywhere at anytime.
Our team of personal trainers will look after your fitness and nutritional needs by designing a workout plans to suit your individual requirements.