9 Tips for a Great Health and Fitness Exercise

You may be among those thinking of health and fitness as tough waters to navigate, or rocket science. No matter what witty metaphors you cook up, you are just plain wrong. This according to natural health expert Dr. Joseph Mercola, a Chicago-based osteopathic physician and surgeon who has reached out to the over 1 million newsletter subscribers of his website, Mercola.com. Providing a comprehensive article resource on exercise and health fitness on his website, he presents the key points to remember for a safe, fuss-free exercise routine. Here are the 9 key points to remember during exercise: 1. Listen to your body. Rule of thumb? Be careful. Exercising improperly might worsen your health. Honor your body’s signal of pain or weariness, and stop if you feel you have to. “It also helps to hire a personal trainer who can guide you through the specifics of a good exercise program,” Dr. Mercola suggests. 2. Be consistent. Studies show that to lose 10% of your body weight, you need to exercise for one hour every five days a week. Do this only if you’re overweight; this means amounts of exercise differ for each one of us. Consistency is the key.rn3. Overweight? Start with walking. Low-risk and inexpensive, walking is the best first step to health fitness and your optimal weight. The more vigorous your pace is, the more dramatic the effects become. 4. Increase your intensity regularly. “Ideally you should exercise at an intensity that makes it somewhat difficult to talk to the person next to you. This prevents you from having to measure your pulse or use a heart-rate monitor,” Dr. Mercola says, still recommending listening to your body for signs that you’re not working enough or exercising far too hard. 5. Do anaerobic training. Research attests to the enormous benefits of interval-type training, and so short bursts of activity could actually help during endurance cardio training. This, of course, should be individualized for your specific fitness level. 6. Go, run! Running is one of the most efficient and inexpensive ways to achieve health fitness. Get a sturdy pair of shoes and you’re good to go. 7. Try an elliptical machine. Generally cheaper and quieter than treadmills, elliptical machines provide complete lower body workouts by rotating the use of various muscle groups on your legs. 8. Swim, but say no to chlorinated pools. Swimming remains of the best exercises in the world, but you should do in safe waters (try lakes, rivers and oceans) and not in chlorinated pools. The byproducts of chlorine, dioxins accumulate in your body and are associated with birth defects, cancers, reproductive disorders, and breakdown of the immune system. 9. Stick with it! Find the motivation not only to start an exercise program, but also to stay within it. Explore tools like the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), a form of psychological acupressure that can aid in successfully starting and sticking to a long-term fitness and exercise program.