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A guide to

Exercise

Whether jazzercise is your jam or you’re a pilates pro, getting your blood pumping isn’t just good for your mental health and hitting your smart watch goals. More than 46,000 cancer cases in the U.S. could be prevented every year with increased physical activity.

WHY IS EXERCISE IMPORTANT?

  • Regular physical activity, especially moderate to vigorous levels, lowers your risk of cancer.
  • Excess body weight and weight gain during your adult years can increase your risk for certain cancers such as breast, colorectal, endometrial, and kidney.
  • Exercise lowers your blood pressure, which reduces the risk of a range of cancers including bowel, lung, skin, and kidney.
  • Exercising regularly can stabilize insulin and certain hormones that are linked to cancer.
  • Exercise helps build a strong immune system to better fight off colds, flu, and precancerous cells.
  • Movement releases endorphins – those amazing feel-good neurotransmitters that improve mood, reduce pain, improve sleep, and boost libido.
  • Exercising with other people increases your accountability and leads to less isolation and depression.

HOW MUCH EXERCISE DO I NEED?

150-300 minutes

You should try to do 150-300 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity or 75-100 minutes per week of vigorous physical activity.

At least 2 days a week

Do strength training activities.

Balance training

Work on your balance to prevent injury.

TYPES OF EXERCISE

Every body is different.

We’re all  doing the best we can to juggle everything in life, including what we put into our bodies and how we move them. There are a million different ways to sweat, so find the movement that feels best to you and stick with it.

Cardio

Cardio exerts our muscles and gets our heart pumping. Our body operates like a machine – blood carries the fuel (oxygen and nutrients) to our engine (the heart). This type of exercise demands more power from our heart and lungs, making them, as they say, “harder, better, faster, stronger”.

So whether you’re lying on a couch or running a marathon, an athletic heart more efficiently pumps blood and delivers fuel to your cells. This builds our ability to handle stress, improves stamina, and lowers chances of injury and disease.

Types of Cardio

  • Running – Known side effects include sexy calves and happy hamstrings.
  • Biking – This low impact exercise moonlights as a mode of transportation and leads to a sexy bod.
  • Swimming – All you need is a swimsuit and water, speedos welcome.
  • Walking – A trail, the mall, a treadmill – it all counts.

Cardio Do’s

  • Warm up & cool down, this should include a good stretch to end your workout.
  • Drink lots of water!
  • Easy does it. Gradually increase the intensity or distance of your workout.
  • Schedule your workouts like you would a meeting.

Cardio Don’ts

  • Don’t binge. 5 workouts on Saturday doesn’t make up for a week of excuses.
  • Don’t forget to breathe or you won’t last very long.
  • Don’t go too hard too fast. It’s better if you last.
  • Don’t forget to take a day of rest. Your muscles need time to repair and rebuild.

Strength Training

Strength training is when we use resistance against our muscles to make them stronger. Muscles relax and contract to move our body. Contractions are powerful; some give you orgasms, some give you babies. When our muscles are challenged to contract to the best of their ability this builds strength, like character. Muscle contraction burns energy and demands that blood and oxygen be pumped, which strengthens our heart. Best of all, the more muscle we have, the more energy and nutrients our body is constantly consuming, so rock out Popeye style. This is a fundamental pillar of a healthy metabolism.

Types of Strength Training

  • Weight Lifting – Remember: it’s not about the size of the dumbbell, it’s about how you use it, so shed the ego.
  • Plyometrics – Many think jumping is only for joy, but it requires coordination- be careful.
  • Pilates – There’s more to it than leg warmers and scrunchies.

Strength Training Do’s

  • Use proper form, keep your core muscle tight, this protects your lower back and improves balance.
  • Breathe out as you lift a weight, breath in as you lower it
  • Balance opposing muscle groups, like the Hemsworth brothers do so well
  • Change up the muscle groups you work daily, you wouldn’t wear the same underwear everyday.
  • Like Goldilocks, make sure you find a weight that is just right.

Strength Training Don’ts

  • Don’t skip your warm-up, cold muscles are more prone to injury than warm muscles are. Think of it as foreplay.
  • Don’t rush, slow controlled movement are best.
  • Don’t work through the pain, if it hurts, stop.

Flexibility & Stretching

Flexibility refers to the range of movement in our joints and muscles. Our muscles are like rubber bands designed to expand and contract as the body moves. By engaging in activities that lengthen muscles, like yoga and stretching, we can build this maximum range of motion and increase our overall flexibility. Bendiness brings many benefits to our health; it allows us to be nimble and resistant to injury, it creates elasticity in our arteries to bring fresh blood to every inch of our muscles helping us sleep deeper and feel brighter. If we don’t take the time to stretch, our muscles become brittle and tight. This leads to injury. Stretching is like shutting down your computer at the end of the day – you know you should do it, but it’s easy to blow off.

Types of Flexibility Exercises

  • Yoga – A Bowflex, chill pill, and Thai masseuse all in one.
  • Stretching – Stretch it, stretch it real good.

Flexibility Do’s

  • Slowly inhale & exhale as you stretch to the point of tension.
  • Hold each stretch for 30 seconds or longer so that your muscles have time to remember just how long they can be.
  • Relax. This is supposed to feel good.

Flexibility Don’ts

  • Don’t stretch a muscle that isn’t warmed up. An easy 5-10 minute warm-up will do the trick.
  • Don’t be a masochist, stretch until you feel tension not pain.
Source: American Cancer Society; Centers for Disease Control & Prevention; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

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