World Physical Activity Day is on the calendar to remind us of a truth: movement is life! Our body was not made to stand still. That is why the sedentary lifestyle, so common nowadays, brings with it a series of consequences.
The pains and discomforts are just the tip of an iceberg that also involves mental disorders and more severe diseases. The remedy for all these problems is physical exercise.
Everyone has a favorite physical activity. If you haven't found one yet, it is because you haven't tried all the possibilities.
So, don't settle for the couch. Test countless classes and proposals until you find something you love to do.
But even for those who already practice physical activities, is their workout complete? Does it involve exercises with different objectives that develop essential skills for everyday life and extensively promote health? That is what we will talk about in this article. Don't miss out!
What Is the Difference
Between Exercise and Physical Activity?
Before we talk about the types of exercise, it is important to make this distinction.
Exercise is a defined activity performed at a set time and with specific goals. You will understand this a little better in the next topic.
Physical activity, on the other hand, is every movement we perform in our daily lives. It can be cleaning the house, walking between the subway station and work, climbing the stairs instead of using the elevator, and so on.
Both are important for good health. Even those who exercise every day by going to a gym, for example, should include other physical activities in their routine. The reason is that when we spend too much time sitting, our risk of developing cancer and cardiovascular diseases increases.
So even if you go to the gym every day, don't spend the rest of the day sitting down. Every two or three hours, get up and schedule some movements like static running, jumping jacks, burpees, or visit the other floor of your workplace using the stairs.
What Are the Types of
Physical Exercises?
Now we can talk about the types of physical exercises. You will realize how each one can make your day-to-day activities run more smoothly, less tired, and help you be much healthier. Check it out!
1. Aerobic Resistance
Exercises
This group of exercises is also known as aerobic exercises. They are those fast, strenuous movements that force the heart and lungs to make a great effort. In this way, they strengthen the heart muscle, besides guaranteeing other benefits, such as reducing body fat and losing weight.
Those who do not practice aerobic exercises do not make the heart resistant to the effort. Thus, simple movements such as climbing a few flights of stairs are enough to generate fatigue.
Among aerobic exercises, we can highlight fast walking, light jogging, swimming, cycling, classes such as jump, step, and so on.
2. Localized Muscular
Endurance Exercises
Perhaps localized muscular endurance exercises are the least known. It is the ability to make a repetitive effort of medium-low intensity without getting tired. In everyday life, we use this ability a lot.
A person who is going to clean glass, for example, usually keeps his arm raised and makes circular movements. In other words, it is a repetitive movement of low average intensity. In the same way, we could mention a series of activities in our routine that require this resistance.
To develop localized muscular endurance, it is necessary to work with each part of the muscle group. For this, there are exercises that in the past were called gymnastics. They are done without a heavy load, preferably using your body weight, but with a higher training volume.
An excellent example of localized muscular resistance exercise is the abdominal, which develops this resistance in the belly region. The guidance of a physical educator is significant to work for these different muscle groups.
3. Flexibility Exercises
Stretching exercises teach the muscles to try and then return to their initial format. In this way, when any situation happens in everyday life that requires this stretching, the strength is prepared to make this move without suffering. This is flexibility.
But if the muscles are not flexible, they become more shortened and rigid. So, if a common situation arises, such as stretching your arm to pick up an object from above or extending your leg to jump over a puddle of water, those stiff muscles, which are not used to stretching, are more prone to injury.
Lack of flexibility also impairs posture, causes pain, prevents you from making broader movements, and so on.
4. Strength Exercises
Contrary to what many people still think, strength exercises are not just for people who want to get a muscular body. We all need strength to perform a variety of activities.
Strength training is nothing more than a stimulus to bring the muscle to its maximum capacity for weight or load. In addition, it brings other benefits, such as solving problems related to joint pain.
It works like this: If the muscle is strong and you want to lift your arm, the contraction movements are sufficient to produce this result.
But if the muscles are weak, the joint must make a much greater effort to produce the result that the person wants, which is movement. Of course, there is no single cause for joint pain, but lack of muscle strengthening is a contributing factor.
In addition, muscles help people lose weight. If the body has developed muscle mass, this tissue will consume more energy or the accumulated fat. Therefore, even when the individual is at rest, their body consumes calories at a marked rate.
And we could still cite other benefits, such as increased bone density, improved muscle tone or firmness, reduced risk of diabetes, and so on.
The main way to develop strength is through weight training. In this case, the person uses weight lifting to increase the volume of the muscle fibers and, consequently, the capacity of this tissue to support a load or effort.
It is worth remembering that weight training is beneficial at any stage of adult life. It is recommended especially in an age group where not everyone does this type of exercise - the elderly. In this way, it is possible to preserve muscle mass, avoid several problems caused by muscle loss, and improve mobility.
It is worth pointing out that strengthening muscles with activities that use only the body's weight is worth pointing out. But for this, it is vital to know the exercises well and seek the advice of a professional.
5. Speed Exercises
First of all, it is essential to emphasize that speed is not only necessary for athletes. It involves the muscle's ability to react or contract, making a person respond to a stimulus promptly. This can even help in a dangerous situation, such as crossing a street quickly and avoiding being run over by a car.
A good way to develop speed without leaving the living room is by running on the spot or stadia. To do this, the person needs to apply maximum speed to this movement.
If the person likes to do this activity on the street, he can run at an average speed most of the time. However, at certain intervals, they should accelerate hard for 10, 15, or 20 meters, which we call running shots.
For those who run on a treadmill, the recommendation is to pike for 10, 15, or 20 seconds and then return to the average pace of exercise, repeating this procedure several times.
The practice of physical exercises only promotes benefits. They help prevent obesity, depression, metabolic syndromes, fight chronic diseases, and even contribute to reducing the risk of cancer. So, let's get off the couch and take away Brazil's position as the world champion of sedentariness?
So, how is your workout going? Does it
involve all these types of physical exercises? Although everyone can do simple activities
like walking, it is always vital to look for a physical educator to guide a
complete workout that meets all your needs.