Are you embarking on a new weight loss exercise program to redress the flab put on over years of sedentary living? Well, there are a few things you should be aware of right at the start.
The human body was built for motion, and until the computer age changed the workplace during the last generation, we had plenty of motion just staying alive. To find food, ancient hunters had to walk or run for miles. To kill it, they had to exert great muscular strength and reflexes in battle. To carry it home, they had to be weight lifters. Even in the Industrial age, men at work needed brute strength on the assembly line, and women, lacking refrigerators and cars, put in thousands of calories of exercise walking to stores, tending the vegetable gardens, and, for the minority, joining the men on the assembly lines.
Well, now we all have the easy life, at least as far as weight loss exercise goes. With no more exercise than pushing a few buttons or keys at work, and with an average of 5 hours of television to watch each evening after work, it is no wonder that we have collectively turned to flab.
To correct this, many have embraced the quick fix exercise remedy. Jogging along with Jane, or bouncing along with Biff on the TV fitness shows, the average person can be setting him or herself up for injuries big-time. First of all, there is no way that these people get their terrific bodies doing just twenty minutes a day. These professionals work out almost as many hours a day as you work at your desk. So the first step to reintroducing motion to your body is to have a realistic goal, such as to have fun and to gradually improve your exercise tolerance. The sports medicine clinics are filled with weekend athletes wearing slings and tensor bandages to treat injuries caused when their mental enthusiasm exceeded their physical shape.
If you have been under-exercised for years, don’t try to make up for it in minutes. Make sure you invest in the right equipment, seek professional instruction, and check your pulse regularly during the exercise. And remember, one of the best exercises of all is to turn off the TV for a while, and go out for a walk.