The Necessity of Exercise

I have written several articles on how I’ve lost weight through my diet, but have yet to write about the second component needed to successfully lose weight and that is exercise.

I’ve come to realize that exercise is basically as important as breathing when it comes to improving one’s quality of life.

Exercise is not just beneficial for one’s life, I have become convinced it is necessary.

Why Exercise is Necessary

Years ago, I was studying the Fall of Man in the book of Genesis. Part of man’s curse when Adam and Eve was thrown out of the Garden of Eden was that man was to work by the sweat of his brow.

I pondered over the fact that, over time, mankind has not had to work as hard physically as he once did. Now in modern times larger and larger numbers of people have sedentary jobs which don’t demand much physical effort. So where does the curse of working by the sweat of the brow come in now?

Then I observed the health of those who work office jobs or drive trucks for a living and the one fact is very evident. Everyone in this sedentary world is much larger than their ancestors.

Also I noticed that there seems to be a connection between the growth of this automated and sedentary world and the growth of gym memberships. If you do not work hard at your job, then it is necessary for you to make up the difference through exercise.

That was the realization I made when it comes to the curse Adam received in the Garden of Eden. It is not the work that is hard, but the need to work your body to stay healthy. You cannot escape the need to exercise your body. If your work is not physical enough, then you have to exercise or you will eventually suffer the consequence of poor health.

For your heath’s sake and for a good quality of life it is necessary to exercise.

The two types of exercise

When I was younger, back in the 80’s I followed bodybuilding as it was growing in popularity.

One of my favorite female bodybuilders was Cory Everson who was Ms. Olympia 6 times in a row. One thing she said in one of her articles that stuck with me all these years was “life is movement”. In other words, if you aren’t moving how can you be sure you are alive?

Exercise helps you become more alive and there is an infinite variety of ways to exercise. Even though there is a huge variety, all exercise can be divided into two types of exercise and both are important for your health.

The two types of exercise are called aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise.

The word aerobic means ‘with air’. This type of exercise is the type that works one’s cardiovascular system and builds endurance. Anything that will get you breathing harder and increase your heart rate would fall into this category. Activities that would be considered aerobic would be things like walking, running, swimming, Zumba and hiking.

Anaerobic means ‘without air’. Generally speaking, anaerobic exercise is short intense workouts that strengthen muscles through resistance. Exercise in this category would include weight lifting, bodybuilding, resistance bands, powerlifting and calisthenics.

Both aerobic and anaerobic exercises should be incorporated in one’s lifestyle because we need both the benefits of better endurance and strength.

What I do to exercise

I’m not here to sell you a program and I’m not going to tell you to do exactly what I do because you are not me. Each of us have things we prefer and each of us already have in our mind the mental picture of what we want to be.

What I can do is I can tell you what I do and give you suggestions as to what you could do.

For some time I have had my own weight bench and treadmill. I have also been a member of various gyms over the years. Just having the ability to workout is not enough if you don’t use it. That was my problem, I didn’t use either the gym or my home gym enough for any effect.

The first thing is commitment. You need to commit to at least 3 to 5 days a week to workout or you won’t see any benefit from it.

Now I put down exercise on my goals list for each and every day. That way I aim to workout each day knowing that some days will get too hectic and I run out of time to exercise. The net result though is I generally get 3 to 5 workouts in a week. So aim high and you can still reach your target.

Now if I have a good week and get 3 or 4 straight days of exercise accomplished, then I will purposely take a day off. The reason for that is the body also needs to rest and recuperate. Do not work out everyday. Even the great bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger plan rest days to rest their bodies.

Some people love the gym and though I enjoyed going there and had a better variety of exercises, I actually preferred working out at home. At home I didn’t have to dress for my workout. I didn’t have to pack a bag to take and I saved the time of going to and from the gym. For me it is just easier to walk in my room and workout. I have my computer in the room and put on a movie and get to work.

For the first two and a half years of my fitness journey my main workout consisted of starting with 20 minutes of treadmill. After that I would do 16 to 20 sets of weights. I divided up what I exercised this way; on day 1 I would work out my chest and triceps, day 2 – shoulders and abs, day 3 – back and biceps and day 4 – legs. This way I worked my full body in 4 workouts and had cardio with each workout.

The workout seemed to work well with my attempt to lose weight and it didn’t take more than an hour for the whole workout.

Now that I have lost pretty much all the weight I want to lose I have decided to try and increase some muscle. To accomplish that goal I changed things up a little. Instead of 4 days to work out my body, I now workout my whole body in 2; day 1 – chest, triceps and legs, day 2 – back, biceps, shoulders and abs. Also, instead of 16 – 20 sets per workout, I now do 20 – 30 sets. On the 3rd day, I do cardio separate from the weights on my treadmill for 40 – 60 minutes. After a workout I also have increased my protein intake by drinking a protein shake which helps with recovery.

I’ve been doing this for the last two months and it seems to be working. I’m seeing muscle I’ve never seen before.

What exercise should you do?

Now as far as what you should do, that is up to you. My suggestion is to do some kind of resistance work whether weights or resistance bands or calisthenics. Do something to tone your muscles.

Also include some cardio. Even if it is nothing more that going outside and walking around the neighborhood for 20 minutes 3 times a week. For your health you need to get your heart pumping.

You can also do a variety of leisure activities that can be fun and don’t even feel like exercise. Just as a list off the top of my head, I can think of bowling, fishing, archery, hiking, horseshoes, basketball, tennis and swimming just to name a few.

The important thing is to follow the Nike motto and just do it. Go out and move. Remember life is movement.

Have a wonderful and blessed day.