Top Ten Fitness Facts

 Exercise!
 Want to be sharper at work?
Feel less tired at home? Spend
some quality time with your
spouse? How about enjoying
a cookie without guilt? If you
answered "yes" to all of these
questions (and who
wouldn't?), exercise is the
answer.
 This slideshow illustrates 10
fitness facts that may help
inspire you to get off the
couch
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Top Ten Fitness Facts
1. Exercise Boosts Brainpower
Not only does exercise improve your body, it helps
your mental function, says certified trainer David
Atkinson. "Exercise increases energy levels and
increases serotonin in the brain, which leads to
improved mental clarity," says Atkinson, director of
program development for Cooper Ventures, a
division of the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas.
All that makes for a more productive day. "It is
clear that those who are active and who exercise
are much more productive at work," says Todd A.
Astorino, assistant professor of kinesiology at
California State University-San Marcos. Improved
productivity not only makes you a better worker, it
makes things better for everyone in the workplace.
Companies with less wasted work hours and less sick
time end up with lower health-care costs -- and an
improved bottom line, Astorino says.
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Top Ten Fitness Facts
2. Movement Melts Away Stress
As much as it may stress you out just to think
about exercising, once you actually start
working out, you'll experience less stress in
every part of your life.
"Exercise produces a relaxation response that
serves as a positive distraction," says Cedric
Bryant, chief exercise physiologist for the
American Council on Exercise. He says it also
helps elevate your mood and keep depression
at bay.
You're not the only person who will benefit
from more happiness and less stress in your
life. When you're less stressed, you're less
irritable, Atkinson says -- and that could
improve relationships with your partner, kids,
and coworkers.
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Top Ten Fitness Facts
3. Exercise Gives You Energy
 You might be surprised at how, say, popping in a
workout DVD for 30 minutes in the morning can
change your whole day. When endorphins are
released into your bloodstream during exercise,
says Astorino, "you feel much more energized the
rest of the day."

 And when you improve your strength and stamina,

it's easier to accomplish everyday tasks like
carrying groceries and climbing stairs. This also
helps you feel more energetic over the course of
the day.

 A common excuse among Atkinson's clients is

that they're too tired to exercise, he says. While
exercise may make you feel more tired at first,
he says, that won't last long.

 The physical tiredness you feel after working out

isn't the same as everyday fatigue, he says.
Besides, once your body adjusts to exercise,
you'll have more energy than ever.

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Top Ten Fitness Facts
4. It's Not That Hard to Find Time for Fitness
Use your time more wisely. Think about killing two birds
with one stone. Forget the idea that you have to trudge
to the gym and spend an hour or more doing a formal
workout. Instead, you can work short spurts of physical
activity into your day. "Everyone has 20 minutes,"
Atkinson says. "Everyone has 10 minutes to jump rope,
and sometimes that's better than 20 minutes of walking
or running." Squeezing in two or three bouts of 15 or 20
minutes of activity is just as effective as doing it all at
once, says Astorino. Vacuuming the house in the morning,
riding bikes in the park with the kids in the afternoon,
and then taking a brisk walk in the evening can add up to
an active day.
Recent U.S. government guidelines say that to lose
weight and keep it weight off, you should accumulate at
least 60 minutes of exercise a day, says Astorino. But
half an hour a day is all you need to reap the health and
disease-fighting benefits of exercise.
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Top Ten Fitness Facts
5. Fitness Can Help Build Relationships
 Think of what exercising with a partner can
do for a relationship, whether it's with a
spouse, a sibling, or a friend you used to go
to lunch with once a week. Not only that,
says Astorino, but exercise is always more
fun when there's someone to do it with. So,
plan to walk with your spouse after dinner
every night. Meet your sister or that
friend for tennis or an aerobics class
instead of lunch. Besides, Astorino says,
people who have exercise partners stay
with their programs and reach their goals
more often than those who try to go it
alone. "For long-term weight loss, you need
to have social support," Astorino says.

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Top Ten Fitness Facts
6. Exercise Helps Ward Off Disease
Research has shown that exercise can slow or
help prevent heart disease, stroke, high blood
pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes,
arthritis, osteoporosis (bone loss), and loss of
muscle mass, says Astorino. It also helps ease
some aspects of the aging process. "Because
exercise strengthens the muscles and joints,
it is going to reduce your odds of having some
of those aches and pains and problems most
adults have, mostly because of the inactive
lives they lead," Bryant says. Provided you
don't overdo it, he says, exercise can even
boost immune function -- so you spend less
time down with a cold or flu. "There isn't a
major health problem where exercise cannot
have a positive effect," says Bryant.
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Top Ten Fitness Facts
7. Fitness Pumps Up Your Heart
Not only does exercise help fight disease, says
Bryant, it creates a stronger heart -- the most
important muscle in the body. That helps makes
exercise -- and the activities of daily life -- feel
easier. "Your heart and cardiovascular system will
function more effectively," says Bryant. "The heart
will build up less plaque. It will become a more
efficient pump." And "when the heart becomes
stronger, it pumps more blood per beat, so at rest,
the heart rate is lower," says Astorino. "It's not
going to have to beat as fast" to expend the same
amount of effort. Within only a couple days after
you start exercising, Astorino says, "the body
readily adapts to the stimulus it's getting and it
becomes easier. You will feel less fatigue. It will not
take as much effort when it comes to breathing.
You shouldn't have as much pain or soreness.“

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Top Ten Fitness Facts
8. Exercise Lets You Eat More
 Pound for pound, muscle burns more
calories at rest than body fat. So the
more muscle you have, the higher your
resting metabolic rate. And, of course, you
also burn calories while you're actually
exercising.

 All this means that "cheating" with a

cookie once in a while isn't going to take
you back 10 steps. "Can you eat anything?
No," says Atkinson. "But you can afford to
enjoy some of the things you really like
when you exercise regularly. You can
better get away with those things in
moderation than you can when you're not
working out.”
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Top Ten Fitness Facts
9. Exercise Boosts Performance
 After a few weeks of consistent exercise,
you may feel your clothes fitting
differently and see that your muscle tone
has improved, Atkinson says.

 You may also notice your newly pumped-up

muscles in other ways, especially if you're a
recreational golfer or tennis player, or
inlike a friendly game of pick-up basketball,
says Atkinson. Exercising consistently will
strengthen your muscles, increase
flexibility, and improve your overall
performance. "Your muscles will work much
more efficiently, and you'll gain a greater
sense of endurance," says Bryant. In
addition, he says, your reaction time and
balance will improve.
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Top Ten Fitness Facts
10. Weight Loss Is Not the Most Important Goal
Weight loss is the reason many people exercise in the
first place. But it's certainly not the sole benefit of an
exercise program.
Bryant says the long-term goal of weight loss is sold too
heavily to people starting fitness programs, and that can
be discouraging. People have trouble sticking with
something if they don't see results quickly. "Really, they
should think about the level of functioning in the
activities of daily living," says Bryant. "That can serve as
the motivation to keep them coming back for more."
So, whatever weight-loss goal you have when starting a
fitness program, don't make it your only goal. Strive to
feel better, to have more energy, or to be less stressed.
Notice the small things that exercise does for you
quickly, rather than getting hung up on the narrow goal of
the number on a scale. "With a goal of losing weight and
enhancing health, exercise has to become a part of a
person's life, not an afterthought," Astorino says.

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 Top Ten Fitness Facts
 Being physically active offers
benefits far beyond the
obvious. (Of course, an
improved physique and a
clean bill of health aren't too
shabby, either.) If you've
been looking for the
motivation to begin an
exercise program or get back
into working out regularly,
remember these 10 fitness
facts as your inspiration.

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