Asthma And Anaerobic Exercise

For most people, anaerobic exercise means weight lifting. Offering important health benefits, pumping iron will not only give you the strength necessary for aerobic exercise, but will also cause your body to preserve muscle mass. Preserving muscle mass becomes increasingly critical as we age, since our bodies normally replace muscle with fat. By lifting, you prevent this natural decline in muscle mass and protect yourself against conditions like diabetes. Because muscle consumes more sugar than fat, muscular people have a lower risk of diabetes than those who are obese. The main reason to pump iron, however, is that the more muscle you have, the more you'll be able to run, walk, bike, or take part in whatever activity you choose. The good news is you don't have to look like a bodybuilder or bench press 300 pounds to benefit from weight training. Like aerobic exercise, weight lifting comes in all shapes and sizes. How much weight you lift depends on your fitness level and what you're trying to accomplish. I recommend starting with light weights and working your way up to moderate weights, leaving the heavy stuff for the bodybuilders.

 

"Light weights" means different things to different people and what is light for an eighteen-year-old is probably dangerous for an eighty-year-old. How much weight you start with is going to involve some trial and error. Ideally, you should feel resistance when lifting, with the weight neither too easy nor too hard to lift. You should not feel pain; if you feel pain, stop lifting immediately, rest a minute, and then resume lifting with a lighter weight.

 

If you're a true beginner, I recommend starting with five to twenty pounds for arm, chest, and shoulder exercises, and twenty to seventy pounds for leg exercises. There are many excellent books on weight lifting that can show you the basic exercises. While quality exercise equipment for home use is available, it can be expensive. Since all the machinery needed to perform multiple exercises can be found in most gyms, the gym is probably the best choice for beginners. There's also a safety issue: if you injure yourself, it helps to have other people around, rather than being home alone.

 

I strongly recommend that, if you're new to weight lifting, you join a gym and enlist the services of a personal trainer. This may seem expensive at first; however, a personal trainer knows which exercises and weight loads are right for you and will teach you how to lift correctly and safely. Once you've learned how to lift properly, you can go it alone. At the gym, you can also interact with like-minded individuals, supporting one another and learning from one another's successes and mistakes. As usual, always check with your doctor before starting an anaerobic or aerobic exercise program.

 

Remember, weight lifting is for everyone. Even people with severe medical conditions and disabilities can benefit from a properly tailored weight-lifting program. Multiple studies have found that regular aerobic and anaerobic exercise adds healthy years to one's life and can help prevent and ameliorate medical problems like diabetes and high blood pressure. Exercise is especially beneficial for individuals with chronic pain problems like rheumatoid arthritis or fibromyalgia, as several studies have demonstrated that people experience less pain when they exercise regularly.