Exercise is another staple of New Year’s Resolutions. The benefits of exercise far outweigh the typical expectations of weight loss and really should be the goal instead of weight alone. While weight to a certain extent can be a marker for health, with exercise and proper diet, weight loss will usually occur. If weight loss does not despite best efforts, there are often underlying conditions complicating matters. However, exercise often works to help reduce those complicating factors as well. Let’s breakdown some of the important roles exercise plays in our mind and body.
The above bullets are not an exhaustive list of benefits, but good reminders for why exercise is more important now than ever as we continue to trudge through a pandemic with physical and mental harm. It’s easy to acknowledge the benefits, the hard part is actually doing it. Here again the key is to find the exercise that’s right for YOU, not the exercise your Facebook friend or neighbor is promoting. The best exercise is the exercise you’ll stick with, consistency is necessary to achieve the benefits you’re looking for.
I’d be remiss to not encourage that while enjoying your exercise routine is important for longevity of a routine, a combination of cardio and strength training is really optimal, don’t just pick one leaving out the other. However, you don’t have to run marathons and become a body builder, just find ways to mix it up with movements that exercise your heart, while building some muscle. For women especially as we age muscle loss can more rapidly occur making health goals more difficult to attain, so don’t be afraid of some dumb bells and resistant bands!
