Exercise plays an important part in the quality of your health. Without exercise, your muscles and bones deteriorate. Additionally, if you lead a sedentary lifestyle and are overweight, you run the risk of developing heart disease. Teenagers should have some form of exercise every day. If you are a teenager who does not exercise regularly, put together a simple and easy exercise plan and follow it to put yourself on the road to better health in the future.
Time
Teens should plan to do about one hour of exercise daily. It is recommended to do all the exercise in that hour, or break the hour up. Teens may want to do 15 minutes of exercise in the morning and 45 minutes of exercise in the afternoon. This strategy is acceptable, but teens should try to do their exercise as early in the day as possible so that unexpected events that may occur later in the day do not stop them from exercising. People should make it a point to exercise a minimum of three days a week.
Kinds of Exercise
Make the most of your hour of exercise aerobic exercises. The United States Department of Health and Human Services, Girlshealth, suggests you dance, swim, or ride a bike to strengthen your heart and lungs. Teens should also incorporate exercises that add strength to their muscles and bones into that hour of exercise. Muscle building exercises include yoga, weight lifting and exercising with resistance bands. Bone building exercises include jumping rope and tennis. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Girlshealth, a teen's bones attain maximum strength prior to puberty and while going through puberty.
Activity Evaluation
The United States Department of Health and Human Services, Girlshealth, suggests you evaluate the exercise you plan to do to see if it is one you will stick with. You should consider whether or not you would like doing an exercise or activity before you include it in your exercise plan. Activities that are unsafe and not readily available should be ruled out. It is a good idea to ask your friends what kind of teen exercises and activities they do so you can consider adding those activities to your plan if you think you will enjoy doing them.
Excuses
Excuses can interfere with your exercise plan if you allow it to happen. Teens can get bored easily, especially when it comes to exercising. To prevent boredom from taking you away from exercising, you should try to engage in activities you find interesting, and you should do a variety of these activities every week. Try to find a friend you can exercise with to make exercising more interesting. The United States Department of Health and Human Services, Girlshealth, suggests you engage in activities you can do without exercise equipment, and they recommend that you not pick exercises you must learn how to do. Everyone knows how to walk and jog, so there is no excuse for not doing these exercises. Rather than think you have no time to exercise, arrange to have time for exercise and do it.
Benefits
When you exercise, you look and feel better, and you perform better, too. Physical exercise takes away the blues and stress when endorphins are set free. Activity also makes all your bones and organs strong. When you exercise regularly you also stand a better chance of not gaining excess weight that can cause health conditions such as diabetes, elevated blood cholesterol and elevated blood pressure.
References
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases: Guide for teenagers
- Girlshealth: Fitness
- "Linda Page's Healthy Healing, All New Eleventh Edition;" Linda Page; 2001



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