Without exercise, your body would have the strength of a bowl of mush. Your muscles, tendons and ligaments have the capacity to carry you to the highest heights or keep you stranded at the lowest lows. Enjoyable, low-stress exercises can get your feet off the recliner and moving toward better health.
Tai Chi
The full-body workout of tai chi offers a strong foundation for those with exercise ambition. Tai chi builds strength and teaches pranayama, or breath control, through exercises that combine movement and meditation. Stamina and concentration are also cornerstones of tai chi and are developed through the procession of postures -- called asanas -- that flow without pause. Tai chi is considered a self-paced, stress-reducing martial art that benefits your mind, body and soul.
Swimming
The benefit of swimming is that it works your entire body without joint stress or the added risk of injury from physical activity. This is due to the fact that your weight in water is roughly 1/10 of your weight on land. Swimming offers self-paced cardio and lung conditioning, and helps to build muscle strength and endurance over time. This is especially beneficial for those with back problems, arthritis or other physical ailments that prevent strenuous exercise.
Body Resistance
The best resistance exercises for beginners are usually those that involve only one prop: the human body. Before using exercise weights, get to know the weight of your own body through leg squats, lunges, arm and leg raises. Body-resistance exercises strengthen bones, increasing bone density and muscle, which wards off injury and burn calories faster. Insomnia and many chronic conditions like back pain, depression and arthritis are also relieved through weekly resistance exercises, according to Australia’s Better Health channel.
Yoga
After mastering your own weight, try the muscle-sculpting regimens of yoga. Yoga exercises aim to create a deeper connection between you and your body through pranayama and asanas that are richly symbolic. The self-paced exercises of hatha yoga are a good starting point because they use props that help beginners achieve asanas easier. Kundalini yoga is also self-paced and incorporates chanting, meditation and visualization to direct kundalini spinal energy throughout the body.
Member Comments