Regular exercise can improve health and wellness. There are many types of exercise, and they can be categorized in several ways. One way to think about exercise is in terms of joint movement, dynamic vs. static. While another way is too look at how exercise affects your muscular and cardiovascular systems, aerobic vs. anaerobic, or how the muscle contracts, isotonic vs. isometric.
Dynamic vs. static exercises
As the name implies, dynamic exercises require movement of the joints. These include any activity that involves motion, like walking, biking, swimming, or even mowing the lawn. Static exercises, on the other hand, creates muscle contractions without movement of the joints. One example would be an abdominal plank exercise used to improve core strength. A person keeps the body rigid with abdominal muscles contracted and back flat, raised up from the floor on the forearms and toes. This is also an example of an isometric exercise.
Different types of muscle contraction
Most of the weightlifting exercises a person does at the gym are isotonic exercises, meaning the muscle contracts or changes length and causes movement. Isometric exercises, on the other hand, are static. The muscle contracts, but there is no movement. One example would be holding a weight at arm's length, but not moving it up and down. A third type of muscle contraction, which rarely occurs during most exercise, is isokinetic, meaning the muscles contract at a constant rate of speed. The most common example, without the use of special equipment, would be swimming the breaststroke in a pool.
Aerobic vs. anaerobic exercise
The European Food Information Council groups exercise into three broad categories: aerobic, anaerobic, and flexibility. The Arthritis Foundation also uses the same groupings, but with slightly different names: aerobic or cardiovascular, strengthening or resistance, and flexibility or stretching and range-of-motion exercises. Basically, aerobic means "with oxygen" while anaerobic means "without oxygen." This refers to how energy is generated in the muscle due to the different duration and intensity. Basically, aerobic exercise builds endurance or overall cardiovascular health whereas anaerobic exercise improves strength. Most dynamic activities are also aerobic: walking, biking, swimming, running. One exception is sprinting or very short-distance runs, which is anaerobic.
Choosing the right type of exercise
Before undertaking any exercise, you should consult with a physician. You should also keep in mind that not everyone benefits the same amount from different types of exercise, and everyone's body responds differently. Choosing the right activity by consulting with a fitness expert, like a personal trainer, can help tailor a workout to meet your personal goals, in terms of fitness, toning, and weight loss.
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