7 Most Effective Exercises tips that will keep u always
fit.
Experts offer their
favorite moves for making the most of your workout time.
Experts say there is no magic to exercise: You get out of
it what you put in. That doesn't mean you have to work out for hours each day.
It just means you need to work smart.
That said, experts agree that not all
exercises are created equal. Some are simply more efficient than others,
whether they target multiple muscle groups, are suitable for a wide variety of
fitness levels, or help you burn calories more effectively.
So what are the best exercises? We posed
this question to four fitness experts and compiled a list of their favorites.
1.
Walking
Any exercise program should include
cardiovascular exercise, which strengthens the heart and burns calories. And
walking is something you can do anywhere, anytime, with no equipment other than
a good pair of shoes.
It's not just for beginners, either: Even
the very fit can get a good workout from walking.
"Doing a brisk walk can burn up to 500
calories per hour," says Robert Gotlin, DO, director of orthopaedic and
sports rehabilitation at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. Since it takes
3,500 calories to lose a pound, you could expect to lose a pound for every
seven hours you walk, if you did nothing else.
Don't go from the sofa to walking an hour
day, though. Richard Cotton, a spokesman for the American Council on Exercise,
says beginners should start by walking five to -10 minutes at a time, gradually
moving up to at least 30 minutes per session.
"Don't add more than five minutes at a
time," he says. Another tip: It's better to lengthen your walks before
boosting your speed or incline.
2. Push-ups
If done correctly, the push-up can strengthen the chest,
shoulders, triceps, and even the core trunk muscles, all at one time.
"I'm very much into planking exercises, almost yoga-type
moves," says Petersen. "Anytime you have the pelvis and the core
[abdominals and back] in a suspended position, you have to rely on your own
adherent strength to stabilize you."
Push-ups can be done at any level of fitness, says Cotton: "For someone
who is at a more beginning level, start by pushing from the kitchen-counter
height. Then work your way to a desk, a chair, the floor with bent knees, and,
finally, the floor on your toes."
Here's how to do a perfect push-up: From a face-down position,
place your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Place your toes or
knees on the floor, and try to create a perfect diagonal with your body, from
the shoulders to the knees or feet. Keep the glutes [rear-end muscles] and
abdominals engaged. Then lower and lift your body by bending and straightening
your elbows, keeping your torso stable throughout.
There are always ways to make it harder, says Rufa. Once your
form is perfect, try what he calls the "T-stabilization" push-up: Get
into push-up position, then do your push-ups with one arm raised out to the
side, balancing on the remaining three limbs without rotating your hips.
3.
Squats
Strength training is essential, the experts
say. "The more muscular fitness you have," says Cotton, "the
greater the capacity you have to burn calories."
And our experts tended to favor
strength-training exercises that target multiple muscle groups. Squats, which
work the quadriceps, hamstrings, and gluteals, are an excellent example.
"They give you the best bang for the
buck because they use the most muscle groups at once," says Oldsmar, Fla.,
trainer David Petersen.
Form is key, though, warns Petersen.
"What makes an exercise functional is
how you perform the exercise," he says. "If you have bad technique,
it's no longer functional."
For perfect form, keep feet shoulder-width
apart and back straight. Bend knees and lower your rear, says Cotton: "The
knee should remain over the ankle as much as possible."
"Think of how you sit down in a chair,
only the chair's not there," suggests Gotlin.
Physical therapist Adam Rufa, of Cicero,
N.Y., says practicing with a real chair can help.
"Start by working on getting in and out of a real chair properly," he
says. Once you've mastered that, try just tapping the chair with your bottom,
then coming back up. Then do the same motion without the chair.
Gotlin sees lots of patients with knee
pain, and says quadriceps weakness is the cause much of the time. If you feel
pain going down stairs, he says, strengthening your quads with squats may very
well help.
4. Lunges
Like squats, lunges work all the major muscles of the lower
body: gluteals, quadriceps, and hamstrings.
A lunge is a great exercise because it mimics life, it mimics
walking," only exaggerated, says Petersen.
Lunges are a bit more advanced than squats, says Cotton, helping
to improve your balance as well.
Here's how to do them right: Take a big step forward, keeping
your spine in a neutral position. Bend your front knee to approximately 90
degrees, focusing on keeping weight on the back toes and dropping the knee of
your back leg toward the floor.
Petersen suggests that you imagine sitting on your back foot.
"The trailing leg is the one you need to sit down on," he says.
To make a lunge even more functional, says Rufa, try stepping
not just forward, but back and out to each side.
"Life is not linear, it's multiplanar," says Rufa. And
the better they prepare you for the various positions you'll move in during the
course of a day, the more useful exercises are.
5. Interval training
Whether you're a beginner or an exercise
veteran, a walker or an aerobic dancer, adding interval training to your cardiovascular
workout will boost your fitness level and help you lose weight.
"Varying your pace throughout the exercise session stimulates the aerobic
system to adapt," says Cotton. "The more power the aerobic system
has, the more capacity you have to burn calories."
The way to do it is to push the intensity
or pace for a minute or two, then back off for anywhere from two to -10 minutes
(depending on how long your total workout will be, and how much time you need
to recover). Continue doing this throughout the workout.
6 Abdominal Crunches
Who doesn't want firm, flat abs? Experts say that when done
correctly, the familiar crunch (along with its variations) is a good choice to
target them.
For a standard crunch, says Cotton, begin lying on your back
with feet flat on the floor and fingertips supporting your head. Press your low
back down and begin the exercise by contracting abdominals and peeling first
your head (tucking your chin slightly), then your neck, shoulders, and upper
back off the floor.
Be careful not to pull your neck forward by sticking the chin
out; don't hold your breath, and keep elbows out of your line of vision to keep
chest and shoulders open.
For his part, Petersen teaches his clients to do crunches with
their feet off the floor and knees bent. He says that with feet kept on the
floor, many people tend to arch the back and engage the hip flexors.
"Crunches can be excellent, but if they're not done
correctly, with the back arching, they can actually weaken the
abdominals," Petersen says.
To work the obliques (the muscles on the sides of your waist),
says Cotton, take the standard crunch and rotate the spine toward one side as
you curl off the floor.
"Twist before you come up," he says. "It's really
important that the twist comes first because then it's the obliques that are
actually getting you up."
But keep in mind that you won't get a flat stomach with crunches
alone, says Cotton. Burning belly fat requires the well-known formula: using up
more calories than you take in.
"Crunches work the ab muscles; [they're] not to be mistaken
as exercise that burns the fat over the abdominals," he says. "That's
the biggest myth in exercise going."
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