At present, there is increasing predisposition on feeling good, looking good, living longer, and an idealism of physical perfection. How can one succeed in this challenge to get a better quality of life and build a perfect body? Scientific evidence tells us that one of the keys to achieving these ideals is fitness and exercise.

Physical inactivity is associated with obesity and certain diseases, such as organ malfunctions and internal stoppages, which could be comparable to heart disease and diabetes. Fitness is a way you can prevent diseases. You just need determination and commitment to make regular activity a part of your daily routine. Make fitness part of your life. Health experts recommend that you should get at least 30 minutes of moderately intense physical activity on all or most days of the week. Moderate activity includes brisk walking, jogging, cycling, and swimming.

Talk to your doctor about how much exercise is right for you. This is especially important if you have not been active, if you have any health problems, or if you are pregnant or elderly. Remember, that exercise has so many benefits that any amount is better than none. Start out slowly. Begin with a short period of light exercise or a brisk walk every day and gradually increase how hard you exercise and for how long. Make fitness part of your life. The value of regular exercising has been proven again and again, not only for weight loss, but also for your health. Never take more than two days off in a row unless you are sick or physically unable to exercise.

If you are thinking in terms of a specific exercise program, work to permanently change your lifestyle by incorporating more activity. Do not forget that muscles used in any activity, any time of day, contribute to fitness. Try working in a little more movement with these simple steps:

• Park at the far end of a parking lot and walk to the office or store.
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Get off public transportation a few blocks before your stop.
• Get up from your desk during the day to stretch and walk around.
• Take a brisk walk when you get the urge to snack.
• Increase your pace when working in the house or yard.
• Carry your own groceries.

DVD/Video Fitness/Instructional.

While a little soreness is normal after you first start exercising, pain is not. Stop if you feel any pain. Exercise is important. Do it correctly and you can do it for the rest of your life. But if the exercise is causing you pain, you need to find out why!

Warming up before exercising is very important in preventing injuries. Before running you should first begin by walking, then jogging slowly. Begin increasing the speed as you feel your body loosening up.

Physical fitness implicates the action of the heart and lungs, and the muscles of the body and since what we do with our bodies also affects what we can do with our minds, fitness influences qualities such as mental alertness and emotional stability.

As you embark on your fitness program, it is important to remember that fitness is an individual quality that varies from person to person. It is influenced by age, sex, heredity, personal habits, exercise and eating practices. There are 4 factors you need to understand to improve physical fitness:

Cardio Respiratory Endurance - involves the ability to deliver oxygen and nutrients to tissues, and to remove wastes, over sustained periods of time. Long runs and swims are among the methods employed in measuring this component.

Muscular Strength - the facility of a muscle to exert force for a brief period of time. Upper-body strength, for example, can be measured by various weight-lifting exercises.

Muscular Endurance - the capability of a muscle, or a group of muscles, to sustain repeated contractions or to continue applying force against a fixed object. Pushups are often used to test endurance of arm and shoulder muscles.

Flexibility - the capacity to move joints and use muscles through their full range of motion. 10-12 minutes of daily stretching exercises performed slowly without a vigorous motion can be included after a warm up or during a cool down. The sit-and-reach test is a good measure of flexibility of the lower back and backs of the upper legs.

Body composition is often considered an element of fitness. It refers to the makeup of the body in terms of lean mass (muscle, bone, vital tissue and organs) and fat mass. An optimal ratio of fat to lean mass is an indication of fitness, and the right types of exercise will help you decrease body fat and increase or maintain muscle.

What kind of exercise?

It’s important to have the training basics before getting into any advanced level exercise. You can not run a marathon a month after you started running. The base training develops the body and gets it ready for extensive training.

You can learn to listen your body. Is the heavy breathing due to pushing your body or could it be the beginning of a heart attack. You might want to know that.

Aerobic exercise can be anything that gets your heart beating fast and steady for 30 minutes or more at a time. This can include, fast walking, running, dancing, steppers; exercises that get the heart beat up and keep it up for an extended period of time.

Strength training can include weight lifting, push-ups, chin-ups; this kind of exercises, develop muscle. Muscle burns fat, so building muscle will help you lose weight and increase your fitness level.

What fitness type best describes your lifestyle? You have taken the important first step on the path to physical fitness by seeking information.

Benefits of Exercise:

• increase efficiency of heart and lungs
• reduced cholesterol levels
• increased muscle strength
• reduced blood pressure
• reduced risk of major illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease
• weight loss
• more energy
• less stress
• improved quality of sleep

Read about Fitness in Ancient Times

Primitive Man and Fitness

Primitive nomadic lifestyles required the constant hunting and gathering food for survival. Tribes commonly went on hunting journeys of two or more days for food and water. Regular physical activity necessary for hunting and gathering was also a principal component of life.

Following successful hunting and gathering excursions, celebration events included trips of six to 20 miles to neighboring tribes to visit friends and family, where dancing and cultural games could often last several hours. This Paleolithic pattern of subsistence pursuit and celebration demanded a high level of fitness consisting of various forms of physical activity, defined human life.

Fitness in Ancient China

The philosophical teachings of Confucius encouraged participation in regular physical activity. Cong Fu gymnastics was developed to keep the body in good, working condition.

Cong Fu exercise programs consisted of various stances and movements, characterized by separate foot positions and imitations of different animal fighting styles. In addition to Cong Fu gymnastics, other forms of physical activity existed throughout ancient China including archery, badminton, dancing, fencing, and wrestling.

Fitness in Ancient India

Individual pursuit of fitness was discouraged as the religious beliefs of Buddhism and Hinduism emphasized spirituality and tended to neglect development of the body. Consequently, the importance of fitness within society in general was relatively low. However, an exercise program similar to Chinese Cong Fu gymnastics developed known as Yoga. Characterized by discipline and meditation Yoga includes physical postures (asana) breathing techniques and meditation.

Early political and military leaders within the civilizations of Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt, Palestine, Persia, and Syria realized the importance of fitness to the efficiency and performance of military forces, encouraged fitness throughout society. Perhaps the best example of a civilization utilizing fitness for political and military purposes is the Persian Empire. Fitness training to improve strength and stamina was not intended for health benefits, but rather to create more able soldiers to help expand the Empire.

Fitness in the Greek Civilization - Athens

Perhaps no other civilization has held fitness in such high regard as ancient Greece. The idealism of physical perfection was one that personified ancient Greek civilization. The Greeks believed development of the body was equally as important as development of the mind. Physical well-being was necessary for mental well-being too, with the need for a strong, healthy body to harbor a sound mind. Many founding medical practitioners facilitated the growth of fitness throughout ancient Greece, including the likes of Heroics, Hippocrates, and Galen.

Gymnastics, along with music, was considered to be the most important classroom topic. Gymnastics took place in palaestras, which were sites of physical education for young boys. The palaestra consisted of an indoor facility for gymnastics, in addition to an outdoor area for running, jumping, and wrestling.

When adulthood was reached, typically between the ages of 14 and 16, the site for fitness training switched from palaestras to gymnasiums. Exercise in the palaestra and gymnasium was supervised by the paido tribe, who is similar to the modern fitness trainer. This idealistic fitness situation existed most strongly within Athens, which has been characterized as a democratic society most similar to the United States.

Read about: Fitness in Today’s World