Did you know doing physical exercises keeps us smart? Reading books and studying help us get smarter, but working out and sweating also help our brains sharpened and stimulated. Doing exercises not only keeps you healthy but also helps you stay clever as well. Some recommend we do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week or at least 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity per week to stay healthy. Or to lose weight, it is recommended that we do at least 30 minutes of physical activity per day. Doing physical exercises gives you so many benefits. And you can also get smarter working out. So, it is no brainer for you not to do physical activtieis daily. There are 3 major benefits you can get from doing physical exercises daily and 3 types of physical activities I recommend you do, especially those of you who are male and over 40 years old. These are proven exercises that worked for me, being over 45 years old. I love doing them every morning right after getting up.
3 great benefits you can get by working out.
First one is that you can get energy by working out. This sounds a bit counterintuitive, but it is true. You get a lot of energy by moving your body and raising your heart beat rates. After reaching above 120-130 BPM, you may start breaking sweat and breathing hard. Then, you start feeling great.
At start, you may feel resistance because you would not want to get into hard labor the first thing after getting up. But after several minutes of starting to work out, you will thank yourself for having started. You start feeling better and energized to further work out until you are satisified. Next time you start working out, you start seeking this satisfying feeling. You want to suffer in a workout to have this feeling. You may get addicted to this feeling in a way, but this is a good addiction that helps you stay healthy and energized. I do this the first thing in the morning because I can start a day with a full of energy.
Another benefit you get out of doing physical exercises is that you can stay fit. You will like yourself and feel proud looking at yourself in a mirror. This is very important because your physical appearances affect your self-confidence. Especially if you are over 40 years old, you want to stay fit also for your health. You can stay relatively good in shape by exercising three to five times a week. But what I recommend is that you start small, but you want to do it everyday. By doing some physical exercises everyday creates a routine, which helps you make it a habit.
For a habit to stick, one says that it takes 66 days. So, for you to continue to do exercises continuously over 2 months, I recommend that you start exercising for 20-30 minutes everyday. If you are new to fitness or have not done much physical exercises before, you can just do moderate activities, such as squats or some core exercises, but what is important is do some exercises consistently daily.
The last benefit you get by exercising daily is that you get smarter as you do more exercises. This may be my own theory, but I feel my brain works better with faster blood circulation rendered by high heart beat rates. In a way, when exercising, I get into meditation modes where I reflect things that happened the day before or what I will be facing today. It helps me think more clearly. Not sure if more blood going to my brain more quickly is affecting my mind in a positive way. But this is what I’ve found it to be true at least for me over the past 5-6 years since I started working out everyday.
There are more benefits you get from doing physical exercises daily, such as keeping fatal diseases like cancers away, but these are 3 benefits that I feel great about when engaged in daily exercises.
3 types of exercises I recommend that you do especially for those of you who are over 40 years old are HIIT, core execises, and lifting weights.
HIIT is short for High Intensity Interval Training, which calls for very intense activities, typically done for 20 seconds, followed by a short rest, typically for 10 seconds. There are many variations, such as 30 seconds of activities followed by 15 seconds or 45 seconds of action with 15 seconds of rest.
There are many exercises typically done for HIIT, such as burpees, mountain climbers, jacks, etc., but they are basically designed to build your muscles, keep your heart beat rates high, and lose your weight. These exercises are very tough and exhausting, and you get to the point where your heart beat rates get as high as 150-170BPM (you cannot talk at this point). So, some of you may hate them, but I love them for the benefits I get out of them. These execises help promote your mitochondrial assembly. Also, even after you are done with these HIIT execises, you still get fat-burning effects going.
So, there are just so many benefits you can get from HIIT exercises. And you can get your heart beat rates up in a short period of time. So, they are very efficient in fat burning and weight loss.
*If you use a smartwatch or fitness tracker, you can see and monitor your heart beat rates during workouts. This helps you keep motivated as well. By looking at your heart rates as you exercise, you can feel like you are burning fat and calories.
You can start today by buying a fitness tracker here.
Core exercises are also types of exercises I perform regularly. Doing these exercises helps develop your abdominal muscle, pelvis, stomach, and hips. They help you maintain your posture in a good shape, which helps your physical appearances. Typical exercises are planks, bicycle crunch, glute bridges, etc. They are actually easier than most of HIIT exercises. And even if you are just starting up and have not done much exercises, you can start doing them with ease. Though there is not much movement in these exercises, you can break sweat doing them. You may want to get a decent yoga matress. Otherwise, it is painful to do planks if you are doing them at home and on a wooden floor. I recommend that you get a mat that is at least 2cm thick so that you have enough cushion under your arms.
Weight-lifiting is another type of exercises you want to have in your regular exercises routines because if you are over 40 years old, you want to maintain or develop as much muscle as you want. We are not getting any younger, and you are losing muscle over time as you age. Weight-lifting is a great way to develop and maintain your muscles. I actually do most of my execises at home, so I bought pairs of dumbells. You want to get a pair of dumbells that are a little too heavy for you. They should be heavy, but you can somehow manage to lift it with one hand. Then, as you get better and stronger, you want to get heavier dumbells or if you are working out at a gym, you want to do heavier weights. My favorite exercise using weights is doing exercises using kettlebells. It helps you develop a variety of muscles doing this one exercise. So, it is great.
These are what I recommend that you start doing if you haven’t already especially if you are a male and over 40 years old. As I started doing execises daily after I turn 40 years old, doing them helps me in shape and start improving on many aspects of my life. Let’s start small but do them consistently to lose weight, start your day with full or energy and clear mind.