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And strength training is not complicated. It is recommended that you do 8 – 12
repetitions of 8 – 10 major muscle groups at least 2 days a week. However, you
don’t have to do all these exercises at once. You can break them up into shorter
workouts throughout the day. For example, you can do just upper body exercises in
the morning, and your lower body exercises in the evening. Or, you can alternate
strength exercises with cardiovascular exercise (often known as circuit training) by
switching back and forth every couple of minutes.
Flexibility
is being able to bend, reach, twist and turn with comfort and ease as
we perform daily tasks, play or exercise. It is perhaps the most ignored component of
fitness, but certainly the easiest one to incorporate into our daily lives because it can
be done anywhere and almost at any time.
To maintain your flexibility, you simply need to stretch. This could be as simple as
reaching for your toes, or reaching overhead when you wake up in the morning. Or
maybe you enjoy it so much that you would be interested in trying the Nautilus
®
yoga workout video. You can even incorporate stretching into your strength training
workouts by stretching the muscles you have used immediately after you have
completed your exercise set.
Like cardiovascular training, it is recommended that you stretch every day. However,
you do not need to create a formalized program. You can simply make sure that you
stretch your major muscle groups throughout the day. Make sure you include your
thighs, calves, hamstrings, back, chest, neck and shoulders.
Do what feels good, but also remember to mix it up. Don’t just do traditional
“reach and hold” stretches. Also, try gently moving through a range of motion that
is comfortable to you. For example, you don’t have to stretch your neck simply by
pulling on your head with your hand. You can also just rotate the neck slowly around
and look side-to-side.
ExErCiSE ANd FiTNESS guidELiNES
