Benefits of gyming

Benefits of Physical Activity | Physical Activity

Top of Page

Reduce Your Health Risk

The good news is that moderate physical activity, such as brisk walking, is generally safe for most people.

Cardiovascular Disease

Heart disease and stroke are two leading causes of death in the United States. Getting at least 150 minutes a week of moderate physical activity can put you at a lower risk for these diseases. You can reduce your risk even further with more physical activity. Regular physical activity can also lower your blood pressure and improve your cholesterol levels.

Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome

Regular physical activity can reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is some combination of too much fat around the waist, high blood pressure, low high-density lipoproteins (HDL) cholesterol, high triglycerides, or high blood sugar. People start to see benefits at levels from physical activity even without meeting the recommendations for 150 minutes a week of moderate physical activity. Additional amounts of physical activity seem to lower risk even more.

Strengthen Your Bones and Muscles

As you age, it’s important to protect your bones, joints, and muscles – they support your body and help you move. Keeping bones, joints, and muscles healthy can help ensure that you’re able to do your daily activities and be physically active.

Muscle-strengthening activities like lifting weights can help you increase or maintain your muscle mass and strength. This is important for older adults who experience reduced muscle mass and muscle strength with aging. Slowly increasing the amount of weight and number of repetitions you do as part of muscle strengthening activities will give you even more benefits, no matter your age.

Improve Your Ability to do Daily Activities and Prevent Falls

Everyday activities include climbing stairs, grocery shopping, or playing with your grandchildren. Being unable to do everyday activities is called a functional limitation. Physically active middle-aged or older adults have a lower risk of functional limitations than people who are inactive.

For older adults, doing a variety of physical activity improves physical function and decreases the risk of falls or injury from a fall. Include physical activities such as aerobic, muscle strengthening, and balance training. Multicomponent physical activity can be done at home or in a community setting as part of a structured program.

Hip fracture is a serious health condition that can result from a fall. Breaking a hip have life-changing negative effects, especially if you’re an older adult. Physically active people have a lower risk of hip fracture than inactive people.

Top of Page

Increase Your Chances of Living Longer

See physical activity recommendations for different groups, including:

Children age 3-5.
Children and adolescents age 6-17.
Adults age 18-64.
Adults 65 and older.
Adults with chronic health conditions and disabilities.
Healthy pregnant and postpartum women.

An estimated 110,000 deaths per year could be prevented if US adults ages 40 and older increased their moderate-to-vigorous physical activity by a small amount. Even 10 minutes more a day would make a difference.

Taking more steps a day also helps lower the risk of premature death from all causes. For adults younger than 60, the risk of premature death leveled off at about 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day. For adults 60 and older, the risk of premature death leveled off at about 6,000 to 8,000 steps per day.

Manage Chronic Health Conditions & Disabilities

Regular physical activity can help people manage existing chronic conditions and disabilities. For example, regular physical activity can:

Reduce pain and improve function, mood, and quality of life for adults with arthritis.
Help control blood sugar levels and lower risk of heart disease and nerve damage for people with type 2 diabetes.
Help support daily living activities and independence for people with disabilities. Also see:
- Health Benefits Associated with Physical Activity for People with Chronic Conditions and Disabilities [PDF-14.4MB]
- Key Recommendations for Adults with Chronic Conditions and Disabilities [PDF-14.4MB]

The Top 10 Benefits of Regular Physical Activity

Exercise is defined as any movement that makes your muscles work and requires your body to burn calories.

There are many types of physical activity, including swimming, running, jogging, walking, and dancing, to name a few.

Being active has been shown to have many health benefits, both physically and mentally. It may even help you live longer (1).

Here are the top 10 ways regular exercise benefits your body and brain.

1. Exercise can make you feel happier

Exercise has been shown to improve your mood and decrease feelings of depression, anxiety, and stress (2).

It produces changes in the parts of the brain that regulate stress and anxiety. It can also increase brain sensitivity to the hormones serotonin and norepinephrine, which relieve feelings of depression (3).

Additionally, exercise can increase the production of endorphins, which are known to help produce positive feelings and reduce the perception of pain (3).

Interestingly, it doesn’t matter how intense your workout is. It seems that exercise can benefit your mood no matter the intensity of the physical activity.

In fact, in a study in 24 women diagnosed with depression, exercise of any intensity significantly decreased feelings of depression (4).

The effects of exercise on mood are so powerful that choosing to exercise (or not) even makes a difference over short periods of time.

One review of 19 studies found that active people who stopped exercising regularly experienced significant increases in symptoms of depression and anxiety, even after only a few weeks (5).

Summary
Exercising regularly can improve your mood and reduce feelings of anxiety and depression.

2. Exercise can help with weight loss

Some studies have shown that inactivity is a major factor in weight gain and obesity (6, 7).

To understand the effect of exercise on weight reduction, it is important to understand the relationship between exercise and energy expenditure (spending).

Your body spends energy in three ways:

digesting food
exercising
maintaining body functions, like your heartbeat and breathing

While dieting, a reduced calorie intake will lower your metabolic rate, which can temporarily delay weight loss. On the contrary, regular exercise has been shown to increase your metabolic rate, which can burn more calories to help you lose weight (6, 7, 8).

Additionally, studies have shown that combining aerobic exercise with resistance training can maximize fat loss and muscle mass maintenance, which is essential for keeping the weight off and maintaining lean muscle mass (9, 10, 11).

Summary
Exercise is crucial to supporting a healthy metabolism and burning more calories per day. It also helps you maintain your muscle mass and weight loss.

3. Exercise is good for your muscles and bones

Exercise plays a vital role in building and maintaining strong muscles and bones.

Activities like weightlifting can stimulate muscle building when paired with adequate protein intake.

This is because exercise helps release hormones that promote your muscles’ ability to absorb amino acids. This helps them grow and reduces their breakdown (12, 13).

As people age, they tend to lose muscle mass and function, which can lead to an increased risk of injury. Practicing regular physical activity is essential to reducing muscle loss and maintaining strength as you age (14).

Exercise also helps build bone density when you’re younger, in addition to helping prevent osteoporosis later in life (15).

Some research suggests that high impact exercise (such as gymnastics or running) or odd impact sports (such as soccer and basketball) may help promote a higher bone density than no impact sports like swimming and cycling (16).

Summary
Physical activity helps you build muscles and strong bones. It may also help prevent osteoporosis.

4. Exercise can increase your energy levels

Exercise can be a real energy booster for many people, including those with various medical conditions (17, 18).

One older study found that 6 weeks of regular exercise reduced feelings of fatigue for 36 people who had reported persistent fatigue (19).

And let’s not forget the fantastic heart and lung health benefits of exercise. Aerobic exercise boosts the cardiovascular system and improves lung health, which can significantly help with energy levels.

As you move more, your heart pumps more blood, delivering more oxygen to your working muscles. With regular exercise, your heart becomes more efficient and adept at moving oxygen into your blood, making your muscles more efficient (20).

Over time, this aerobic training results in less demand on your lungs, and it requires less energy to perform the same activities — one of the reasons you’re less likely to get short of breath during vigorous activity (21).

Additionally, exercise has been shown to increase energy levels in people with other conditions, such as cancer (22).

Summary
Engaging in regular physical activity can increase your energy levels.

5. Exercise can reduce your risk of chronic disease

Lack of regular physical activity is a primary cause of chronic disease (23).

Regular exercise has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, heart health, and body composition. It can also decrease blood pressure and cholesterol levels (24, 25, 26, 27).

More specifically, exercise can help reduce or prevent the following chronic health conditions.

Type 2 diabetes. Regular aerobic exercise may delay or prevent type 2 diabetes. It also has considerable health benefits for people with type 1 diabetes. Resistance training for type 2 diabetes includes improvements in fat mass, blood pressure, lean body mass, insulin resistance, and glycemic control (28).
Heart disease. Exercise reduces cardiovascular risk factors and is also a therapeutic treatment for people with cardiovascular disease (29).
Many types of cancer. Exercise can help reduce the risk of several cancers, including breast, colorectal, endometrial, gallbladder, kidney, lung, liver, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, thyroid, gastric, and esophageal cancer (30).
High cholesterol. Regular moderate intensity physical activity can increase HDL (good) cholesterol while maintaining or offsetting increases in LDL (bad) cholesterol. Research supports the theory that high intensity aerobic activity is needed to lower LDL levels (31).

Hypertension: Participating in regular aerobic exercise can lower resting systolic BP 5–7 mmHG among people with hypertension (32).

In contrast, a lack of regular exercise — even in the short term — can lead to significant increases in belly fat, which may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease (23).

That’s why regular physical activity is recommended to reduce belly fat and decrease the risk of developing these conditions (33).

Summary
Daily physical activity is essential to maintaining a healthy weight and reducing the risk of chronic disease.

6. Exercise can help skin health

Your skin can be affected by the amount of oxidative stress in your body.

Oxidative stress occurs when the body’s antioxidant defenses cannot completely repair the cell damage caused by compounds known as free radicals. This can damage the structure of the cells and negatively impact your skin.

Even though intense and exhaustive physical activity can contribute to oxidative damage, regular moderate exercise can actually increase your body’s production of natural antioxidants, which help protect cells (34, 35).

In the same way, exercise can stimulate blood flow and induce skin cell adaptations that can help delay the appearance of skin aging (36).

Summary
Moderate exercise can provide antioxidant protection and promote blood flow, which can protect your skin and delay signs of aging.

7. Exercise can help your brain health and memory

Exercise can improve brain function and protect memory and thinking skills.

To begin with, it increases your heart rate, which promotes the flow of blood and oxygen to your brain. It can also stimulate the production of hormones that enhance the growth of brain cells.

Plus, the ability of exercise to prevent chronic disease can translate into benefits for your brain, since its function can be affected by these conditions (37).

Regular physical activity is especially important in older adults since aging — combined with oxidative stress and inflammation — promotes changes in brain structure and function (38, 39).

Exercise has been shown to cause the hippocampus, a part of the brain that’s vital for memory and learning, to grow in size, which may help improve mental function in older adults (38, 39, 40).

Lastly, exercise has been shown to reduce changes in the brain that can contribute to conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia (41).

Summary
Regular exercise improves blood flow to the brain and helps brain health and memory. Among older adults, it can help protect mental function.

8. Exercise can help with relaxation and sleep quality

Regular exercise can help you relax and sleep better (42, 43).

With regard to sleep quality, the energy depletion (loss) that occurs during exercise stimulates restorative processes during sleep (44).

Moreover, the increase in body temperature that occurs during exercise is thought to improve sleep quality by helping body temperature drop during sleep (45).

Many studies on the effects of exercise on sleep have reached similar conclusions.

One review of six studies found that participating in an exercise training program helped improve self-reported sleep quality and reduced sleep latency, which is the amount of time it takes to fall asleep (46).

One study conducted over 4 months found that both stretching and resistance exercise led to improvements in sleep for people with chronic insomnia (47).

Getting back to sleep after waking, sleep duration, and sleep quality improved after both stretching and resistance exercise. Anxiety was also reduced in the stretching group (47).

What’s more, engaging in regular exercise seems to benefit older adults, who are often affected by sleep disorders (48, 49).

You can be flexible with the kind of exercise you choose. It appears that either aerobic exercise alone or aerobic exercise combined with resistance training can both improve sleep quality (50).

Summary
Regular physical activity, regardless of whether it is aerobic or a combination of aerobic and resistance training, can help you sleep better and feel more energized during the day.

9. Exercise can reduce pain

Although chronic pain can be debilitating, exercise can actually help reduce it (51).

In fact, for many years, the recommendation for treating chronic pain was rest and inactivity. However, recent studies show that exercise helps relieve chronic pain (52).

In fact, one review of several studies found that exercise can help those with chronic pain reduce their pain and improve their quality of life (52).

Several studies also show that exercise can help control pain associated with various health conditions, including chronic low back pain, fibromyalgia, and chronic soft tissue shoulder disorder, to name a few (52).

Additionally, physical activity can also raise pain tolerance and decrease pain perception (53, 54).

Summary
Exercise has favorable effects on the pain associated with various conditions. It can also increase pain tolerance.

10. Exercise can promote a better sex life

Exercise has been proven to boost sex drive (55, 56, 57).

Engaging in regular exercise can strengthen the heart, improve blood circulation, tone muscles, and enhance flexibility, all of which can improve your sex life (56).

Physical activity can also improve sexual performance and sexual pleasure while increasing the frequency of sexual activity (56, 58).

Interestingly enough, one study showed that regular exercise was associated with increased sexual function and desire in 405 postmenopausal women (59).

A review of 10 studies also found that exercising for at least 160 minutes per week over a 6-month period could help significantly improve erectile function in men (57).

What’s more, another study found that a simple routine of a 6-minute walk around the house helped 41 men reduce their erectile dysfunction symptoms by 71% (60).

Yet another study demonstrated that women with polycystic ovary syndrome, which can reduce sex drive, increased their sex drive with regular resistance training for 16 weeks (61).

Summary
Exercise can help improve sexual desire, function, and performance in men and women. It can also help decrease the risk of erectile dysfunction in men.

The bottom line

Exercise offers incredible benefits that can improve nearly every aspect of your health. Regular physical activity can increase the production of hormones that make you feel happier and help you sleep better.

It can also:

improve your skin’s appearance
help you lose weight and keep it off
reduce the risk of chronic disease
improve your sex life

And it doesn’t take much movement to make a big difference in your health.

If you aim for 150 to 300 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity each week or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity spread throughout the week, you’ll meet the Department of Health and Human Services’ activity guidelines for adults (62).

Moderate intensity aerobic activity is anything that gets your heart beating faster, like walking, cycling, or swimming. Activities like running or participating in a strenuous fitness class count for vigorous intensity.

Throw in at least 2 days of muscle-strengthening activities involving all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms), and you’ll exceed the recommendations.

You can use weights, resistance bands, or your bodyweight to perform muscle-strengthening exercises. These include squats, push-ups, shoulder press, chest, press, and planks.

Whether you practice a specific sport or follow the guideline of 150 minutes of activity per week, you can inevitably improve your health in many ways (55).

Just one thing

Try this today: Need some ideas for how to start adding more activity into your daily routine? Check out this article for some tips and tricks to help get you going, along with a sample workout regimen!

5 reasons to go to the gym

Want to go to the gym but lack motivation? Below we consider at least five reasons to still gather courage and sign up for a workout.

Always in shape

The main advantage of regular sports is health and well-being. Training in the gym improves metabolism, blood circulation, the functioning of the cardiovascular system and the brain. It also improves the functioning of the digestive system and the genitourinary system. This is an excellent prevention of hypoxia and congestion in the body. “Movement is life” is not just words, but a truth that has been proven for centuries. nine0003

A healthy mind in a healthy body

It has long been known that physical exercise improves mood, gives energy and enthusiasm. Even if it’s very difficult for you to force yourself to go to the gym, after all, having coped with laziness and visiting the gym, you leave happy and inspired from there. After training, a person experiences a sense of accomplishment, gratitude to himself for overcoming laziness and apathy. A person who regularly visits a fitness club sees noticeable changes in his figure, it becomes more toned and beautiful, health improves, chronic ailments disappear - all this gives a feeling of happiness and joy. nine0003

No extra pounds!

The problem of fullness is very relevant for a large number of people. That is why the decision to go to the gym for many is based precisely on the desire to lose weight. In the gym, you can really lose weight, but only if you exercise regularly and adjust your diet. At the beginning, weight can mercilessly linger or, on the contrary, grow, because the body of an unsportsmanlike person perceives active loads as stress, but after a few months you will be able to achieve tangible results, lose weight and simply maintain your desired weight and fitness in the future. nine0003

A useful habit as a way of life

Going to the gym is a willpower training. If you can consistently develop a healthy habit of going to the gym without experiencing painful thoughts and laziness, consider that you have succeeded in introducing sports into your life and making it a part of it. Sports jerks are only harm and stress for the body, fitness should be a part of a person’s life, since movement and physical activity are natural for a person.

New acquaintances

If you are single or in need of new acquaintances, the gym is the best place to find friends with the same interests. Rotating in the circles of athletes and people who are attentive to their health and appearance, you yourself are changing, striving for self-improvement and development.

Where to sign up for a gym in Minsk?

If you want to visit a modern gym in the capital, we invite you to the Fitness World fitness club. This is a huge complex where you can play sports with the whole family. More than 500 simulators, professional trainers, comfortable conditions for training - all this awaits you at the World of Fitness center. nine0003

Are you interested in yoga for beginners? Aqua aerobics? Dancing? All this is in our center!

Fitness benefits, 6 tips for effective workouts

Article content:

Fitness benefits
Contraindications and harms of fitness
Essential Fitness
Tips for effective fitness
Group training or home training?

“Be in good shape” is the literal translation of the English verb “to fit”, from which the concept of “fitness” is derived. Combining many areas, fitness classes have two goals at once - changing the shape, body weight and general improvement of the body. To achieve them, you need to train regularly. However, fitness is not easy going to the gym. It is something more - a way of life and philosophy, thanks to which a person improves his physical form and improves health. Fitness proponents relentlessly talk about the benefits of exercise, and their opponents consider intense physical activity unhealthy. The truth, as usual, lies in the middle. nine0003

Fitness benefits

"Movement is life!" - said the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle and a clear proof of this is training in the gym. Regular training has an extremely beneficial effect on the physical shape of the body and is beneficial for the body. Among the clear benefits of fitness, the following effects can be distinguished.

Loss of extra pounds, normalization of weight and formation of the desired shape of the figure.
Increasing the body's resistance to negative environmental factors and strengthening the immune system. nine0039
Neutralization of the negative effects of stress, relieving nervous tension, improving sleep and psycho-emotional state.
Acceleration of metabolic reactions and improvement of metabolism.
Improvement of blood circulation, prevention of cardiovascular diseases, thrombosis and varicose veins of the lower extremities.
Slowdown of natural aging processes.
Improving the condition of the musculoskeletal system, prevention of osteochondrosis, arthritis and osteoporosis. nine0039
Development of flexibility, endurance, strength, sense of balance, coordination of movements, speed of reaction and attention.
Increasing self-esteem and self-confidence.

In practice, it has been proven that fitness classes are useful not only for the figure, but also help to give up bad habits (smoking, alcohol abuse), adjust your diet and lead a healthy lifestyle.

Fitness for women allows you to recover faster after childbirth and avoid the development of postpartum depression. For the health of men, regular exercise is also beneficial - it is an excellent prevention of nonspecific prostatitis, congestion in the pelvic organs and erectile dysfunction. nine0003

Recent studies by physicians at Harvard University (USA) have shown that regular exercise, diet and the rejection of bad habits prolong a person's life by 10 years or more. The experiment involved 40,000 mature volunteers, who were followed up over the past 30 years. The average life expectancy of the project participants, leading a healthy lifestyle and regularly visiting the gym, was 90 years. While the subjects who led a habitual lifestyle, on average lived only up to 77 years. nine0003

Contraindications and harms of fitness

"Everything is good in moderation" - believed the "father of medicine", the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates and turned out to be right. Excessive physical activity in the gym can provoke the development of addiction. After all, playing sports contributes to the active production of endorphins - chemical compounds whose action is similar to the effect of opiates on the human body. An excess of endorphins can bring the body into a state of mild euphoria. After visiting the gym, a person experiences positive emotions, joy and happiness, and if he misses 1-2 workouts, he begins to “break”. The consequences of such dependence can be unpredictable for the psycho-emotional state. And given the fact that fitness addicts often exhaust their body with dubious diets, this negatively affects not only the psyche, but also the physical health of a person. nine0003

We must not forget about the contraindications to fitness. These include the following diseases and conditions of the body.

Organic lesions of the heart.
Epilepsy.
Oncological pathologies.
Severe injuries of the musculoskeletal system.
Varicose veins of the lower extremities.
Chronic diseases in the acute stage.
Recent inflammation and surgery. nine0039

Therefore, before starting classes, it is necessary to consult your doctor. If they are carried out under the guidance of a fitness trainer, then you need to warn your mentor about the possible recommendations of the doctor. This will help you choose the right set of exercises and exercise regimen.

Important! If in the process of training there is discomfort, pain and any discomfort, then the classes must be stopped and undergo a medical examination.

Basic fitness

Fitness is universal! Its charm is that for anyone who wants to easily join the classes, he can offer a direction that is ideal for achieving the goal. To date, there are more than 70 types of fitness, each of which has its own characteristics. The following areas are the most popular and in demand.

Water aerobics – physical exercises in the pool water accompanied by music. During training, the load is evenly distributed to all muscle groups. nine0039
Aerobics - dance and gymnastic exercises performed to rhythmic music using the serial flow method.
Bodyflex is a set of exercises, the implementation of which allows you to stretch and tone the muscles of the body. Classes are held in combination with a special breathing system.
Calisthenics – exercises on bars, horizontal bars, wall bars, hand walkers or just on the floor. The main tasks of training are working with your own weight, developing endurance and muscle strength. nine0039
Yoga is a general health technique that includes physical and breathing exercises, relaxation and meditation.
Callanetics - health-improving physical exercises, including elements of gymnastics, choreography, static loads and stretching of the muscles of the body.
CrossFit - workouts consisting of short intervals, during which exercises (elements) from athletics, weightlifting, gymnastics, powerlifting and other sports are intensively performed. nine0039
Pilates is a health-improving and restorative direction, which includes a set of exercises to develop flexibility and strengthen all the muscles of the body.
Stretching - exercises for stretching the muscles, increasing their elasticity and relieving the feeling of tension.
Fitball - aerobics classes that are carried out using a large ball (fitball). Exercises are aimed at strengthening muscles, developing flexibility, coordination of movements and improving posture. nine0039
Shaping - rhythmic gymnastics, including a set of aerobic and strength exercises, without heavy weights, but with a large number of approaches.

Tip! When choosing the direction of fitness, it is recommended to take into account not only the ultimate goal of training, but also your own physical fitness. If its level is high, then you can do, for example, workout or crossfit. And in the absence of proper preparation, it is better to start classes, for example, with water aerobics, yoga or stretching. nine0003

Tips for effective fitness

Fitness is a self-sustaining wellness technique. It includes exercise, adherence to the chosen diet, sleep schedule and the rejection of bad habits. Compliance with these moments allows you to increase the effectiveness of classes and achieve your goal. During training, you must adhere to the following recommendations

A set of exercises should correspond to the level of physical fitness, health status and age of the person. nine0039
The diet (diet) is selected individually, depending on the existing problems and the goal.
The optimal training regimen is 2-4 times a week, 60-90 minutes each.
The volume of loads should not be exhausting for the body - a light stressful state will be quite enough.
Monotonous training programs should be avoided - their intensity and level of load should vary, which will allow the body to improve and recover normally. nine0039
It is better to set achievable tasks and study goals.

After going to the gym, the body needs to be restored, so you should not exhaust it with heavy physical labor around the house. It is recommended to give preference to mental activity, rest or light work.

Important! Safety precautions exist not only in production, but also when visiting the gym. Doing so will help prevent accidental and cumulative injuries. You should follow the recommendations of the coach and listen to his advice. nine0003

Group training or home training?

“Why go to the gym when you can work out at home?” - quite a reasonable question that fitness beginners ask. Let's try to answer it through a comparative table, which shows all the advantages and disadvantages of both group and home classes.

nine0196

Group lessons	Home workouts
Paid lessons	Free
Need to purchase sportswear	You can do anything
All necessary sports equipment is available	It is necessary to buy equipment, simulators and other equipment
Compliance with class schedule	You can train at any convenient time
Personal trainer who monitors the progress of training, the effectiveness of training and achievement of results	No control
Unlimited opportunities to improve your body and improve your body	Limited options
High level of motivation	Home environment relaxes

Practice has proven that group classes allow you to achieve your goal correctly, without harming your health and much faster.

Learn more