Exercise is good for your health, if you take care of yourself. Just don’t get injured while exercising. To avoid injury and to make exercise much more enjoyable, wear clothing that is inappropriate for the type of activity you are going to perform. For related queries, go to a nearby sports shop and ask for guidance.

When exercising outdoors in cold weather, try wearing several warm thin layer of clothing so that you can discard them one by one as and when you warm up. However do not try to exercise in serious cold weather or when there is snow or ice on ground.

Get and prefer wearing appropriate shoes for yourself that provides a plenty of support for the ankles, and is thick enough to cushion you against impacts and wide enough to give you stability. Ideally, wear those shoes that are particularly designed for your chosen activity. Cross trainer shoes however are preferred more incase you want to do lots of different types of exercise.

So you have learnt today that exercise is useful only if done in proper way. Don’t injure yourself. Play SAFE!!!

Before incorporating more physical activity into your routine, it may be useful to assess your current fitness level so that you have a base to start with. One of the easiest methods available to assess your fitness is taking a walk.

Find safe route, let’s say 800m-1000m such as a pavement or sports track, etc. No walk from one end to the other and then back to the starting point as briskly as you can and that too without stopping. However take care that you don’t get too breathless. Carry a stop-watch along and see how much time you actually use for the complete walk. Usually it shouldn’t be more than 20 minutes. But even if it is, then do not worry; you’ve just got your starting baseline.

Once you start exercising regularly, repeat this so called “walk test” to assess how you’re improving. Instead, consider it as a part of your weekly exercise schedule, building up your walking speed and timing it simultaneously. Whenever you complete the test in less than 15 minutes consider yourself fairly fit already. But that doesn’t mean that you get complacent.

There are many more tests but just start with walk test for now. Others will follow after some regular exercises.

Important: Fitness rapidly declines if you do not keep up at least a minimum level of activity. Exercising more but in limits, not only improves your fitness but also provide best health benefits at the same time. So as we always say, the golden rule for happy and healthier living is: Exercise, Exercise and Exercise.

One way to work out how much more exercise you need is to calculate your current activity level based on the number of energy units (kilojules or calories) your body requires to do different activities. One of the most inactive thing you can do is to watch television the whole day. While watching, as you sit there, your body burns up around 4.2 kilojules or 1 calorie per minute, just keeping you alive.

Interesting Fact: Research shows that your body may actually use more calories if you stare at a blank wall rather than a television.

If you read a book, your rate goes up slightly, that is, up to 1.3 calories per minute. Yet reading is among the inactive jobs, so imagine the difference it makes, when you start moving.

A simple walk around the park raises your activity level to 3.5-5.5 calories per minute. A similar amount of energy is used in washing up your car, gardening, clipping hedges, vacuum cleaning, etc. Swimming burns a little more around 5 to 15 calories per minute, whereas running would push the minimum rate to 6-8 calories per minute and cycling would be 10-12 calories per minute.

There are many other ways to increase your daily level of activity. For example, get up a little earlier and walk around the block before you have your breakfast. When at the shopping center, walk briskly between the shops instead of strolling. Even at your workplace, always prefer staircase instead of elevators and visit your colleagues instead of talking to them through telephone. Driving your cars doesn’t come in active pursuits, so try walking or riding a bicycle whenever you can, that would add greatly to your daily level of activity.

However, the best place to start is at home. Start by avoiding the use of your television remote control and getting out of chair to change the channel or increase/decrease the volume. Also, during you watch television or listen to music, you can do simple exercises like leg rotations, hand movements, etc. Also you can climb up and down the stairs during those not so good commercial advertisements. Try getting a treadmill or an exercise bike and exercise while watching your favorite shows. Try setting up little time in your morning schedule for a simple routine warm up exercise. Slowly and steadily, you can turn this small routine into a regular structured home exercise sessions, maybe two to three times a week. Just before you know it, you’ll be making exercising an important part of your routine and lifestyle.

The amazing thing that exercise offers are free - You don’t have to go far to do it, it doesn’t take much time and it need not disrupt your day. What’s more, moderate exercise properly performed has no harmful side effects.

There is no need to engage in marathons or daily gym sessions. Less demanding activities can provide excellent fitness and health benefits. Exercising too strenuously can, in fact, be harmful to health. It can damage the joints, leading to osteoarthritis, and it can suppress the immune system, increasing the risk of disease. So don’t overdo it.

There are lots of different ways you can become fit, but the two most effective ways are, first to aim to be generally more active throughout the day and, secondly, to incorporate set period of planned exercise into your week. How you do this is entirely up to you. There are an infinite number of activities, exercise, sports; pastimes and leisure pursuits that will help you get fit. Simple daily tasks such as walking the dog, cleaning the house and gardening, for example, can bring important all-round fitness and health benefits.

Once you decide to shape up, choose activities that you are willing to fit in your weekly schedule and perform long-term. Better still, pick up the ones you actually enjoy doing. If you find that one form of activity is too hard to perform, or you just don’t like doing it, simply switch to something else. Also, if it hurts, modify the activity or avoid it altogether. If you continue with a physical pursuit that you don’t enjoy or find it too demanding, you’ll soon become discouraged and you may even end up quitting the idea of exercising altogether.

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There is another side to the exercise coin, which is the health consequence of leading a sedentary life. For starters, couch potatoes are at a far greater risk of developing high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which leads to heart attack and stroke, which is supposed to be the biggest killer of middle-aged people.

Lack of exercise weakens the skeleton and increases the risk of developing osteoporosis, a condition that results in fragile bones that fracture easily. Inactive people are more prone to lung ailments, such as bronchitis, and disorders such as diabetes mellitus. In addition, agility and balance can deteriorate as a result of inactivity. A sedentary lifestyle also means that your immune system never works at its peak.

A well known 40 year research project in the US called the Framingham study investigated the link between exercise and heart disease. It concluded that sedentary people were over five times more likely to die from a heart disease than those who fitted even moderate levels of exercise in their weekly routine.

The cornerstone of the body’s defense mechanisms is the lymphatic system, which relies on physical activity to push lymph food around the body, along with the white blood cells and antibodies that fight infection. If you are inactive much of the time, your lymphatic system becomes sluggish and ineffective, leaving you more prone to infectious disease, both minor as well as major, and a number of other serious health conditions.

The lungs are strengthened by regular exercise. Your lungs are, in effect, twin balloons that have a porous lining to absorb the oxygen you need for energy. The more they can inflate, the more oxygen they can absorb. When you are inactive for long periods, you tend to breathe in a shallow way, inflating your lungs only enough to stay alive. This can leave you feeling tired and listless much of the time and make you vulnerable to chest infection.

Regular physical activity improves the elasticity of lungs, which allows them to inflate with greater ease.

During exercise your lung capacity increases five to seven times. Some of this increased capacity stays with you when you are not exercising, so you breathe deeper to produce more power for the muscle and fuel for the brain.

So how does exercise provide all those wonderful health benefits? First, aerobic exercise has a major effect on the heart and the lungs. The heart is a large muscle with a specific job to do, that is, to pump blood around the body carrying oxygen, glucose and other nutrients to the major organs and tissues. All muscles get stronger when they are regularly made to do more work, and get weaker when they’re underused. The heart is no exception.

With exercise, heart muscle gets thicker and stronger, and is able to pump more blood with lesser effort. You’ll notice the effect of this change after just a few weeks of regular aerobic exercise. Your heart won’t have to beat as fast when you exert yourself (like by running upstairs, etc.) and it will revert to its normal rate of beating when you stop and rest.

The improvement that exercise brings can be easily demonstrated by comparing the heart rate of a physically fit person with that of someone who is inactive. The heart of an average adult pumps about nine pints of blood around the body each minute. An inactive person’s heart has to beat 80 or 90 times a minute to do this, whereas a fit person’s heart beats only 50-60 times per minute. A trained athlete’s heart may beat as little as 30 times a minute. It’s easy to see whose heart is more efficient!!!

Daily tasks, such as carrying the shopping or doing housework or home repairs, will seem easier when you exercise regularly, and you will experience fewer aches and pains and minor injuries. You’ll also sleep much better and wake up feeling really refreshed and ready to take on daily challenges.

Exercise has many other amazing properties as well. You will feel much happier, more relaxed and be less prone to tension and headaches, anxiety attacks and stress. Exercise can work as a pain killer and mood enhancer because it causes the body to release chemicals called “endorphins”. These substances have a similar chemical structure and effect to morphine and only these ones are natural, have no side effects and are excellent for your health and general well being.

Endorphins act on the nervous system in several ways. They reduce pain by blocking pain signals at particular sites in the brain and spinal cord. However, they also act on special places in a part of brain called”hypothalamus”, which is responsible for determining mood. It is this action that is thought to give the athletes the feeling of euphoria known as jogger’s high, experienced particularly after a long run. This feeling can be so pleasurable that athletes may become addicted to training, unwilling to give it up for a single day - even when ill.

In addition to the all-round health benefits of regular exercise, your lovemaking will also improve. You’ll feel like having sex more often, it will last longer and you’ll enjoy it more. These benefits will come to you within weeks of starting regular exercise and stay with you as long as you continue.

Exercise even helps to alleviate the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome, such as fatigue, abdominal pains, mood swings and water retention, as well as menopausal symptoms, such as hot flushes, sleep disorders, anxiety and depressions.

Any exercise in addition to your normal level of activity will benefit your health in a very short time. And the more exercise you do, within reason, the greater the benefits. If you lead a very inactive life, a simple daily twenty-minute walk will quickly make you fitter and more energetic, sharpen your mind and senses, and give you that extra zest for life.

You should aim to fit in at least three brisk twenty-minute walks each week - in the park, around the block or even in your own living room. Also perhaps add some other sporting activities to improve your strength and suppleness.

As per Wikipedia

Physical exercise is the performance of some activity in order to develop or maintain physical fitness and overall health. It is often directed toward also honing athletic ability or skill. Frequent and regular physical exercise is an important component in the prevention of some of the diseases of affluence such as cancer, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Exercises are generally grouped into three types depending on the overall effect they have on the human body:

Flexibility exercises such as stretching improve the range of motion of muscles and joints.

Aerobic exercises such as walking and running focus on increasing cardiovascular endurance.

Anaerobic exercises such as weight training, functional training or sprinting increase short-term muscle strength.

Physical exercise is considered important for maintaining physical fitness including healthy weight; building and maintaining healthy bones, muscles, and joints; promoting physiological well-being; reducing surgical risks; and strengthening the immune system.

Proper nutrition is at least as important to health as exercise. When exercising it becomes even more important to have good diet to ensure the body has the correct ratio of macronutrients whilst providing ample micronutrients, this is to aid the body with the recovery process following strenuous exercise.

Proper rest and recovery is also as important to health as exercise, otherwise the body exists in a permanently injured state and will not improve or adapt adequately to the exercise.

The above two factors can be compromised by psychological compulsions (eating disorders such as exercise bulimia, anorexia, and other bulimias), misinformation, a lack of organization, or a lack of motivation. These all lead to a decreased state of health.

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness can occur after any kind of exercise, particularly if the body is in an unconditioned state relative to that exercise.