Stamina building activities are sometimes also referred to as aerobic exercise. Here aerobic literally means “with oxygen”. It refers to all forms of sustained, moderate exercise including walking, cycling and jogging, not just aerobic step and aerobic dance classes.

We usually tend to think that all activities or exercise we do involves oxygen. However this is not the fact. The physical activities such as weight lifting and sprinting are actually the anaerobic exercises, literally meaning “without oxygen”. This is because it takes several minutes for the heart and lungs to circulate blood to the muscles along with oxygen. If the physical activity is very intense, then there is not much time available for the oxygen to be produced and the muscle have to perform without it. In other words they perform anaerobically. Instead they draw upon energy from the existing carbohydrate supplies in the muscles through a chemical transformation process. Muscles cannot work for very long this way. If you are able to sustain any specific exercise for let’s say a period of 20 minutes, it is evident from it that muscles are working aerobically. Similarly to aerobic exercise, regular anaerobic exercise increases the body’s ability to access and utilize energy.

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Your body makes various physiological adaptations if you perform regular stamina-building exercise. The heart muscle becomes stronger and the pumping capacity of the heart also increases. This allows more blood to be pumped around your body per heart beat. Now because of the fact that heart beats more effectively and efficiently, it beats less often. All those people who start a programme of regular exercise in their daily routine will notice that their pulse becomes slower even when they are resting and the pulse gets back to normal rate more quickly after they exercise.

Check your condition by measuring your resting pulse rate early in the morning, before getting out of the bed. If it is above 100 for a woman or above 90 for a man, it’s time to see your doctor before starting your regular stamina exercises. The doctor may advise against certain activities.

Regular stamina-building exercise also increases and expands the lung capacity. Thus, allowing more oxygen in and removing waste carbon dioxide more rapidly, so that you do not get out of breath as quickly. Blood flow also improves through the lungs and around the body. It thus enables more freshly oxygenated blood to reach the muscles, organs and tissues throughout the body.

To achieve the benefits, the heart, lungs and circulation must work harder, little by little, over a period of weeks and months until they, and you, are healthier and fitter than when you started out. Physical activity exercise sessions that can be sustained for at least 20 minutes (ideally a little longer) and done at a moderate level are the key components. Health and fitness experts generally recommend a minimum of 30 minutes of sustained, moderate physical activity at least three times a week.

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Having the determination to achieve your aim is one of the keys to a happy and successful life. Keep on your toes and be prepared for all that life throws at you by building up your physical stamina.

Studies show that more than 50 percent of adults in Western countries do little regular stamina-building exercise, and 25 percent are not physically active in any way. The more sedentary you become in your daily life, the less stamina you have, and this has serious implications on your health.

Stamina ensures, for instance, that you can climb a large flight of stairs without puffing or pausing for breath half-way up or probably run down the road for a bus if you are late for an appointment. There are other names for this ability, including endurance, cardiovascular fitness and aerobic capacity, but they all mean the same thing - that the heart, lungs and circulation are working effectively and efficiently.

While all aspects of fitness are important, improving stamina will have the most immediate and dramatic effects on your health.

“A Harvard University study demonstrated that people who expend 6300 kilojoules (1500 calories) a week through the stamina building activities, such as long distance walking, running or cycling, live the longest.”

Sustained, moderate stamina-building exercises burn fat and so help you to shed that extra weight when combined with a weight reduction diet.

However, if you have been inactive for a while, then check your condition by measuring your resting pulse rate early in the morning, before getting out of the bed. If it is above 100 for a woman or above 90 for a man, it’s time to see your doctor before starting your regular stamina exercises. The doctor may advise against certain activities.

As far as choice for exercise is concerned, Walking and jogging are not the only kinds of stamina building exercises. Cycling, swimming, dancing and step aerobics are also effective, provided they are sustained for 20 minutes or until mild fatigue sets in. Skipping is another simple form of exercise with major aerobic benefits. You can also combine a range of aerobic exercises, such as step-ups and star jumps, into a 20 minute routine to do at home.

Lastly, try to have a companion join you in your workouts. Exercising with friends is fun and keeps you motivated and enthusiastic.

If you’re new to exercise, start slow and steady and build up the required intensity gradually. The benefits of exercise starts from the word go. So in no case would you ever require to push yourself. A healthy level of exercise can make you breathless but still you’ll be able to talk. Try chatting with your friends while performing if you exercise with your friends. And if you don’t have anyone to talk to, then sing a song or count to ten, loud and clear. Exercising will never leave you gasping for air.

If you have some medical condition, such as heart or lung disorder, high blood pressure, diabetes, infections or even a spine or joint ailment, then it is advisable to seek your doctor advice before starting regular exercise. Also, seek an advice from your qualified fitness instructor, to adjust your exercise sessions as per your personal needs.

No matter what exercise you plan to do, it is necessary that you always start with a gentle warm up routine and finish with a cool-down session. The amount of time you need on warming up actually depends on the activity you are preparing for. In general, a warm up exercise should last for 10 minutes and should normally include some aerobic exercises to raise the heart and breathing rate, and then also include stretching out your body so as to increase the suppleness of the joints and muscle flexibility.

A cooling down routine involves activities similar to that of warm up exercises, except for the fact that it lasts for half the time as in warm up exercise. During the cool-down exercise, you gradually reduce the intensity. It allows your breathing rate and heartbeat to slow down gently and prevents the blood from pooling into the veins, which if not done, can cause dizziness. The warm up and cooling down exercises also prevents any post exercising aches, stiffness or soreness, which particularly happens to those who are new to regular exercise.

The main reason for warm up and cool-down exercise is to prepare your body for more activities. But if you don’t find much time for long exercising sessions, even then warm up exercises are worth doing for their own sakes. They will get your heart and lungs working harder and limber up the joints and muscle so that you feel livelier and fitter. These exercises, when done in routine, also reduce the risk of injury, such as strained joint or muscles. So as I mentioned before, Play It Safe!!!!

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.