While exercise may be the last thing on the mind of many pregnant women, since they often feel more tired and achy than normal, there are many reasons to continue or begin a fitness program. As long as your doctor approves, moderate exercise can be incorporated into your routine most days of the week. The health benefits of swimming make it an excellent choice for those who are seeking to find the best way to stay active during pregnancy.
Perhaps you’ve heard about the health benefits of aerobic exercise, and that phrase simply makes you conjure up a mental image of a bunch of women clad in cutesy spandex outfits at a school gymnasium performing synchronized Jazzercise steps.
Well, the trend in the past has been to take what is collectively referred to as “aerobics classes”, or gatherings that are enjoyed by groups of men and women who follow an instructor while they embark on an exercise regimen which combines aerobic exercise, stretching and strength-training moves to achieve different levels of fitness. It may be a “step class” or a dance class. Aerobic exercise could be simply be doing “Jumping Jacks”… it is anything that gets your heart pumping. First, we need to define the word “aerobic”, which means “with oxygen”. Aerobics is not just the exercise regimen per se, but a series of moves by you that will continue to stimulate your heart and breathing rate, improving your breathing through each successive session. Aerobic exercise takes on many forms. Such examples include activities like the use of cardio machines, or spinning, running, swimming, walking, hiking, dancing, cross-country skiing, kickboxing, and the aforementioned aerobics classes.
You can follow a healthy diet and exercise until you are blue in the face (please don’t do that though – it’s just an expression), and your body will never achieve that sinewy, conditioned look you see in the pages of fitness magazines. Before you assume those chiseled-looking bods of the men and women who grace the magazines’ pages is the result of Photo Shopped images, you should be aware that the look that you admire, and perhaps covet, comes from weight training.
“Oh… weight training” you say glumly. But… wait a minute – before you stop reading and go no further, because, although you know you’re interested in looking good and getting a primo workout to your muscles and lungs, you may shudder to think that you will end up looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Well this article will dispel that myth right now.
Not so long ago, the medical honchos told us that eating nuts was not good for our health. We believed them because they are, after all, the medical gurus, and we are just mortal men and women. Besides, if you think about it, what possible redeeming value could a peanut butter and jelly sandwich be, or, if you are really decadent and like swirling your tablespoon around in the Jif bottle and delivering yourself a big mouthful of that creamy or crunchy goodness? They shamed us into believing peanut butter was a no-no.
