BENEFITS OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE.

WHAT IS PHYSICAL EXERCISE?

Effortful Physical exercise can be defined as any exercise requiring sustained attention or
effort to maintain an uncomfortable intensity to reach the goal of the exercise. Both moderate and
vigorous intensity Physical exercise improve health.
Popular ways to be active include walking,cycling, wheeling,sports,active recreation and play,and
can be done at any level of skill and for enjoyment by everybody.
Regular Physical activity is proven to help prevent and manage noncommunicable diseases such
as heart disease,stroke,diabetes and several cancers. It also helps prevent hypertension,maintain
healthy body weight and can improve mental health, quality of life and well-being.

A HISTORICAL VIEW OF EXERCISE.

Prehistoric period
Hominids-human beings and their immediate ancestors-have existed on Earth for at least two
million years. For more than 99 percent of that time,hominids lived a nomadic existence and
survived by hunting and gathering food. It is obvious that the way of life was enormously different
from the way people live today in developed countries. Thus,evolutionary history has prepared
humankind for one kind of life,but modern people lead another. This fact has profound
implications for patterns of disease and for the association between living habits and health.
Observation of the few remaining nomadic groups in the world indicates that they are relatively
free of chronic diseases and that,in comparison to the population in developed countries, they are
learner,have a higher level of physical fitness,eat a very different diet,and have different physical
activity patterns. Data from the distant past are not available, but it is reasonable to speculate that
early humans had considerably higher caloric expenditures per unit of body weight than the
modern individuals.

TECHNOLOGICAL PERIOD
The post-Worls war II period has been a technological age,a period characterized by rapid
growth in energy-saving devices,both in the home and at workplace. As an example,
longshoremam in the late 1940s worked hard loading and uploading ships; by contrast, most
longshoremen I'm the late 20th century had much lower energy demands from the job,because of
the containerization of cargo and the mechanisation of the loading and unloading process. Also
during this period,the use of labour-saving devices in the home and in yardage Garden work
became much more widespread. Physical activity became less and less common in industralized
countries,especially among the urban population. Although the level of general physical activity
has declined,most observers feel that there have been increases in exercise participation in many
countries since the late 1960s.
Jogging,racket sports,cycling, and other active recreational pursuits have become much more
common. In the sense this is simply humankind returning to the more active lifestyle of its distant
ancestors.
Types of physical fitness.
Physical fitness is a general concept and is defined in many ways by scientists. Physical fitness is
discussed here in two major categories: health-related Physical fitness and motor-performance
Physical fitness. Despite some overlap between these classifications, there are major differences,
as described below.

HEALTH-RELATED PHYSICAL FITNESS

Health-related Physical fitness is defined as fitness related to some aspect of health. This
type of Physical fitness is primarily influenced by an individually exercise habits;thus,it is a
dynamic state and may change. Physical characteristics that constitute health-related Physical
fitness include strength and endurance of skeletal muscles,joint flexibility,body composition, and
cardiorespiratory endurance. All these attributes change in response to appropriate physical
conditioning programs, and all related to health.

Strength and endurance of skeletal muscles of the trunk help maintain correct posture and prevent
such problems as low back pain. Minimal levels of muscular strength and endurance are needed
for routine tasks of living,such as carrying bags of groceries or picking up a young child.
Individuals with very low levels of muscular strength and endurance are limited in the
performance of routine tasks and have to lead a restricted life. Such limitations are perhaps only
indirectly related to health, but Individual who cannot pick up and hug a grandchild or must
struggle to get up from a soft chair surely have a lower quality of life than that enjoyed by their
fitter peers.

Flexibility, or range of motion around the joints,also ranks as an Important component of health
related fitness. Lack of flexibility in the lower back and posterior thigh is thought to contribute to
low back pain. Extreme lack of flexibility also has a deleterious effect on the quality of life
limiting performance.

PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF EXERCISE

Neuromuscular effects

Strength and endurance

Appropriate exercise increases the strength and endurance of skeletal muscles. Increases in
muscular strength are associated with increases in muscle mass;increases in muscular endurance
are associated with improved blood flow to the working muscles. These are achieved by
resistance training. Any exercise that causes the muscle to increase its tension,whether or not the
muscle actually shortens during contraction,provides an appropriate strength training stimulus.
Resistance can be applied to a muscle group by attempting to move an immovable object,by
working one muscle group against another,by lifting heavy weights,or by using special strength-
training machines and devices. There is a wide selection of strength-training equipment that,when
used properly,can increase muscular strength and endurance.
It is possible that some of the equipment is more efficient in developing maximal
performance,which is Important for competitive athletes. But for the average individual, who is
training to maintain an acceptable level of muscular fitness,any one device or program is probably
about as good as another.
Strength and endurance training is done by performance several ''reps" (repetition) of a given
exercise,then moving on to another exercise for a different muscle group.
Experts generally recommend that exercisers select a resistance that is approximately 65 percent
of the maximum they can lift for the particular exercise. This load should allow the completion of
12 reps of that exercise into to 30 seconds.
Each group of eight to 12 reps is called a set,and two or three sets of a given exercise are
recommended for each training session. The average individual should perform strength and
endurance training two to three days per week. Super circuit weight training refers to a program
in which running or other aerobic exercises are performed between sets; this training produces
aerobic as well as strength benefits.

FLEXIBILITY
Muscles and tendons can be stretched to improve flexibility (the range of motion at a joint).
Flexibility training follows a few,simple principles. To Improve range of motion, the muscles and
other connective tissues around a joint must be stretched. The preferred stretching technique is a
slow increase in the range of motion. The exerciser should feel the muscle stretch, but not to the
point of pain. The stretch should be performed gradually,and the body should be held for 10 to 20
seconds in the stretched position and then gradually returned to relaxed posture. By stretching
each muscle group in this fashion as a part of the strengthening and conditioning program, the
participants will maintain good flexibility. Bouncing or explosive stretching movements should
be avoided,as they can result in muscle or tendon tears.

CARDIORESPIRATORY EFFECTS
Cardic effects

Regular aerobic exercise training has a direct effect on the heart muscle. The muscle mass of the
left ventricle, which is the pumping chamber that circulates throughout 5he body,increases with
exercise training. This change means that the heart can pump more blood with each beat. In
short,the heart becomes a bigger,stronger,and more efficient pump capable of doing more work
with less effort.

CIRCULATORY EFFECTS
Regular exercise also produces changes in the circulation. As previously discussed, muscle
endurance training serves to increase blood flow to the working muscles. This increased blood
flow means that more oxygen and fuel can be delivered to the muscle cells.
The number of red blood cells which carry oxygen in the blood, also increases with training, as
does blood volume. Taken together,these accomplish this,air must pass into and out of the
lungs.and the respiratory gases must diffuse through the lungs into the circulation and vice versa.
Although exercise has not been shown to affect this diffusing ability, exercise training does
strengthen the muscles of respiration. This means that a trained individual can move more air
through 5he lungs per time unit,and forced vital capacity(I.e the maximum volume of air that can
be exhaled after a full inspiration )may be increased.

TYPES AND BENEFITS

People divide exercise into three broad categories:
. Aerobic
.Anaerobic
.Agility training

Aerobic exercise