Sunday Fitness Advice

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

16 Apr 2006 06:00 PM

Question: I want to work out daily, but there's not enough hours in the day. Does it matter if I take the ten minutes I walk the kids to school in the morning and put it together with the ten minutes I walk to pick them up and bring them home?

Answer: Absolutely. You can do your workout incrementally. 30 minutes of activity daily is a good plan, but if you need to do 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes in the afternoon and 10 minutes in the evening, it all adds up. You just need to walk briskly when you can, push your heart rate up if possible. Any regular daily activity is better than none.

Question: I hate push-ups. I loathe push-ups. Do I have to do push-ups?

Answer: Nope. Push-ups are exercises that work your biceps, triceps, shoulder and back muscles. There are plenty of other exercises that work those same muscle groups without having to be push-ups. Doing an activity you hate is a way to set yourself up for failure. Find something you like and you will be more inclined to do it regularly.

Question: Aerobics involve a lot of jumping around and movements that I can never seem to match. Is there a better way to get the same results without an aerobics class?

Answer: Aerobic classes are designed around muscle toning and cardiovascular activity and caloric burn. Your goal is to get your heart rate up and perform the motions in a way that tone up the body. You can get aerobic activity from walking, bicycling or rowing. Muscle tone will be focused on the area of the body you are using - for example, walking tones the leg, rowing tones the arms and back. All of them burn fat all over the body.

Question: Should I diet while I exercise?

Answer: Depends on your goals. Eating a healthy diet can help you improve your weight loss and energy levels for exercising. Basically, if you are interested in a fat burning workout - you should burn more calories than you consume. If you eat a diet that gives you about 1500 to 1800 calories a day, you want your output to be around 2100 to 2500 calories a day. You just have to balance the cause and effect, increased activity and high calorie burn without the right sustenance can lead to headaches, dizziness and more. If you have questions about health effects, be sure to consult with your physician for their recommendations.

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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