The Importance of Health & Fitness
Living a healthy lifestyle is important for a vast number of reasons and it encompasses a variety of aspects.
Health isn’t simply defined by fitness, nor is it simply defined by nutrition. It is comprised of many things, including: relationships, spirituality, confidence, lack-of stress, and more.
Nonetheless, fitness and nutrition are key contributors to ones overall health and well-being.
In this article, we’re going to be focusing in on the importance of fitness, the benefits of exercise, and then we’ll conclude with some at-home workouts that you can perform while in quarantine…
Let’s get into it!
The Importance of Staying Fit
The single most beneficial addition to ones lifestyle is exercise and activity. The mortality rate for those who live a sedentary lifestyle increases ten fold compared to those who remain active.
Aside from the ever-desired longevity of life, staying fit also reduces the risk of heart attacks, diabetes, osteoporosis, and a host of other chronic and acute diseases and disorders.
The recommendation is simple. Start slow and aim for 150 minutes of light-to-moderate physical activity per week. While this is a generic baseline for those who are otherwise not as active, it’s a whole lot better than sitting on the couch.
If you want to live longer, look better, feel better, and move better, remaining generally fit throughout your life will give you the best chance at having the highest quality of life.
Benefits of Exercise
So, regular exercise is inherently good for you. But why?
The good news is that no matter your age, weight, or medical history, it’s never to late to start towards a healthier, more active life.
The benefits are undeniable and they will, in fact, change. your. life. Below is a host of benefits that you can expect from consistent exercise:
- Enhances Weight loss
- Increases Strength
- Improves Endurance
- Builds Confidence
- Prolongs Life
- Improves Sleep
- Reduces Risk of Cancers, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses
- Improves Health/Blood Markers (blood pressure, heart rate, blood sugar)
- Stimulates Brain Function
- Improves Mood
- And more!
The list above is a very short list of what you can come to experience upon implementing exercise into your daily life. Exercise is life changing and should be recommended as a primary alternative to medicines in many cases.
If you’re just starting, grab a friend or family member to do it with, track your progress, switch it up, and stay consistent! These are the best ways to ensure steady motivation and discipline so that you can reap the rewards of exercise.
At-Home Exercises with: Dumbbells, Kettlebells, & Barbells
Working out at home typically involves minimal equipment. Whether it’s just your bodyweight, a resistance band, or a dumbbell or two, working out from home usually requires some creativity.
If you have a dumbbell or two, a kettlebell, or even a barbell with some weighted plates, below are a number of at-home exercises that you can be doing in order to stay fit and in-shape:
While having the ability to perform some of these exercises widely depends on the weight of the piece of equipment that you have, it’s all about doing what you can in order to keep fit…
Dumbbell Exercises:
- Shoulder Press
- Floor Press (Variation of Chest Press)
- Bicep Curls
- Tricep Extensions (a.k.a Skull Crushers)
- Lateral Raises/Rear Delt Raises/Front Raises
- Lunges
- Bent Over Row
- Goblet Squat
Here are some dumbbells that can be used for the exercises above:
Kettlebell Exercises
- Kettlebell Swings
- Goblet Squats
- RDL’s
- Lunges
- Single Arm Overhead Squat
- Lateral Raise/Rear Delt Raise/Front Raise
Barbell Exercises
It’s highly unlikely that you have access to a barbell at home, however, if you do, many of the same exercises that you can perform with a dumbbell can be emulated with a barbell, such as a 5ft Olympic Barbell or the 6ft Barbell. If you are more interested in deadlift exercises then a 7ft Barbell would be ideal for this particular exercise.
- Barbell Shoulder Press
- Bench Press
- Bicep Curl
- Bent Over Row
- Deadlift
- RDL
- Barbell Squat
- Olympic Lifts (i.e. Snatch, and Clean & Jerk)
Summary
In short, the importance of staying fit and healthy is inherently obvious to most. However, it’s something that can’t be overstated. The benefits of exercise and the keys to staying active are invaluable tools that everyone should use to improve the overall quality of life.
If you’re stuck with ideas on how to remain active during quarantine, hopefully this article lent itself to helping you out.
Remember - Stay fit, stay healthy, stay happy!