Good Exercise Habits Lead to Good Lifestyle Habits

(CARLSBAD, CA) – A healthy lifestyle is a combination of exercise, nutrition and stress management. If you’re attempting to improve your health, tackling all these areas can be a daunting task. Why not start with one and let the others fall into place. It really doesn’t matter which area you choose, but as might be expected, beginning with exercise is a wise course of action.

Study after study reveals that regular physical activity has a positive influence on your health, lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease and several types of cancer. But adhering to regular exercise program can be a challenge unless you make it a priority. You can improve your chances of success by:

• Enlisting the support and participation of friends and/or family members

• Selecting activities that you enjoy, rather than those which offer the quickest results

• Scheduling workouts as you would any other important commitment

• Setting realistic goals (for example, I’ll walk for 30 minutes three days this week) and indulging in healthy rewards (i.e. a movie or massage) when you reach them.

Another reason to start with exercise is that it almost always leads to changes in your diet and level of stress. Exercise is a natural stress manager. Physical exertion lets you release tension that may otherwise build and become destructive to your health. Healthy active bodies tend to crave healthy, high-energy foods as well, and if you’re physically active, it’s easier to allow yourself an occasional treat -guilt free.

So don’t hold back any longer. It’s the perfect time to make a resolution to lead to healthier lifestyle. You can start at home with simple resistance training such as this exercise for the triceps muscles, which run along the back of your upper arm.

If you don’t own a pair of lightweight dumbbells, grab a pair of soup cans or plastic bottles filled with water or sand.

Sit tall in a chair, pulling in our abdominal muscles and relaxing your shoulders. Try to maintain this posture throughout the exercise. Hold the weights in both hands and extend your arms over your head. Keeping your elbows pointed upward and close to your head, slowly lower the weights behind your head. Exhale and slowly extend your arms again.

Your weights should be heavy enough so that your muscles are slightly fatigued after 10-15 repetitions. If you cannot perform 10 repetitions however, they are too heavy. As you become stronger, you can increase it to two or three sets of this exercise, resting briefly in between.

Jazzercise, created by Judi Sheppard Missett, is the world's leading dance-fitness program with more than 6,800 instructors teaching 30,000 classes weekly in the U.S. and around the globe. Since 1969, millions of people of all ages and fitness levels have reaped the benefits of this comprehensive program, designed to enhance cardiovascular endurance, strength, and flexibility. For more information on Jazzercise go to jazzercise.com or call (800)FIT-IS-IT or (760)476-1750.

Courtesy of Jazzercise, Inc. - jazzercise.com