The chapter starts off by describing what exactly physical activity is. “Physical activity refers to all body movements produced by skeletal muscles resulting in substantial increase in energy expenditure, but generally refers to movement of large muscle groups” (226). It goes on to describe that there are different categories of physical activity, for your health, for physical fitness, and activity performance. The chapter also goes on to describe the difference between muscular strength and muscular endurance which I found interesting. A few years back I joined a crossfit gym. Which was a perfect example of muscular strength. We’d perform few reps of one movement to see how much weight we could endure. Muscular endurance is more of the exercise that I participate in now. Where I do more reps of a lighter weight, this was also used in crossfit when we would do AMRAPs, or as many reps as possible.
I think we all can agree that there are many health benefits to exercise and thats why a lot of people do it. I did not know that it did however reduce the risk of some cancers. “After decades of research, most cancer epidemiologists believe that 25 to 37 percent of cancers can be avoided by healthier lifestyle and environmental choices”(233). I found this interesting, and also scary. Looking at the amount of older people that don’t live a healthy lifestyle and how at risk they may be. I also can relate with the chapter when it mentions that exercise can reduce the stress and improve mental health. There are often times that the last thing that I want to do is work out, but once I do I feel so much better about myself. I think sometimes people can get so caught up in the physical part of exercise that they don’t get to enjoy the mental benefits. Being able to clear your head and feel like you’re getting a fresh start!
I recently found out that I will be running the falmouth road race, (as long as they’re still having it) with BSU. Now, I am not a runner. And applied on a whim thinking that I wouldn’t get chosen and then did. I have however, loved that I have a new goal to try to achieve. Exercising is important to my health aspect because it allows me to live my life in balance. Incorporating outside runs has been fun and challenging. I set goals each week, and have been researching foods, specific exercise, and running shoes that would benefit me while I train. With easter this week, I found it harder to get myself to run and exercise and I’m not sure why I used easter as an excuse. I plan to get back on track this week and hopefully reach all of my running and strength goals!
I am providing a picture of the workout that I followed last week, I completed the first week of the program.
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