Workout and feel better
Training affects all your organs in a positive way, even your brain is affected. If you workout regularly you will greatly improve your chances of increased wellbeing, make better decisions, become more stress tolerant and perform better at work.
Having good stamina and a large portion muscle mass, are the most important factors for our bodies to perform best. The general recommendation in regards to physical activity is to aim for at least 30 "sweaty" minutes per day and 150 minutes per week. With sweaty we mean exercise with normal to high intensity where your pulse increases and your heart gets a workout. You can divide your minutes in any way you want but it's important that you get warm and a little sweaty. Besides stamina workouts, it is recommended that you do some form of weight lifting 2-3 times/week as well.
There are several explanations as to why training increases your wellbeing. When your muscles are active, they send out substances in your blood. One of these has shown to bind and even disarm another substance created when you get stressed. The stress protein makes its way to your brain and has a negative effect on areas connected to stress and anxiety. The protein released by your training can stop these stress proteins from reaching your brain and is only one of many amazing effects of training.
If you have a hard time finding regular training, remember that all your workouts are better than none! An isolated workout will affect your blood pressure in a positive way up to 24 hours and your blood sugar up to 48 hours!
Is any specific training better than another?
The easy answer is: No, the best training is the one you do. If you are unfit you should remember to not push yourself too hard in the beginning, but instead focus on your technique and create a stable foundation when it comes to strength and stamina.
One way to effectively increase your stamina is to do interval training. Everyone can do it based on their own prerequisites and what we mean is to divide your workout into several smaller intense parts with a recovery phase in-between. That way you can reach a higher level of intensity than if you didn't have a rest period. F.ex. 1-minute of jogging and 1 minute rest. The intervals can be varied to infinity and you can do them on a flat road, a staircase, a treadmill, regular bike, cross-trainer etc.
Tips about training:
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Variera din träning. Blanda långa och korta pass och ta i lite extra ibland.
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Ta i och belasta musklerna mer än de är vana vid.
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Det är aldrig för sent att bli stark, äldre muskler blir också starka av träning.
About the authors Jessica & Maria
Challengize health tips are written for us by Jessica Norrbom and Maria Ahlsén, both with PHDs in medicine. Since 2013 they run their own business Fortasana working mainly with diet, training and health from a scientific perspective. Maria and Jessica have written several books and regularly lecture focusing mainly on popular health myths and explain what is actually true from a scientific perspective when it comes to diets, trends and newspaper headlines.