Benefits of resistance (or weight) training [box]

* Increased bone density, as well as stronger tendons and muscles, which are harder to injure and recover more quickly and easily.

* Improved balance and shock absorption, making it less likely you'll fall, or less likely to get hurt if you do fall.

* Improves your posture.

* Improved ratio of muscle to fat makes it easier to maintain a proper weight; also makes your cardiovascular exercise yield faster results in weight loss.

* As people get older, muscle mass is naturally lost, making it harder to perform even everyday tasks. Weight training helps you overcome that if it has already set in, or helps avoid it if it hasn't.

* Benefits of any exercise: Improves metabolism, improves blood pressure, aids in hypertension, reduces body fat, and controls cholesterol.

And remember that this doesn't mean lifting huge weights. This is resistance training, not bodybuilding.

More Tips from Jesus on Exercise

(Jesus:)

77. * Warming up is an important part of exercise that is sometimes overlooked by those in a hurry or those who don't seem to have any "weak areas" or sore parts. But it's always important to warm up well for whatever you're doing--a run, a sport, weight workout, or whatever the case may be.

78. Always start out with slow‚ consistent movements to get your muscles and joints limbered up, or else you risk pushing or pulling or otherwise injuring something. Making the transition too quickly from being sedentary to a full range of motion is not healthy for your muscles, ligaments, and joints. If you injure yourself, you will have to rest and lay off that body part for a while, sometimes a very long time (as in months). That can be discouraging and a hindrance to fitness. So go slow, and warm up.

79. * Stretching after exercise is also important.When you do cardiovascular or resistance exercises, this causes your muscles to contract, which builds and strengthens them. But they also need to be stretched for the strengthening to be complete. Stretching also prevents them from cramping up, being sore the next day, and in the case of women especially, it keeps you from bulking up your muscles and helps them stay lean and flexible.

80. * Ideally‚ exercise should be fun. If you can find something to do that you enjoy, or at least some way to make what you do more palatable to you, you'll certainly be more likely to do it more frequently and put more into it, and therefore you'll gain more benefits from it.

81. If you don't enjoy it, you should try to do it anyway--but do try to find ways to make it more enjoyable. Finding an exercise activity or sport that you like doing and that is good for your body is obviously ideal. But if that's not possible for some reason, then try to make the non-ideal as bearable as you can.

82. Having a partner whom you enjoy being with while you exercise can be a big help. Being in a nice outdoor location that you enjoy or reaching a spot with a good view can be a good motivator. If finding something inspiring or entertaining to listen to, read, or watch while you exercise does it for you, then do that.

83. Variety is a key for many people--not doing the same thing every day, but having a variety of activities you can carry out, or locations you can go to, or people you can do things with.

84. If it isn't naturally fulfilling or rewarding for you to exercise, find ways to reward yourself or fulfill some need or desire you have while you do it. You'll likely find, in time, that you start to enjoy it for itself, that your body craves it, that you even feel the need for it and miss it when you don't have it. But even if you never get to that point and never feel that way about it‚ keep doing it anyway, and keep looking for and praying about new ways to motivate yourself--with variety, with perks, with distractions, with whatever it takes to keep yourself active and moving.

Warming up, cooling down, and stretching [box]

How:

The idea behind warming up is to ease your muscles and tendons into movement, to warm them and to get your body's lubricating fluids running before you put more strength or speed into those same movements. The aim is also to increase circulation around the body gradually, without applying sudden pressure. A proper warm-up before vigorous exercise prepares the body to safely handle that exercise. Cold muscles do not absorb shock or impact as well, and are more susceptible to injury. Warm muscles stretch better and allow greater range of motion for the joints.

Warm-up should be a lower-intensity version of the workout you are about to do; in some cases you may also want to warm up the rest of your body a little, even if it's not specifically being used in that exercise. For example, walk before jogging or jog before running or playing soccer. Or warm up your arms and wrists--as well as your legs and knees--with slow movements before a sport like basketball. As long as it increases your heart rate and breathing, and involves the muscles, tendons and ligaments you are about to use‚ it is considered a proper warm-up.

Your warm-up should last at least 5 to 10 minutes (or slightly longer in cold weather). Breathing will be heavier than normal, but not as heavy as during the actual exercise.

Cooling down should be done the same way as warming up.

Why:

A warm-up helps your body prepare itself for exercise and reduces the chance of injury. During a warm-up, any injury or illness you have can often be recognized, and further injury can be prevented. Other benefits of a proper warm-up include:

Increased movement of blood through your tissues, making the muscles more pliable.

Increased delivery of oxygen and nutrients to your muscles by increasing the blood flow. This prevents you from getting out of breath early or too easily.

Prepares your muscles for any stretching during exercise.

Prepares your heart for an increase in activity, preventing a rapid increase in blood pressure.

Primes your nerve-to-muscle pathways to be ready for exercise.

Improves coordination and reaction times.

Cooling down:

Aids in the dissipation of waste products--including lactic acid (produced by your muscles during aerobic exercise).

Reduces the chances of dizziness or fainting caused by the pooling of venous blood at the extremities. This can be a problem particularly for older people, please take note.

Reduces the level of adrenaline in the blood.

Allows the heart rate to return to its resting rate.

Stretching is also important. Again, stretching is most effective after exercise, and can be done after your cool-down. The biggest drawback to stretching is that it's easy to injure yourself if it's done improperly. Just the fact that you're already warm from exercising makes post-exercise stretching somewhat less risky, but there is still a need to be cautious and not overdo. If your exercise was very vigorous, consider letting your body "cool down" a bit before stretching. When your muscles are very warm and elastic, they stretch easily, but can also be stretched too far and tear more easily if the stretching is done too vigorously. A couple of important guidelines are: Stretch to tightness, not till it hurts, and never bounce a stretch.

Exercise when young builds the body for life [box]

Studies are showing more and more that exercising seems to have a tremendous effect on human growth and development‚ most importantly when you are a little child, but also all the way up into your early 30s, and, of course, exercise is beneficial at any age. Some of the effects of exercise, such as bone growth, affect you for life, and can only be gotten when young.

It's believed that children who get insufficient physical activity and exercise may not grow to their full physical potential. It's a fact that exercise promotes growth on top of the growth which is derived from sleep and nutrition. Exercise is directly linked to the size and strength of a person's bones. Children who get good exercise grow more and have stronger bones than those who have less or no exercise.

Bones, like muscles, grow stronger with exercise. Bone growth stops around puberty or at 18-20 years; density and strength still increase until around 30-35 years. Exercise is the greatest stimulator of bone growth. Additionally, it's the bone strength gained during the first 35 or so years of life that either prevents or contributes to osteoporosis, and to overall strong or weak bones in later life.

Your body's need for the human growth hormone--stimulated through exercise

Exercise is the second most potent stimulator of production and secretion of the human growth hormone. (The first is sleep.) Those who are past puberty will be interested to know that the human growth hormone (HGH) is responsible for a lot more than just body growth. Throughout your life‚ HGH is produced and has positive effects on your health and in combating aging.

In childhood, HGH causes the growth of long bones, and this brings a person to his or her final height. Traditionally, this was all HGH was thought to do. New research shows that every cell in the body has HGH receptors and that HGH is doing a host of jobs in human metabolism in every organ in the body. There are even receptors in the brain, the activation of which results in the production of endorphins, which keep one's mood even and upbeat. Skin cells respond to HGH with even growth, producing the smooth appearance of children's skin. Cells in the brain respond by literally coming back to life (about 10% of the brain cells become nonfunctional each decade of life).

One consistent effect of HGH deficiency is irritability; HGH, on the other hand, gives a feeling of well-being. Bone cells respond by making new bone, and osteoporosis can be reversed. Fat cells respond by giving up their little lives as they are burned for energy. The weight gain around the middle, which is so characteristic of HGH deficiency, melts away in a few months. Muscle cells respond by becoming larger and stronger, especially in the upper body. The strength and endurance of youth reappears. The ciliary muscle of the eye becomes stronger again.

Given the many functions of HGH, it, more than any other hormone, determines the physical changes which are an expression of aging. Levels of HGH decline progressively with age, but can be stimulated with proper sleep and exercise. With what we know about HGH, it really should be renamed to HVH: human vitality hormone.