If you are able to perform aerobic activities correctly, you can lose weight quickly, without investing in any expensive weight loss remedies such as ‘miracle’ pills, gym enrollment, or costly home gym equipments. Aerobic exercises like brisk walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, stepping, elliptical training, dancing and rowing, not only stimulate fat burn in the body, but also strengthen the cardiovascular system and improve the functioning of the heart.
If performed for about 20 - 50 minutes either continuously or discontinuously for about 3 to 5 times per week, at the correct heart-beat rate, aerobic activities can greatly improve the general health and fitness levels of an individual and his body composition.
However, if you are a beginner, or if you are resuming aerobic exercises after a long gap, then you need to start at a much slower pace and increase the intensity of your workouts progressively by about 5 – 10 % per month. However, what you need to understand from day 1 is the importance of warming up and cooling down before your workouts. Your workout routine should be so structure that the first 5 – 10 minutes of your workout is the warming up phase, followed by 20 – 40 minutes of workout phase and finally 5 – 10 minutes of cooling down.
Warming up phase
You must perform 5 – 10 minutes of low-intensity rotational movements of your joints and dynamic stretching of your muscles. The warming up phase is important because it reduces muscle stiffness and lubricates your joints and prepares them for the vigorous workout ahead and for preventing injuries and strain to the joints and muscles. Warming up also increases the body’s temperature, metabolic rate and supplies the muscles with the energy to fuel the workouts. During warming up, the heart rate gets increased in order to get the heart ready for the faster pumping action during the workout. Oxygen transport and nerve transmission are also improved due to warming up exercises. Remember not to go beyond the 50-60% of maximum target heart rate throughout the warming up phase.
Cooling Down Phase
You must perform 5 – 10 minutes of cooling down exercises to restore normalcy in the physiological functioning of your body. The heart beat gets regularized and the body temperature is also lowered. The free-radicals and toxins produced in the muscles during the workout are flushed away during cooling exercises. Static stretches if included in the cooling down exercises, help in muscle relaxation and improve the range of motion of the muscles involved. Cooling down allows your body to calm down, thereby reducing the adrenalin pumping into your blood. Another significant benefit of cooling down is that the chances of fainting, caused due to the accumulation of venous blood in the body’s extremities is greatly reduced.