What exercises should I do to lose weight?

Written by Paris Kazemian

Regular physical activity is essential for the optimal function of the human body. While most people know that physical activity is important for health, about 20% of the population worldwide do exercise on a regular basis.

Any type of physical activity can help in burning calories. However, Weight lifting and other forms of resistance exercise have advantages that go beyond. Resistance training helps you build muscle strength, tone, and size. The high-confidence studies assessed the effects of cardio, resistance training, or both on the body composition of older adults with obesity during a period of intentional weight loss. According to this study, those who performed no exercise or only cardio reduced fat, but they also lost more muscle and bone mass than those who did resistance training. As a result, resistance exercise helps to protect both muscle and bone during periods of calorie restriction. Besides, Higher amounts of muscle boost your metabolism and help you to burn more calories all day long. At the same time, Higher amounts of muscle help prevent the drop in metabolism that can occur during weight loss.

What is resistance training?

Resistance training (also known as strength training or weight training) involves applying resistance to muscular contractions in order to increase skeletal muscle strength and size. Resistance training is based on the idea that when a resistance force is applied to the body, the muscles will struggle to overcome it. Your muscles will get stronger if you undertake resistance training on a regular basis.

Australia’s physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines recommend Adults should engage in muscle-strengthening exercises at least twice a week depending on age. You may go to the gym and ask your personal trainer to give you instructions or you can do some basic activities at home.

The main types of resistance training

Muscular hypertrophy

Also known as muscle building, this type of strength training uses moderate-to-heavy weights to stimulate muscle growth.

Muscular endurance

This refers to your muscles’ ability to sustain exercise for a period of time. Training to increase muscular endurance usually involves high reps using light weights or bodyweight.

Circuit training

During this form of full-body conditioning, you cycle through various exercises with little to no rest between them.

Maximum muscular strength

This type of exercise involves low reps (usually 2–6) and heavyweights to improve your overall strength. It’s best reserved for experienced exercisers who have mastered their form.

Explosive power

This training combines power and speed to improve your power output. It’s usually employed among trained athletes to improve their ability to perform explosive movements in their sport.

The benefit of resistance training?

There are lots of physical and mental health benefits that can be achieved through resistance training. some of them are:

Improved Bone Health
Better Cardiovascular Health
Increased Energy Levels
Lower Abdominal Fat
Improved Mood
Better Flexibility and Mobility
Elevated Body Image.
Enhanced Brain Health.
The ability to burn calories more efficiency
Longer lifespan

What are cardio exercises?

Cardio is any sort of exercise that raises your heart rate and maintains it for an extended amount of time. As you begin to breathe quicker and more deeply, The respiratory system will become more active. Your blood vessels will expand to allow more oxygen to reach your muscles, and natural painkillers will be released (endorphins).

Example of Cardio Exercises

Organized sports like soccer, football, basketball …
Power Walking/judging
swimming

The benefit of Cardio Exercises

This sort of training has a seemingly limitless list of physical and mental advantages.

another good example of Cardio Exercises can be HIITs exercises.

What is HIIT exercise?

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a type of exercise that includes quick periods of intensive exercise followed by a short rest period before restarting the cycle again. In the better word, HIIT is a type of exercise that combines aerobic and resistance training activities to achieve the best result. A high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout consists of brief bursts of intensive effort that last anywhere from 10 to 60 seconds, followed by an active recovery period of the same length or longer. Depending on the workout, this cycle of heavy exercise and recovery is repeated 3 to 10 times. Typically, a HIIT workout will be 10–30 minutes in duration. HIIT allows you to burn calories quickly. Also, a recent study shows that HIIT burnt 25–30% more calories than other forms of exercise

For example, a HIIT workout using a stationary bike could consist of 30 seconds of cycling as fast as possible with high resistance, followed by several minutes of slow, easy cycling with low resistance.

In conclusion, HIIT may help you burn more calories than traditional exercise or burn the same number of calories in a shorter amount of time.

Example of HIIT exercises

Mountain Climbers. These are quintessential HIIT moves — the kind of bodyweight move you can’t keep up for long without collapsing on the ground
Forearm Plank. Start with 30 seconds and work your way up
Air Squats
Reverse Pull-Ups
Push-Ups
Split Squat Jumps
Jumping Jacks
Jump Lunge

Older people exercises

Muscle strength can make a significant difference. Strong muscles allow you to be independent and make common tasks such as getting out of a chair, climbing stairs, and carrying groceries simpler. Keeping your muscles strong might help you maintain your balance and avoid falls and injuries caused by falls. When your leg and hip muscles are strong, you are less prone to fall. Strength training or resistance training are terms used to describe the use of weight to develop muscle strength.

Safety recommendations

During strength exercises, don’t hold your breath and breathe regularly.
Breathe out when lifting or pushing, and in when relaxing.
If you’re unsure about a particular exercise, consult your doctor.

General safety recommendations for exercise

Warm up and cool down with a simple activity like easy walking before and after your endurance activities.
When undertaking any exercise that causes you to sweat, make sure you drink enough water
Pay attention to your body: endurance activities should not induce dizziness, chest pain or pressure, or a sensation similar to heartburn.
Be cautious of your surroundings if you’re going to be exercising outside.
Dress in layers so you may add and remove clothes as required to accommodate hot and cold temperatures.
When riding, utilise safety equipment such as a helmet to avoid injury.