What kind of exercise is best to get in shape and control weight?

Melissa Durham, ATHENA/ATLAS Programs, Oregon Health & Science University, responds:

A healthy exercise program is one that combines both aerobic exercise and weight training. Aerobic exercise includes walking, jogging, running, swimming, playing sports, dancing, aerobics classes, cycling...any activity that keeps your heart pumping at a rate above your resting heart rate for about 20 minutes or more. Aerobic exercise helps your cardiovascular system and overall well-being. It is the best way for the body to burn calories. It's important to exercise aerobically 3 to 5 times per week for approximately 30 minutes each time. You should warm up with light intensity for about 5 minutes, then increase your intensity for 25-35 minutes and then decrease the intensity for about 5 minutes. Be sure to decrease your heart rate with cooling down exercises before you completely stop exercising. When you have finished cooling down, then stretching the major muscle groups is important for increasing flexibility and preventing soreness and injuries.

Weight training improves muscular endurance, strength and power. It also increases bone density because muscles put stress on the bones, making them adapt and become stronger. You can develop different types of weight training programs for different needs. For the average person who just wants to improve their health and be in better shape, a program that focuses on endurance may be the best.

Endurance training means that you do more repetitions with less weight. For example, you would do a bicep curl 12 to 15 times, feeling fatigued on the last few repetitions. Most people do 3 sets of 15 reps for endurance training.

It's best to choose exercises that work the large muscle groups so that you get a total body workout. Most people don't have hours to spend in the gym, so working out the larger muscle groups can be done in less than an hour and get the majority of the body. Examples of major muscle group exercises are Leg Press, Leg Extensions, Leg Curls, Squats, Seated Rows, Bench Press, Lat Pull Downs, Pull-ups, Back Extensions and Abdominal Crunches.

When working out with weights, it is important to pay attention to what you are doing. You want to choose a weight that you can lift comfortably several times, only feeling tired on the last few repetitions. Lifting a weight that is too heavy can cause muscle tears, strains and injuries. Posture is also important when lifting weights. You want to have good posture so that your muscles build definition and tone in the most natural position.

Building up your muscle tone will not only increase your strength, it will make you feel more confident and boost your metabolism. Your body maintains muscle with proteins that you eat. When the body has more muscle tone, it takes more energy to maintain the body, and so naturally you burn more calories during the day, just by having more muscle tone. Fat doesn't take much energy to maintain. Fat is a form of stored energy for low intensity exercises. Fat calories will be burned while the body works to maintain the better muscle tone.

Exercise is important for overall health, but like everything, it needs to be done in moderation. Overexercising can deplete the body of energy, cause people to be more prone to injuries, and can cause the muscles to break down because they don't have enough time to repair after workouts. Nutrition is another key part of a healthy lifestyle. If you are committed to improving your health, choose foods that will help your body become stronger. Carbohydrates are the most important fuel for working muscles, protein is important for repairing muscles and vitamins and minerals are necessary for all of the chemical interactions going on in the body every second.