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No matter what your fitness level, everyone can benefit from a lesson in exercise physiology. It is important to learn how you cardiovascular and muscular systems function so you can perform exercises properly and safely.
Understanding exercise physiology will help you work out more efficiently and get the most benefits from your exercise routine.
Once you know exercise physiology, you can tailor a fitness program to help you reach your goals. Familiarize yourself with the proper names of the major muscles, where they are located in the body and how they create movement. Understand how the body uses oxygen will also help you pick a cardio activity that is right for you. Using exercise physiology will give you a better idea of how and where you should feel each exercise that you perform.
There are 3 different type of muscle contraction: Concentric (the muscle shortens), eccentric (the muscle lengthens) and isometric (muscle is held actively at a fixed length). All 3 of these are important in your fitness program. All muscle contractions occur in every exercise for each muscle group. For example, in a triceps press, you are shortening the triceps muscle when you extend the arm and you are lengthening the biceps muscle when you are bending the arm.
The body needs oxygen for muscle function and to perform daily activities. Cardiovascular exercise will help increase the amount of oxygen coming into the body, improve heart function and help you control your weight. You should try and cardiovascular training for 30 minutes 3-5 times a week. Aerobic fitness is also cumulative. This means you can exercise in spurts of 10 minutes to meet your weekly requirements. Progress into exercise very slowly especially if you live a sedentary lifestyle.
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