Fitness and exercise: 

It's easy to procrastinate when it comes to fitness. After a hard day at work or watching the kids, plopping down on the sofa to watch some TV or read a good book sounds a lot more relaxing than doing sit-ups or jogging. But exercise is important. Regular exercise gives you:

More energy 
A healthier body composition 
Better balance and coordination 
Improved sleep 
Longer life expectancy 
A better quality of life 
And as you get older, the benefits become more relevant to your individual health needs. Exercising regularly and staying physically active can prevent or delay serious problems such as: 
Coronary artery disease 
Stroke 
Type 2 diabetes (formerly called adult-onset or noninsulin-dependent diabetes) 
Certain types of cancer 
Bone loss and osteoporosis

Why exercise? 

As little as 30 minutes of low to moderately intense physical activity daily can increase your fitness level. The key, says Edward Laskowski, M.D., a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist and co-director of the Sports Medicine Center at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., is to incorporate physical activity into your lifestyle and maintain it.

"Consistency is more important than intensity," Dr. Laskowski says. "And you can accumulate short periods of exercise throughout the day rather than doing it all at once. Studies show that three 10-minute doses of exercise can be just as effective for heart health as one 30-minute session."


How much exercise is enough? 
Throw out the idea that you have to spend your life at the gym to be fit. Adopt a new mind-set and think of exercise as a simple, routine part of your day. The best time to begin exercising is now. It's never too late to start, even if you've never exercised before.





Types of exercise 
You can improve your health and fitness through the following types of exercise: 

Aerobic exercise increases your breathing and heart rate, which can improve the health of your heart, lungs and circulatory system. Take a brisk walk, ride your bike, play badminton or tennis, or swim a few laps. The net result of aerobic exercise is increased stamina and endurance.
Strength training builds stronger muscles, which stabilizes and protects your joints and makes daily activities easier. Strength training also increases your metabolism, which helps keep your weight in check. Try weightlifting or calisthenics to build your strength and improve your balance.
Balance exercises help you maintain stability during your daily activities and during exercise. They also help prevent falls, especially in older adults. To improve your balance, practice standing on one leg.
Stretching exercises help extend the range that you can bend and stretch your joints, muscles and ligaments. Flexibility helps prevent joint pain and injury.

Make fitness part of your life 
Once you've made the decision to incorporate exercise into your everyday life, consider your age and activity level. If you're a man older than 40 or a woman older than 50 and you aren't physically active, or if you have a chronic health condition, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, kidney disease, liver disease, or arthritis, see your doctor. She or he can help you develop an exercise program appropriate for your situation.





A typical activity session might include:
A five-minute warm up 
Twenty to 30 minutes of aerobic activity 
Twenty to 30 minutes of strength and balance exercises 
Five to 10 minutes of cooling down and stretching 
To help you get started, Dr. Laskowski offers the following advice for each type of activity:

Aerobic and endurance
Find something you enjoy doing. Exercise programs fail primarily because of boredom. "The ideal piece of equipment is something you like to do," Dr. Laskowski says. 

Aerobic activity doesn't have to be expensive or inconvenient. Grab your neighbor and take a brisk walk around the block. Watch TV while walking on a treadmill. Go hiking or play hopscotch with your children. Take a night off and go dancing. Wash your car. Walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Park in the far corner of the parking lot. Short doses of exercise add up. Varying your activities will make it more interesting and keep you motivated.

Remember to start out slowly. Build up gradually by adding a minute more each week. Don't go for dramatic increases in strength or endurance. Mark your progress on your personal activity log. 

"One of the best ways to change a habit is to keep track of it," says Dr. Laskowski. "An exercise log will give you a visual record of improvement and motivate you to keep going."

Aerobic exercise: Why and how 
If you have arthritis or joint pain, do low- or nonimpact activities, such as riding a stationary or recumbent bike or exercising in a pool. Even if you don't like to swim, walking in the shallow end can provide aerobic benefits, and the buoyancy of the water will take the stress off your joints.


Water workouts: A cool way to exercise without stressing your joints, bones or muscles 

Strength training
As you age, your muscles naturally shrink — a process accelerated by inactivity. Strength training can slow this process.

Free weights are a good way to build lean-muscle mass because they simulate what you do in real life, such as carrying boxes or lifting a tired child. When you begin a free-weight program, try doing a greater number of repetitions but at a lower weight. As you improve, lift the amount of weight that exhausts your muscles after 12 repetitions. If doing 12 repetitions is too easy, add more weight. If you can't complete 12 repetitions, use less weight.

Make an appointment with a certified professional, such as a fitness trainer, to learn proper technique. Perform strength-training exercises two or three days a week.





Balance
Balance exercises improve your overall stability and help prevent falls. Though strength training and aerobic exercises help in these areas, exercises that concentrate solely on balance will help even more. Try standing on one leg at a time. The more you practice, the longer you'll be able to balance on one leg.

Another exercise is the side leg lift. Here you stand on one leg and hold onto a chair or table with both hands. Extend your free leg to the side and lift it six to 12 inches, keeping your toes facing forward. Hold your leg extended for one second, then lower your leg and repeat. Be sure to switch and do the leg lift with your other leg. As you improve, try holding the chair or table with one hand, then no hands, and then with your eyes closed.



Flexibility and stretching
Although it's good to stretch before and after you exercise, you might not have time to do both. If you have to choose, stretch when your muscles are heated up — after you've exercised. Dr. Laskowski recommends beginning your exercise program with a slow version of your preferred activity that day. If you're walking, start out slowly and gradually build up speed. Then stretch when you've finished your walk.

When stretching, hold your stretches for at least 30 seconds. Focus on the muscles you use the most. If you play golf or do racquet sports, focus on your shoulder muscles. If you walk or run, stretch your calf muscles, hamstrings and quadriceps. Remember to keep your back flexible. Your back muscles support your spine, and a healthy spine is essential to any activity.

Stretching: A key component of your exercise program 
Exercise not only improves your health, but it also offers some immediate, noticeable results:

Muscle strength, through strength-training exercises, makes you feel better quickly, and you may find that you can lift things more easily. But your muscle shape and definition may take up to six weeks to change. If you do one set three times a week, you'll likely see dramatic strength changes in the first 12 weeks. You can continue to build strength by gradually increasing the amount of weight you use.
Cardiovascular fitness, through aerobic exercise, creates noticeable results after three to six months of consistent activity. Your strength and endurance will increase so that you can do more exercise in the same amount of time. You'll notice changes even sooner than that in how you feel as you're exercising. You'll likely feel better about yourself and have a more positive attitude.
Weight loss is more difficult. To lose one pound of body fat through exercise, you need to expend 3,500 calories more than you consume. You'll achieve better results if, besides exercising, you also reduce the amount of calories you eat. If you're looking to lose weight, try increasing your daily exercise to 60 minutes, rather than the minimum of 30 minutes.
Getting sidetracked and neglecting regular exercise is easy. Remember, however, that it only takes about 30 minutes a day most days of the week to create a significant change in your quality of life. Make a list of all the benefits that come with regular exercise and put it in a highly visible place. Encourage your friends and family to be active as well. Taking care of your body is one of the most valuable gifts you can give yourself.

Sure, chest exercises help give a man a nice physique, but working out the chest can help women, too, by lifting sagging chests and breasts.

Think of anything you do that involves pushing and you've discovered what you use the chest muscles for. Whether it's pushing a lawn mower, baby carriage, or grocery cart, strong chests help us perform these tasks. In addition, chest muscles are essential in sports like tennis, free-style swimming, and all sports where you throw a ball.

"Just because of the forward motion of daily life, the pectorals tend to get used," says Richard Cotton, an exercise physiologist in San Diego.

Things like driving or working at a computer all day keep chest muscles activated at a low level. That's good and bad, he says.

"The challenge is too much pec exercise," says Cotton. For example, someone who sits at a computer eight hours a day can really suffer negative effects from having continually engaged pectorals.

Posture Is Key

"We tend to get shorter muscles from working keyboards," he says. Shorter muscles mean a tighter chest and that usually translates to weak back muscles.
This can become a postural problem, having rounded shoulders and not being able to stand upright. It can also lead to shoulder injuries as the arms suffer a decreased range of motion.

When sitting at a desk, be conscious of posture, says Lisa Cooper, fitness director of Little Rock Athletic Club in Arkansas.

"Think about dropping your shoulders down and pulling your shoulder blades back and together; visualize holding a pencil between the blades while keeping your abdominals engaged to support the back," she says.

Cotton says working the chest is great when done in balance.

"Chest exercises need to be integrated into a whole-body workout including other major muscle groups, especially the abdominals," he says.

"People need to think of working muscles in pairs, doing equal amounts of exercises with opposing muscle groups. If you're working chest, you should also work back. If you're working biceps, you should also work triceps."

If done correctly, many chest exercises simultaneously recruit and work other muscles groups.

"If you're pushing a car or a lawn mower," explains Cotton, "naturally the back and abs are also very activated. Having weak abs is going to hurt your back."

Chest exercises primarily use the chest but recruit supporting muscle groups to assist. In a push-up, for example, not only are the pectorals engaged but the abdominals, the latissimus dorsi in the back, the deltoids in the shoulders, and the triceps in the back of upper arms are involved.
Experts say pectorals are not usually a neglected group among those developing a workout program. Quite the contrary.

"The show muscles [such as pecs and abs] are usually something that people that are motivated to exercise are going to try to build -- men especially," says Cotton.
Many men focus solely on their upper bodies and particularly their chests, says Cooper, because they can see the progress.
But everyone should be wary of sacrificing balance in a zealous desire to have a nice chest.
"This is not a muscle group you want to overemphasize to the detriment of the opposing back muscles," Cotton says. "You should balance the two for a healthy program."

For women, chest exercises, done in balance can help to lift a sagging chest, strengthening the muscles that help lift the breast tissue, particularly in someone who's overweight, losing weight, or has just had a baby. "Getting the chest in shape lifts the chest," says Cotton. "It may appear that you have a bigger chest (whether you're striving for that or not), but it's a healthier look. It's better posture."
Women concerned with building bulk shouldn't be, he says.

"Only 10% of women actually gain significant muscle mass doing chest exercises," says Cotton.

"You'd have to be on a pretty serious body-building regime to get that bulk," says Cooper. "And you'd have to be genetically predisposed to it."

"It would take heavy weights and low repetitions to create size," says Cooper. Women are generally doing higher repetitions with lower weights so bulk is not really an issue.

Regardless of which muscle group you're working, stretching is an important component of a comprehensive strength-training program. Be sure to complete each workout with stretches for those muscles you've taxed. Chest stretches would include standing in a doorway, elbows bend, palms on the inside of the doorway. Lean out to open the chest while straightening and holding with your arms. Another is to stand with your arms by your sides, palms facing backward and press back and long with your arms while lifting your chest slightly.

For beginners, perform two sets of either the push-up or the dumbbell bench press followed by two sets of the incline dumbbell chest fly. Intermediate and advanced exercisers should perform three sets of push-ups and/or the dumbbell bench press followed by three sets of the incline dumbbell chest fly. Both beginners and advanced should perform eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise. Once you can do 12 repetitions with good form, increase the weight used.

Flat stomach, tight abs -- we all dream about it. And WebMD's Fitness Series can help you with month-to-month, step-by-step instructions and photographs. Next month -- toning and tightening those arms for spring.

"How do I get a flat stomach?" Fitness trainers hear this question more than any other.

"To get defined abs, it's going to take work," says exercise physiologist Kelli Calabrese. "A lean midsection takes a combination of good nutrition, cardiovascular conditioning, and abdominal training. Those who see the best results combine all three."

Shortening the Road to a Six-Pack

Good nutrition, Calabrese says, is absolutely essential for overall physique. Calabrese employs the garbage-in, garbage-out theory. Consuming most of your calories from processed and fast foods, she says, is going to produce an unhealthy body lacking in nutrients. Make good food choices, on the other hand, and you're on your way to a leaner you.

"If you're eating natural and whole foods you can eat more than if you're eating processed foods," says Calabrese.

Though Calabrese says it comes down to the equation of calories-in, calories-out, she doesn't recommend counting calories. She advises eating five to six small meals a day. This way, she says, your metabolism keeps stoked all day long, which gives you energy and keeps you from overeating.

"Exercise alone is great for expending calories, but without watching your diet, it's going to be a long, slow road to getting a six-pack." For your abdominal muscles to show, you have to shed the fat that lies on top.

Cardiovascular conditioning, whether it's running, walking, or taking a cycling or dance class, can help burn calories. Combined with a balanced diet, aerobic exercise helps you lose the fat built up above the muscle.

Ab Workout: More Is Not Better

"You're not going to reduce fat content without either a whole heck of a lot of abdominal work -- which is unnecessary and a waste of time -- or some kind of aerobic activity," says Richard Cotton, exercise physiologist and spokesman for the American Council on Exercise (ACE).

Abdominal muscles consist of three layers. The very deepest layer is the transversus abdominis, which acts as the body's girdle, providing support and stability and plays a critical role in exhalation. Next is the rectus abdominis, which flexes the spine. Closest to the surface are the internal and external obliques, which turn the trunk and provide the body with rotation and lateral movement.

Exercise physiologist and certified diabetes expert Rich Weil recommends training the abdominals much the way you would any other part of the body.

"Abdominal muscles are no different than any other muscle group. They should respond the same way." Hence, if you wouldn't do 50 bicep curls, you don't need to do 50 abdominal crunches, he says. Just work smarter by slowingdown to try to isolate the muscles you're working.

Six-Pack Abs: Reality or Pipe Dream?

So what about the six-pack? Is it attainable? Can anyone get it?

Although possible, most experts say it's rare.

"Six-pack abs is really a pre-cellulite phenomenon. It tends to be reserved for those in their teens and 20s," says Cotton. "It gets more difficult as we age because we get more subcutaneous body fat." However, with the right genetics and strict program, even people in their 30s and 40s can have six-pack abs.

Genetically, women have a disadvantage when it comes to that. Their bodies store more fat than men. For good reason, says Calabrese. Women's bodies are designed to bear and nourish babies and fat is the primary energy source to support fetal development. In addition, Calabrese says, men generally lose weight quicker as a result of regular exercise.

For women to lower body fat enough to have a six-pack, says Cotton, "that might even interrupt their menstrual cycle."

That's why Cotton doesn't encourage such extreme goals.

"I personally think it's on the order of ridiculous," he says. "If you're spending that much time on your abs, you're wasting time and taking time away from other muscle groups. It's a show muscle.

"When I have clients that are obsessed with that, I work on values and self-acceptance. People want a perfect body, they want a Lexus and they want a 3,000 square foot home. They're objectifying the body."

There are important reasons to train the midsection, however. The core muscles of the abdominals strengthen the torso, improve posture, decrease low back pain, and reduce risk of injury.

Abdominal training can also improve other areas of fitness. If you're a golfer or tennis player, working with a stronger core is going to give you more power behind your stroke or serve and reduce risk of shoulder injury. A stronger torso, for example, will put less strain on your knees while running.

Ab Exercises

So let's get to it. Here are the experts' choices on the most effective abdominal exercises. These should be performed two to three times weekly (for beginners, two is plenty to start). Each exercise should be executed until the point of momentary muscular failure, which should happen between 30 and 90 seconds. This is considered one set, which should be no more than 15 to 20 repetitions. Rest for 30 to 60 seconds. Concentrate on performing each exercise slowly with good form. Work up to completing two to three sets of each exercise.

If you perform these exercises consistently, says Calabrese, you will notice a significant difference in the strength and tone of your entire torso within six weeks.

"Be consistent," she says. "Be patient and believe a flat stomach is possible."