Author: Liu Shufen (Peking Union Medical College Hospital)
Many people know the saying “exercise is a good doctor”, so what kind of exercise is a good doctor? In other words, what kind of exercise does the human body need?
Since the concept of the “exercise prescription” has been around since the early 1950s.
The following three types of exercise training are the most commonly used “drugs” on “exercise prescriptions”.
One, aerobic exercise (full body endurance exercise prescription)
Healthy heart and lungs are the foundation of all life activities. The supply of oxygen and nutrients to all tissues and organs of the body is completed by the heart and lungs.
The function of aerobic exercise is to stimulate the heart and lungs effectively, thereby improving the function of the heart and lungs. It is an important exercise to maintain human health.
Common forms of aerobic exercise include walking, jogging, running, swimming, cycling, and playing ball.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
Two, resistance exercise (strength exercise prescription)
Resistance exercise, also known as strength training (or muscle training), is mainly used to build muscle strength and endurance.
Muscle strength is the foundation of bone health.
Resistance exercise stimulates bone formation in young adults and also slows bone loss in middle and old age, thereby reducing the risk of osteoporosis, osteopenia, and fractures.
Resistance exercise can also increase the volume of muscles and increase the basal metabolic rate, that is, the energy consumption level of the body in a quiet state.
Therefore, resistance exercise can not only improve our physique, but also help us use up excess energy, which is more useful for maintaining shape, losing weight, and treating diabetes.
Recent research shows that:Strong muscles can reduce mortality from all causes, and can also reduce the incidence of cancer!
Common forms of resistance exercise include push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, Xiaoyan Fei, etc. for free weight training, dumbbells, barbells, elastic bands, elastic tubes for free weight training, etc. , and large-scale fitness equipment training.
Resistance exercise should pay attention to the load during exercise, the number of times, the interval between times and the frequency of exercise, which are slightly different according to the purpose of training.
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Three, flexibility exercise (flexibility training prescription)
The main function of flexibility exercise is to stretch muscles and ligaments and improve the flexibility of the body.
All muscle and joint movement requires some flexibility.
Flexibility is very important for gymnastics, ballet dancers, etc. It is also an indispensable basic physical quality for ordinary people’s daily life and labor.
Reduced flexibility can limit joint movement, stiff muscles, easily lead to injury and pain, and affect normal quality of life, such as in patients with frozen shoulder, because shoulder joint flexibility is reduced , it will cause difficulty in combing hair and buttoning underwear for women.
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Regular flexibility exercises can help improve flexibility, increase joint range of motion, increase joint nutrition, reduce injury risk, reduce pain and soothe your mood.
Common flexibility training methods include yoga, Pilates, etc. The most commonly used is self-stretching training. Different joint muscles have their own different stretching postures.
Flexibility exercise should pay attention to the strength of the stretch, the duration, the number of stretches and the frequency of the exercise.
In addition, for middle-aged and elderly people, there is also a commonly used “good exercise medicine” – balance exercise.
Balance is one of our basic human abilities. Without balance, we will not be able to do anything.
With the yearAs the age increases, the senses involved in the balance function gradually decline, and the balance ability has a gradually declining trend. This is the reason why the elderly are prone to falls.
The good news is that balance exercise can effectively improve the reserve capacity of balance and reduce the risk of fall injury.
The main content of balance exercise training is to improve balance ability through various means, stimulate postural reflexes, strengthen the stability of vestibular organs.
Balance ability training needs to pay attention to from easy to difficult, the support surface (the area of contact between the body and the ground) from large to small, the support surface from flat and hard to soft and uneven, first practice static balance Practice homeostasis afterwards.
In addition, during balance training, pay attention to having supports around you that you can reach at any time to avoid falling.
Summary
Exercise required by the human body includes aerobic exercise, resistance exercise, flexibility exercise and balance exercise which is more useful for middle-aged and elderly people.
Among them, aerobic exercise is the foundation, and resistance exercise, flexibility exercise and balance exercise are powerful supplements, but the latter three cannot replace aerobic exercise.
*The content of this article is for the popularization of health knowledge and cannot be used as a specific diagnosis and treatment suggestion, nor can it replace the face-to-face consultation of a licensed physician, and is for reference only.
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