Ayurved says
‘शरीर आयासजनक कर्म व्यायाम ससितम’ Activity which gives extra challenge to your body is exercise. There is a difference between physical activity & exercise . If the activity you are doing in not challenging enough then it can’t be termed as exercise. Exercise is sure a progressive thing.
- (1) Exercise should constitute cardiovascular/ cardio respiratory endurance
- (2) Strength
- (3) Flexibility
To improve cardiovascular health you can do running ,swimming, cycling or any such aerobic activity. Impact of these activities will be the same on cardio respiratory system but activity specific for your muscular endurance for example you can do zumba continuously for one hour without getting tired but your leg muscles start aching when you climb only a staircase. This is the basic difference between cardiovascular endurance & muscular.
If you are going for long walks is a physical activity and not an exercise. And if you want to be healthy then you require both ‘physical activity’ and ‘exercise’ . But, something is always better than nothing .While walking at least try to achieve 4.5 Km distance in 45 minutes.
To gain strength you have to work on strengthen your muscles & bones. And your muscles and bones get stronger by training with weights.
Weight training is again lifting free weight as structural lifts like squat, overhead press, dead lift, clean and jerk, snatch ,bench press or training with dumbbells and machines as exercise for different body parts.
Remember that Ayurved also emphasizes on the fact that you have to have considerable amount of muscle in your body for being healthy. As described
‘सममास प्रमाणस्तु समसहननो नरः ।‘
The person having properly developed muscle and appropriate dens body composition is considered as healthy person. If you are not flexible enough ,then there are always chances of activity or during exercise itself.
So regular stretching and progressive improving activities is a must you can really practice different flexibility though the purpose is / different.
do focus on all the aspects of exercise & not only one.
