Doing regular exercise is good for our health. Regular exercise helps us to fit, healthy, and stay free from diseases. There are many benefits of aerobic exercise at home. Such as;
- It helps to control your weight.
- Reduce the risks of heart diseases.
- Assist the body in maintaining regular blood sugar and insulin levels.
- It helps you to feel relaxed and improve your mental health.
- Strengthen your bones and muscle.
- Reduce the risks of colon, uterine, and lung cancer.
- Maintain balance and reduce the risk of falls in old age.
- Improve your sleep, help you fall asleep faster and for longer.
- Improve your sexual health.
- Keep your judgment, thinking, and learning skills sharp as you age.
- Make quit smoking more comfortable by reducing your cravings.
- Increase the chances of a long and active life.
There are many health benefits of regular exercise. People can do different exercises to stay healthy and active. In this article, we will learn about some aerobic exercises at home.
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aerobic exercise at home
The word ‘Aerobic’ refers to the excellent use of oxygen to meet energy demand during exercise. Aerobic exercise is a physical exercise of low to high density. It gets done by repeating different sequences of light to moderate activities for extended periods. This type of movement depends primarily on the energy-generating process.
aerobic exercise at home is also called cardio or cardio-respiratory training. These exercises should be low-intensive enough to turn all carbohydrates into energy via mitochondrial ATP production.
Medium to long-distance walking, running, jogging, stair climbing, cycling, swimming, etc., are examples of aerobic exercises.
Aerobic exercise vs. anaerobic exercise
Both aerobic and anaerobic exercises are two different types of activities. They differ by how energy generates in the muscles, duration, and intensity of muscular contractions.
Anaerobic exercises are weightlifting or sprinting that involves quick bursts of energy. People perform these exercises for a short time by putting in the maximum effort.
Aerobic exercises are different from anaerobic exercise. People perform it for a sustained period rather than serve it for a short time, like anaerobic exercises.
Benefits of aerobic exercise at home
Health benefits of regular aerobic exercise are:
- Muscle-strengthening in our respiration system helps to facilitate the flow of air in and out of the lungs.
- Enlarging and strengthening the heart muscle, which improves its pumping efficiency
- Improve the efficiency of blood circulation.
- Reducing blood pressure and increasing HDL or good cholesterol.
- Increasing the total number of red blood cells and facilitate the transport of oxygen.
- Reducing stress and lowering depression, along with improving mental health and cognitive capacity.
- Help in additional treatment for patients with a hematological malignancy.
- Reduce the risk of diabetes, colon, and lung cancer.
- Reduce the risk of death, involving cardiovascular problems.
- Help stimulate bone growth.
- Reduce the risk of osteoporosis in the cases of both men and women.
- Decrease the resting rate of heart and risk of heart diseases.
Disadvantages of aerobic exercise at home
While aerobic exercise has numerous health benefits, it includes some disadvantages as well. They are:
- Unexpected shortness of breath
- Tightness in the chest
- Chest, shoulder, jaw, or joint pain
- Unusual dizziness, confusion, and lightheadedness
If you develop these symptoms during the period of aerobic exercises, you should stop doing the exercise. Contact your physician to find a solution to these problems.
AEROBIC exercises at home
One can perform aerobic exercises with little or no equipment. There is no need for a gym or training center to do aerobic exercises. You can complete them at your home as well. But make sure to warm up before starting any activities.
Here is a list of aerobic exercises you can perform at your home regularly:
- Jump rope
Equipment: Sneakers and jump rope.
Duration: 15 to 25 minutes a day, 3 to 5 times per week
Safety concerns:
You should pick out your jump rope according to your height. Also, you need to have plenty of space. Extend the handles to your armpits. Stand with both feet in the middle of the jump rope. If it’s too long, cut or tie the rope to avoid tripping.
Benefits: Jumping rope helps to develop hand-foot coordination, agility, and better body awareness.
Useful tips for beginners:
Jump rope is a great activity that we can perform both indoors and outdoors. If you’re a beginner:
- You can start by jogging forward as you swing the jump rope over your head and under your feet. Do this for at least 15 seconds. After that, reverse your direction, jog backward and continue swinging the jump rope. Spend at least 15 seconds on it as well.
- Finish the set by doing a hopscotch jump for 15 seconds. To execute this, keep the jumping rope in place. When you start jumping, alternate between jumping your feet out to the sides and then back to the center. Like you’d move them while doing jumping jacks. Make this move for 15 seconds.
- Rest for 15 seconds between the sets.
- Repeat this at least 18 times.
If you’re an exerciser at an intermediate level, you can perform the moves for 30 seconds and then rest for 30 seconds between sets.
But if you are in the advanced levels, you should perform the exercise for 60 seconds, followed by 60 seconds of rest.
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Walking
Equipment: sneakers
Duration: 30 minutes, five days a week, or 150 minutes per week.
Safety concerns:
Choose shoes that will fit on your feet nicely, offer good ankle support, and reduce the risk of injuries. Also, try to walk-in straight, well-lit, and populated areas.
Benefits: Walking can help reduce the risk of heart disease, depression, obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
Useful tips:
If you’re a beginner, then try to walk three times every day regularly, briskly for 10 minutes at a time. If walking is your best choice of exercise, try to maintain 30 minutes of walking, five days in a week or 150 minutes per week.
You can also purchase a fitness tracker to keep track of how many steps you take each day. If you aim to walk 10,000 steps a day, then start with your current step count. After that, slowly increase your daily actions by an extra 500 to 1,000 steps a day every 1 to 2 weeks.
- Running or jogging
Equipment: sneakers or running shoes
Duration: 20 to 30 minutes a day, 2 to 3 times per week.
Safety concerns: Choose good shoes that fit you well, more comfortable to run, and have good ankle support. Use well-lit, populated running routes.
Benefits: It is one of the basic and most effective aerobic exercises. It can improve the heart’s pumping rate, burn fat and calories, and lift your mood.
Useful tips:
If you’re a beginner, run for at least 20 to 30 minutes twice a week. Keep a conversational pace during the run. You can alternate between 1 minute of walking and 5 minutes of running. To avoid injuries, always warm-up before running and stretch after the running.
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Aerobic strength circuit
Equipment: Sneakers, a sturdy chair, or a couch.
Duration: 15 to 25 minutes a day, 3 to 5 times per week.
Safety concerns: Try to keep your heart rate at a moderate level throughout the exercise. Also, to avoid injury, focus on a proper form with each movement.
Benefits: This exercise increases the pumping rate of the heart and cardiovascular health. It can also build up the strength and tones of significant muscle groups.
Useful tips:
This aerobic exercise helps to get your heart rate up. Perform the strength exercises, such as squats, lunges, pushups, dips, torso twists, etc., each for 1 minute, one after another.
After that, jog or march in place for 1 minute for your active rest. Repeat this 2 to 3 times. You can also rest for 5 minutes between each of the circuits. Make sure to cool down afterward with some light stretching.
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Cardio kickboxing
Equipment: sneakers
Duration: 60 minutes a day, 1 to 3 times per week.
Safety concerns: Drink plenty of water throughout the workout. Also, if you feel dizzy during the exercise, take a break.
Benefits: Kickboxing is a high-impact exercise that helps build up strength, endurance and improve your reflexes. It can also help you to reduce stress.
Useful tips:
Cardio kickboxing is a mix of martial arts, boxing, and aerobics. You may start the workout with a warm-up of jogging, jumping jacks, or strengthening exercises, such as pushups. After warming up, create a series of punches, kicks, and hand strikes back to back for the main workout.
Core or strengthening exercises are also included sometimes at the end of the workout. But be sure to finish your workout with a cool down and stretch. Again, drink plenty of water throughout the exercise.
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Zumba
Equipment: sneakers
Duration: 60 minutes a day, 1 to 3 times per week
Safety: Drink lots of water throughout the workout. Take a break during the exercise if you feel tired or dizzy. Wear good shoes because they will provide good ankle support and help you avoid ankle injuries.
Benefits: Zumba is beneficial for improving heart health, coordination. Also, it helps to tone your entire body and relieve stress.
Useful tips:
Zumba is a fun aerobic workout. If you like to dance, then Zumba is the right choice of exercise for you. But make sure to start the movement after warming up and finish it with a cool down and stretch. You will require good shoes for good ankle support and avoid ankle injuries. Also, drink plenty of water throughout the exercise. You can always take a break and then start again if you get tired.
- Indoor cycling
Equipment: stationary bike, cycling shoes, padded bicycle shorts or pants.
Duration: 45 to 60 minutes a day, 1 to 3 times per week.
Safety: So, if you are a refresher, contact an instructor to help you set up the stationary bike. If you get tired or feel lightheaded during the exercise, lower your resistance, or take a break.
Benefits: Indoor cycling will help you build up strength. Also, improve muscle tone and cardiovascular endurance.
Useful tips:
Unlike a leisurely bike ride, this exercise will get your heart rate up. It may also include resistance and climbing for maximum training benefits. But it will help you build strength and tone your muscles.
Make sure to warm up before the exercise, and after the workout, cool down and stretch. Also, keep in mind to have a water bottle with you. If you’re new to this kind of exercise, make sure to reduce the bike’s resistance. Also, peddle lightly for a break if you get tired.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- What is aerobic exercise?
Answer: Aerobic exercise is a physical exercise that involves breathing controls, which helps the oxygen we intake, reach the muscles more adequately, and help them burn more calories and move better.
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Aerobic exercise or anaerobic exercise, which one is better?
Answer: It’s hard to answer that. Because both aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise has health benefits, you should incorporate both into your exercise routine.
- Which exercises count as aerobic exercises?
Answer: Medium to long-distance walking, running, jogging, cycling, swimming, etc., are counted as aerobic exercises.
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How much aerobic exercise should I do?
Answer: The American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes or more a day; five or more days each week of this exercise should be enough. But you can also do ten minutes of walking, three times each day regularly.
- Which one is better for fat loss, aerobic, or anaerobic exercise?
Answer: So, if your primary concern is losing fat, then doing anaerobic exercise is a better option.
aerobic exercise at home has a lot of health benefits. So, we should add it to our daily routine. We can also perform aerobic exercises at home because it doesn’t require many expenses. We hope you were able to find out aerobic exercises benefits and which one beneficial for you.
