Anti-aging doesn’t refer only to fillers, surgeries, and facial treatments. One of the easiest all over anti-aging treatments, exercise, can cost you nothing but about 20 minutes per day. You don’t need to join a gym or even buy a DVD. Here are a few simple exercises to get you started, a few of which won’t even seem like a workout.
Walking
According to Prevention magazine, the minimum about of cardio you need to do per week ranges from 150 to 240 minutes. That translates to about 21 minutes of cardio per day and walking counts. So long as you have a comfortable pair of sneakers you can fit this workout into your day. It doesn’t require special effort either. You can simply walk to the corner grocery instead of drive. Stroll around the block. Park at the far end of the parking lot and walk to the mall door, then walk to each store.
Each person needs to walk about 10,000 steps per day. Most get about 2,000 steps. You can easily encourage yourself to walk more often by using a pedometer app or a physical pedometer. The advantage of an app like NoomWalk is the encouragement from other exercises. You can create a profile and share your daily steps, plus comments about your activities in the social aspect of the app. NoomWalk lets you virtually “high five” others and leave encouraging comments. It’s not required though. You can also use the app to privately track your activity by choosing to turn off the social option. The gamification and social aspects can help you add more steps to your day giving you the easiest 20 minutes of cardio daily.
Jump Around
Jumping rope or a jumping workout such as jumping jacks counts. Jump move workouts like “Insanity” also qualify, as does aerobics. It’s the body weight bearing moves that help, so a step workout counts, too. Essentially, you need moves that simulate at least the squashing of a bug with your foot. If you’re older, you can help yourself build bone density by doing this type of exercise. Every time you take the stairs, you’re helping strengthen your knees and hips, plus build bone density. That translates to an interior anti-aging that can help your overall health in just 15 to 20 minutes per day.
Strength Training
While most people think of weight lifting when they read strength training, you can also use a resistance training technique called isometrics. With it, you create the resistance with your body movement or rather lack of it. You hold a pose for a specific time period. These simple poses like the squat and the prayer pose build muscle by holding it in a static position. You can lift weights if want, but that’s only necessary if you want to build bigger muscles as opposed to toning the ones you have. You can find efficient workouts that require only 15 to 20 minutes.
The key to overall anti-aging lies in combining these activities. You need the cardio, healthy bone density and the strength training to achieve optimum health. Walk every day. Alternate days of jumping/stepping and strength training. You’ll see the years disappear as you strengthen your body.