Exercise in Your 20s

When you are in your 20’s and you’re looking and feeling good it’s very tempting to just eat whatever you want and not exercise. A lot of 20-somethings are always running around and grabbing food on the go, but they don’t seem to put on any weight, so they figure, why exercise? I don’t need it, right? Wrong - now is the time when your body has the best potential to develop and gain muscle and strength that can help you have a healthier body later on.

Most people exercise to stay in that little black dress, but the real purpose for keeping off that weight is to stay healthy. When you are in your 20’s, health might not seem like a big deal to you, but even though you might not struggle with your weight now, you probably won’t always be so lucky. Over half of adults living in America are overweight, and more than 10% of these people are obese.

And with that comes a multitude of health troubles, such as a higher risk of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Those who are especially overweight have a higher risk of developing musculoskeletal problems, like osteoarthritis and back pain.

We’ve often heard that people in our nation, even just 50 years ago, were not nearly as heavy as we are now. What has changed, we might ask? Well, studies have shown that even though people are eating approximately 500 calories less each day than they were back then; we are still gaining more weight than they did. So the problem is not that we are eating more, but that we are doing less. We lead much more sedentary lifestyles than they did.

Loving Exercise

Many people think of working out as just that, work, but exercise can be fun if you are doing something that you love. Picking an activity that you enjoy is the key to sticking with a fitness program. Apart from individual favorites, we must also consider what types of exercise are the best for our bodies. CaRDIovascular exercise helps keep your heart and lungs healthy, and it burns calories the fastest. A lot of different activities are considered CaRDIo workouts: dancing, kickboxing, running, cycling, soccer, football, etc.

Actually, mixing up your workout routine is the best way to do it. When you keep things interesting you decrease the incidence of injuries due to overuse, and you help prevent boredom and burnout. So now is the time to start because if you develop good CaRDIo habits now, when you’re in your 20’s, you’ll have a solid foundation to build on.

Take Care of Your Bones

In addition to caRDIovascular exercises, strength training can have a lot of benefits for your body. First and foremost, it can help you manage body fat and develop muscle tone. Merely one set of 12-15 reps of an exercise for each of the body's major muscle groups can help improve your body.

Making strength training a regular part of your workout plan can also have a positive effect on your bones. Before the age of 30, your bones are fully grown in size, but they are still gaining density, so take advantage of this time to let your bones get as healthy and strong as they can. This will help prevent osteoporosis and fractures later in life. Extreme spurts of intense aerobic exercise can also increase bone growth in the lower body.

Don't Overexert Yourself

You don’t have to exercise for hours and hours every day to see benefits; three to five caRDIo workout sessions each week is enough to help strengthen and improve the look of your body. If you also spend two or three days doing some strength training with weights, you’ll notice the results even faster.

In fact, spending too many hours at a time can actually have harmful effects on your body. It can decrease the effectiveness of your immune system, making it easier for you to get colds and other infections. In women, extreme over-exercising can cause you to develop amenorrhea, which is absence or stopping of your periods. This can have very serious effects on your bone health in later years, and it is urgent that you see your doctor if this happens.

Getting Started

It’s not too late to make fitness a part of your life. In fact, now is the perfect time to get in the habit. Be open, and keep trying new things to keep your workout routine interesting. You don’t have to become an exercise guru or anything, just remember to make it a regular part of your life. In fact, you’ll probably find that you enjoy it. Think of exercise like brushing your teeth; if you forget to do it, you’ll really notice and others might tooJ. Seriously, though, exercising in your 20’s will give you many benefits that you can reap in later years.