In any aspect of your life, being healthier and fitter can only be a positive thing. Whether it’s to have more energy to play with your children and to do well at work, or if it’s to ensure a longer and healthier lifestyle, exercise is fundamental to your wellness. But just like everything in life, there are those who exercise and those who don’t. Or, there are those who exercise, but not properly.

The fact that you are reading this though, suggests that you are someone who either wants to start to exercise, or you are someone that wants to learn more about how to exercise the right way.

 To fully appreciate the benefits of healthy exercise, there are a few things you need to know.

To exercise properly your training needs to match your needs. It should be specific to not only what you want to achieve, but to what you can physically achieve without injuring yourself.

To do this, you need to understand three things-

 

·        the types of exercise that are available to you 

Types of exercise include swimming, running, cycling, social and organised sport. To keep exercise fun and entertaining it can be a good idea to vary your training to include these different modes of exercise. This will help with motivation as you can avoid the monotony that can creep into an every day training routine. Varying the type of activity you complete can also reduce the strain on the body, giving joints and muscles time to recuperate. For example, after two hard running sessions, a swim would be a good way to let your knees and ankles rest after the high impact running sessions.

·        the different training methods that are available to you

Training methods are simply what you apply to a type of exercise in order to achieve certain results. Training methods are developed by other people, and are alternative ways to complete skills such as running, cycling and swimming. These include continuous training, fartlek training and circuit training amongst many others. Continuous training for example,

·        the different muscle groups and fitness components that a method of training will affect

Each training method will affect the body in a vastly different manner. To really specifiy your training, it is important to understand the way training affects your various muscle groups and fitness components. If you want to enhance your speed, then continuous running is pointless. However plyometric training would be essential.

Below is a table that details all methods of training, and the fitness components that they train. Also view our types of training page, to gain further knowledge.

 

 Every type of exercise and every training method trains a specific muscle group and fitness component. To make sure you exercise properly and your training matches your needs, refer to HealthyMedicine's 'Training Methods' table below: