Best Body Building Exercise
Combined aerobic and resistance training and vascular function: Effect of aerobic exercise before and after resistance training. Journal of Applied Physiology 103(5): 1655-1661; Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee. 2008. Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Report, 2008. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. cancer, pancreatic cancer, and prostate cancer. (See Chapter 12 for more information on various types of cancer.)
Type 2 Diabetes Regular exercise helps prevent the development of type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes. Physical activity is also an important part of treating the disease. Obesity is a key risk factor for diabetes, and exercise helps keep body fat at healthy levels. But even without fat loss, exercise improves control of blood sugar levels in many people with diabetes. Exercise metabolizes (burns) excess sugar and makes cells more sensitive to the hormone insulin, which helps regulate blood sugar levels. (See Chapter 6 for more on diabetes and insulin resistance.) Osteoporosis A special benefit of exercise, especially for women, is protection against osteoporosis, a disease that results in loss of bone density and strength. Weight-bearing exercise particularly weight training helps build bone during the teens and twenties. People with denser bones can better endure the bone loss that occurs with aging. With stronger bones and muscles and better balance, fit people are less likely to experience debilitating falls and bone fractures. (See Chapter 8 for more on osteoporosis.)
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Inflammation Inflammation is the body’s response to tissue and cell damage (from injury, high blood pressure, or intense exercise), environmental poisons (e.g., cigarette smoke), or poor metabolic health (high blood fats, poor blood sugar control). Acute inflammation is a short-term
inflammation The body’s response to tissue and cell damage, environmental poisons, or poor metabolic health.
response to exercise and is an important way that the body improves physical fitness. For example, short-term inflammation triggers increased muscle protein synthesis that promotes muscle fitness and recovery from exercise. Chronic inflammation, on the other hand, is a prolonged, abnormal process that causes tissue breakdown and diseases such as atherosclerosis, cancer, and rhematoid arthritis.
While exercise increases acute inflammation during and shortly after a workout, it reduces chronic levels of inflammation if the training program is not too severe. For example, practicing endurance training three to five days a week will reduce inflammation. Training excessively, such as running a marathon several times a month or doing severe cross-training workouts five to seven days per week, will cause overtraining and chronic inflammation. We could call this the Goldilocks effect: the training program should not be too much or too little; it should be just right.
Deaths from All Causes Physically active people have a reduced risk of dying prematurely from all causes, with the greatest benefits found for people with the highest levels of physical activity and fitness (Figure 3.3). Physical inactivity is a predictor of premature death and is as important of a risk factor as smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes.
