Fitness & Exercise

Being active means allowing your body to "practice" breathing, stretching, and lifting. The more practice your body gets, the better it works.

Think about doing things in three areas:

• Aerobic activity, like walking, riding a bike, or swimming. This helps your heart, lungs, and muscle tone.
• Muscle strength and endurance, like resistance training. This helps build strong bones and muscles.
• Stretching, for flexibility and balance. Do all stretches gradually. Don't push or bounce the stretch. You should feel a stretch, not pain.

Aerobic activity

Aerobic activity makes your heart and lungs work harder and builds up your endurance. It gets more oxygen to your muscles, which allows your muscles to work longer.

Regular aerobic activity lowers your risk for heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. It helps you stay at a healthy weight. It can help you deal with stress and sleep better.

To get and stay healthy, experts say to do either of these:²

• Moderate aerobic activity for at least 2� hours a week. Moderate activity means things like brisk walking, brisk cycling, or shooting baskets. You notice your heart beating faster with this kind of activity.
• Vigorous aerobic activity for at least 1� hours a week. Vigorous activity means things like jogging, cycling fast, cross-country skiing, or playing a basketball game. You breathe harder and your heart beats much faster with this kind of activity.

You can choose to do one or both types of activity. And it's fine to be active in several blocks of 10 minutes or more throughout your day and week. Do what works best for you. For example, you could do moderate activity for 45 minutes every other day. Or you could do 10 minutes 3 times a day, 5 days a week.

Moderate exercise is safe for most people, but it's always a good idea to talk to your doctor before becoming more active.

How hard to work

Here's an easy way to know if you're working hard enough to get the health benefits of moderate-level activity:

• If you can't talk and do your activity at the same time, you are exercising too hard.
• If you can sing while you do your activity, you may not be working hard enough.
• If you can talk but can't sing while you do your activity, you are doing fine.

One way to know how hard you should exercise is to find your target heart rate. Being active within the range of your target heart rate not only helps you keep your heart and lungs healthy but also helps you get or stay fit. As a guideline, use the Interactive Tool: What Is Your Target Heart Rate? and learn to take your pulse .

If you have a health problem that keeps you from being as active as experts recommend, aerobic activity can still help you be healthier. Talk to your doctor about what activities you can do.

Fitness: Choosing Activities That Are Right For You

Planning to Be More Active When You Have Chronic Disease (What is a PDF document?)

Stronger muscles