Which exercises are good to maintain a healthy body? Fitness experts reveal

A toned body requires a good workout routine alongside a right diet. Know from a nutritionist and a fitness expert about which exercises are good to maintain a healthy body

They say health is a state of mind and taking care of both your mind and body pays off in many ways including improving your physical health, gaining energy and feeling more fit to take charge of your life and the choices you make. It is no secret that being active is important in preventing serious problems like heart disease and diabetes.

Which exercises are good to maintain a healthy body? Fitness experts reveal  (Photo by Carl Barcelo on Unsplash)

However, a toned body requires a good workout routine alongside a right diet. In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Asma Alam, Consulting Nutritionist and Dietitian at Gandharva Wellness Studio, advises, “Start with choosing the right exercises. Spending your valuable time at the gym and practising the different exercises will not result in a toned body.”

Which exercises are good to maintain a healthy body?

Asserting that choosing the correct workout depending upon your body type is of utmost importance, Dr Asma Alam suggested, “You can opt for a high-intensity workout which can help you lose weight effectively. Besides, if you’re wanting to lose fat from a particular area, you should choose an exercise which will put stress on that specific body part. Maintaining muscle mass alongside building it needs the right diet.”

Echoing the same, Vijay Thakkar, Fitness Entrepreneur and Functional Medicine Coach revealed, “Types of workouts one can follow are cardio, strength training, weight training, resistance training, agility training, stretching, and balance training. All these workouts are performed for different purposes and provide benefits."

He added, "If you are an athlete getting ready for a marathon, you would need a mix of weight training, cardio and agility training. If you are a badminton player or indulged in any other sport, you would require a mix of resistance training, agility training and cardio. So, it completely depends on your objective to decide on the type of training. For a person who has a sedentary lifestyle with a 9 to 5 desk job, the right combination of cardio and weight training can be the best workout to maintain a healthy body and mind.”

Cardio includes exercises such as walking, swimming, standing march, treadmill walking, jogging, cycling, etc. He listed the health benefits of cardio workouts that include: increasing the heart rate at the time of performance of the workout, enabling you to burn more calories, reducing inflammation, lowering blood sugar levels, improving mood, increasing good HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein) levels, lowering bad LDL cholesterol levels, keeping you away from cardiovascular diseases and other lifestyle-related diseases.

Vijay Thakkar shared, “Including weight training has benefits while burning calories even at rest time due to the phenomenon of excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. To repair the microscopic tears in the muscles, the body has to activate the repair and growth mechanism, resulting in burning calories even at rest and having a healthy muscle-to-fat ratio. Thus, have a blend of cardio with weight training, and the dream lifestyle is all yours.”

However, Dr Asma Alam highlighted that besides exercise and diet, there are certain other factors like sleep that contribute to fat deposition. “A lack of sleep or a low quality sleep might also result in weight gain as it triggers the hunger hormone responsible for making you consume more calories. Likewise, stress is yet another component that might increase hunger, contributing to an extra calorie consumption,” she shared.

Altogether, keep your goal crystal clear, plan your workout regimen accordingly and most importantly, be consistent and stay motivated.