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CASUAL EXERCISE DOES NOT MAKE YOU FIT
Studies from the University of Orleans in France and the Medical College of Georgia in the United States show that you can't become fit unless you exercise vigorously enough to markedly increase your heart rate.
Fitness refers to your heart. Your heart is a muscle. The only way to strengthen a muscle to exercise it against increasing resistance. When you start to exercise, your leg muscles contract and squeeze veins near them to pump blood toward the heart. The pumping of muscles forces a large amount of blood to fill the chambers of the heart forcing it to contract against increased resistance from the increased blood from your leg muscles. Pumping against increased resistance makes your heart stronger and you more fit. So if you want to become fit, you have to pick up the pace of your exercise at least twice a week.
1) Effect of two aerobic training regimens on the cardiorespiratory response of prepubertal boys and girls. Acta Paediatrica, 2002, Vol 91, Iss 4, pp 403-408. S Mandigout, A Melin, AM Lecoq, D Courteix, P Obert.
2) Effects of exercise intensity on cardiovascular fitness, total body composition, and visceral adiposity of obese adolescents. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2002, Vol 75, Iss 5, pp 818-826. B Gutin, P Barbeau, S Owens, CR Lemmon, M Bauman, J Allison, HS Kang, MS Litaker.
Checked 8/31/05