Aerobics. Images of lycra-clad women with big hair, earrings and blue eyeshadow spring immediately to mind. Retro beats pump out from the stereo as the high-riding stretchy girls step incessantly in their funky Reeboks. With bright hair bands to hold their massive ‘do in place, sweat seems to be non-existent and you get the feeling nothin’ was better in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s than aerobics.

Well I don’t know about you, but that image sounds kinda cool - except for the high-riding lycra gear! It was worsened somewhat in the 90’s - still highriding but less bright colours - just perfect manicures, etc. I have an aerobic video made in the 90’s. Hideous! There is a guy participating too and he just creeps me out.

Anyway - the topic of the day is aerobics. What is/are aerobics? Well the word ‘aerobic’ literally means ‘with oxygen’. Another meaning of ‘aerobic’ which I particularly like is when you perform an extended activity with large muscle groups that use regular movements, often to a beat, which raises the heart rate and causes heavy breathing. Like running for example. Its aerobic! You use oxygen and you’re hitting the pavement constantly one foot at a time - and boy is your heart rate skyrocketing.

The aerobics we’re all familiar with are probably the ones I mentioned earlier - stepping and performing all sorts of activities to a beat/music. I quite enjoy aerobics to be honest. Like I said before, I have a tape from the 90’s. Its pretty weird, but when you go through all the moves, you’re sweating - and get mad at the perfectly coiffed blond bombshell who looks like she just had a makeover even at the end! No fair - ah the skills of video editing. So, back to aerobics - yeah I enjoy it. Its hard work. You feel a little silly at times for lifting such piddly weights, but by the end of it, if you aren’t puffing, you just KNOW you haven’t given it your darndest.

So my top five reasons for including aerobics?

1) It improves your mood. Come-on, if you’re doing aerobics and you don’t start giggling at the thought of the original ‘aerobicers’, then you’re not doing it properly. Aerobics are FUN!

2) Aerobics burn fat. Its cardio, plain and simple. The more you do, the more you’ll burn. Don’t forget to combine it with weight training though. And it is nice and low impact so anyone can do it!

3) Improves flexibility. You’re doing all these strange movements with your legs and arms - all the reptitions help to improve your flexibility.

4) It improves your heart. The heart is a muscle and repetitive aerobic activity helps to stretch and tune that muscle, improving its performance!

5) Helps to reduce blood pressure. Repeated aerobic activity not only strengthens and improves the heart, it lowers blood pressure and gives you a healthier heart!

SO they are just 5 of my top reasons for including aerobics in your workouts. You don’t have to do it every day, but I reckon its a good alternative to other aerobic activity - say running. This morning it was too cold to run, so I spent a good while - about half an hour - doing all these aerobic movements. You may look silly, but if it works, it works!

Tags: aerobics

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