Archive for February, 2010
February 1st, 2010 | 
Author: Remember in middle school when your gym teacher barked at you to do twenty jumping jacks, followed by ten sit-ups and ten push-ups? Perhaps you felt pretty silly jumping around and grunting and puffing our way through the exercises, but it turns out that your good old gym teacher was onto something.
Those very same exercises, also known by the word “calisthenics”, are quite profitable in many ways. Though they are rarely used in most modern fitness programs today (try to find a trainer at Planet Fitness who will instruct you to do jumping jacks!), the fact is, they contribute greatly to your body strength, your muscle stamina, and even your heart health. Many fitness experts can tell you that doing approximately 25 minutes of calisthenics per exercise session offers greater benefits than twice the time you might spend jogging or even using equipment designed for cardiovascular fitness.
Experts also assert that most other widely-practiced cardio workouts, including those that involve equipment, really only work your lower body, thus leaving out important advantages such as strength training.
Another disadvantage to exercises such as running or jogging is that they cause an enormous amount of tension on your body. It doesn’t matter if you jog on a treadmill or take a run through the city park; the added stress, which can be as much as twice your body weight per stride, makes this kind of exercise far inferior to the low-impact, high-benefit aspects of calisthenics and body weight exercises.
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