Fitness has been known to lead to a healthier lifestyle. Many people long to be fit and have a body whose muscles testify to it. The catch is consistency. Normally at the onset of your resolution to keep fit, one has a lot of willpower and will tend to go the extra mile. But after a few days without seeing the drastic change on the weighing scale, many tend to give up or opt for unhealthy substitutes like pills, diets and steroids.

Physical exercise is a discipline that takes patience and dedication to cultivate. The end result is always, I repeat always worth the while. Exercising regularly in addition to giving you a better looking body, it gives a better working heart. There are four components of a good program for working out. Namely, cardio respiratory endurance, flexibility, muscular endurance and muscle strength.

Cardio respiratory endurance is in simple terms the ability to deliver sufficient amounts of oxygen as well as crucial nutrients to the rest of the body and to excrete wastes that result from the body’s metabolic processes. Activities that ensure the optimal performance of these processes are running and swimming.

Flexibility relates to how swiftly one can move their body joints and at the same time coordinate muscular movements. This can be increased by various types of stretches as well as other activities that require coordination and movement of joints.

Muscular endurance relates to the degree of which the muscles of the body can sustain contractions that are repeated or ability to continue applying equal amounts of force in a given direction against an object that’s fixed. Pushups are used to evaluate ones muscular endurance.

Muscular strength is the ability of ones muscles to apply force for a short duration. Weight lifting exercising is used to evaluate muscular strength. An effective exercise program should contain these four components in the required amounts. Many people associate fitness with the gym which brings to mind bills and more bills. While going to the gym and getting an experienced trainer is advised, this doesn’t mean that you can’t get a good looking healthy body if you don’t go to the gym.

You can exercise right at home or even in your office. For example, you don’t need a treadmill to run a mile; you could always opt for the traditional lap around the neighborhood. There is also a wide variety of home gym equipment available in the market.

One must do continuous exercise for at least 20 minutes. With time this discipline will be a part of your DNA and depending on the kind of results you want, you can gradually increase your workout sessions.

Some simple exercises that can be done without an instructor are: superman stretches for the lower back, pull downs and chins are also good for the sides of the back. Curls are used for building biceps, tricep pushdowns for building triceps, and wrist curls for building the forearms.

Bench presses are very effective for building the chest. The fly is another good exercise.

Shoulder presses are a known exercise for the shoulders as well as shoulder shrugs.