The Best Exercises for Your Health

You might call swimming the perfect workout. The buoyancy of the water supports your body and takes the strain off painful joints so you can move them more fluidly. Swimming is good for individuals with arthritis because it's less weight-bearing.

Research has found that swimming can also improve your mental state and put you in a better mood. Water aerobics is another option. These classes help you burn calories and tone up.

Your muscular strength can make a big difference. Strong muscles help you stay independent and make everyday activities feel easier, like getting up from a chair, climbing stairs, and carrying groceries. Keeping your muscles strong can help with your balance and prevent falls and fall-related injuries. You are less likely to fall when your leg and hip muscles are strong. Some people call using weight to improve your muscle strength “strength training” or “resistance training”. Strength exercises include lifting weights, even your own body weight, and using a resistance band.

Yoga is often overlooked, but it has many health benefits. Yoga can help with back pain, improve bone strength, and keep your heart healthy. Experts believe that yoga's focus on the breath is especially beneficial for mental health because it's difficult to feel anxiety when you're focused on calmly breathing deeply. “Yoga is good for flexibility, strength, and balance. Balance and flexibility are particularly important for older folks to prevent falls.” - Notes Dr.I-Min Lee, Harvard Medical School.

While the plank is often touted as an ab-toner, it’s so much more. The exercise builds core, arm, shoulder, and back strength; improves balance and posture; strengthens your lower body; and helps reduce back pain. To make it harder, raise one leg – and then the other – a few inches off the floor or plank on a decline. To give yourself a break, try it on an incline.

To tighten the muscles and reduce your risk of back pain, the side bridge is a good exercise to complete. Lie on your side with your weight resting on your forearm, so that your body is in a diagonal line, with your upper leg directly on top of your lower leg.

Then lift your hips upwards so that your body is supported by the lower part of your legs and your forearm. Then repeat the exercise on the opposing side. The side bridge will also improve your core and back muscles.

Endurance exercise, also known as aerobic exercise, helps develop stamina. It can also improve the functioning of the heart and lungs. Another benefit of endurance exercise is an increase in the body's metabolic rate, which helps a person burn calories long after their workout is complete and assist in a person's body-reshaping efforts.

Endurance exercise not only boosts a person's physical health -- it might also increase mental functioning. When a person performs an endurance exercise, their brain releases endorphins.

Endorphins are the body's natural pain reliever and feel-good hormone.

Exercise may be difficult to maintain for some people. Consider the following tips to achieve long-term success:

Have a clear goal: Whether for health reasons or otherwise, try to always keep in mind the reason you started increasing your exercise levels.

Work at your own pace: Doing too much too quickly can increase the risk of injury and the chance to develop a stable routine. Set targets based on the goals you established at the start of the regimen and celebrate small wins to boost confidence.

Enjoy yourself: A regimen is more sustainable if a person enjoys the physical activities.

Vary your exercises: Change your exercise program every few weeks. Mixing it up can help a person work on different muscle groups and increase the range of benefits. If you enjoy one particular exercise, such as running, try changing the speed and distance of a run, or follow a different route with more hills.

Make it a habit: After a few weeks of regularity, an exercise routine starts to become a habit, even if you find it difficult or boring at first.