So, summer is finally here and you've now had an excellent chance to compare your body to some of the other bodies that have been only too ready to show their wares in public (you can put the binoculars away, by the way), and let's face it, you're depressed because you know that you'll never, ever look like some of them. And hey folks, I can commiserate because I know, too, that I will never look like some of the guys I see playing volleyball in our local parks. In fact, I know I will never even look like some of the guys who clean the park.
I'm not 23, after all, and I actually have to work for a living. But the thing is, I also know that I don't need to look like that to be fit, nor do you, and that's good because for most of us, fitness is what we want from exercise, not sculpted bodies.
You see, overall fitness, not the size of one's biceps or pecs, is what correlates with long-term positive health outcomes.
Thus, a study from the Cooper Aerobics Institute found that fat, fit men ended up living longer than thin, unfit men. According to another report from Palo Alto, the best measure of longevity over the half-dozen years this study was conducted was the ability to run on a treadmill, that is, the longer and harder a man could run on a treadmill, the better his prognosis compared to guys who couldn't run as hard and as fast. In fact, in this study at least, treadmill capacity was a better predictor of long-term mortality than any other factor the researchers could account for - better than cholesterol levels, better than blood pressure levels, better than weight, better than family history, and so on.
Now don't get the message from all this that those factors - blood pressure, weight, etc. - aren't important. They certainly are, but what you should instead get from this study is that if you get fit, you do very much to overcome the negative health consequences of these other risk factors.
In fact, according to an analysis from Sweden, the single best thing anyone can do to improve his health outcome is to start doing more exercise. These researchers concluded that this is true even for a smoker, that is, even a smoker does himself more long-term health good by starting to do exercise than he does by giving up his obnoxious habit, although in a perfect world, he would do both, of course.
So now for the million dollar question, bearing in mind that a million is certainly not what it used to be: how much exercise do you need to do to get fit? The general consensus is that you should aim to do 30 minutes of exercise such as brisk walking, swimming, or jogging 4 days of the week.
That, as I say, is the general recommendation, but you have to bear in mind that that's what the experts are trying to sell to a couch potato culture, so the experts are willing to settle for exercise lite.
If you're interested in getting really fit, however, especially if you want to lose weight and keep it off, I would aim for more than that. What I mean is that you should emphasize the work part of the workout, and do it on as many days as you can fit it into your schedule.
I would also suggest adding in some weights - yes, to build those biceps and pecs - because several studies have shown that resistance training with weights offers several health benefits, not the least of which is that it leads to better aerobic capacity.
And by the way, in case you're wondering, as I'm sure you are, yes, I do follow my own advice - 2 years ago, I panicked about the state of my health, not to mention my body - so now I work out - vigorously - at least 4 days a week, and the point here is not to brag (well, maybe just a little) but to say that hey, folks, if I can do it, anyone can.