Simple exercises such as climbing stairs instead of lifting weights are more beneficial for the body
I did something today that I don’t usually do. When I jog, I usually climb a hill, but today I walked up it. However, I ran downhill. And that’s because, as illogical as it sounds, running downhill is probably better for me than running uphill.
What I did is considered unconventional exercise and nothing weird about it.
Interestingly, while it may seem easy to top-down, non-traditional exercise is actually important for a range of health benefits, including muscle repair, growth, flexibility and bone density.
While it may come as a surprise to you (it certainly surprised me), the simple part of the exercise, where you’re going down, is actually one of the fastest ways to get stronger.
It’s not just downhill running, it’s any exercise where you’re lengthening a muscle under resistance, such as squatting after lifting a weight: When you lift a weight, you’re lengthening your arm muscles. are squeezing (this is concentric exercise); When losing weight, the muscles lengthen.
Don’t you like to exercise? So here are 10 scientifically proven tips to motivate you to exercise:
Stretching your muscles in many ways is the most effective part of exercise.
Done correctly, odd workouts can provide some truly remarkable benefits, from keeping you fit to helping your body burn more calories than seemingly strenuous workouts.
Would you like to experiment?
If you want to know, you can try the ‘Sit and Stand Challenge’.
All you have to do is sit in a chair, just very slowly: take 3-5 seconds. Then stand on both legs.
If you’re feeling particularly energetic, and have good balance, you can try sitting on one leg.
Repeat this at least 10 times a day.
Unconventional exercises are an aspect of many of the movements you’re already doing, and they’re a hidden secret in your workout routine.
You just have to be more aware of them, incorporate them into your routine and make sure the muscles work.
But do they really have significant benefits for your overall health?
Study In one of my favorite studies, people were asked to walk up or down the stairs of a 10-story building and use the elevator in the other direction twice a week.
Not surprisingly, both groups saw improvements in many health outcomes, but surprisingly the group that went up the elevator and down the stairs fared better: their heart rate improved significantly.
The result was particularly surprising because the heart doesn’t have to work as hard when you go down the stairs as it does when you go up.
Those who walked down the stairs also saw improvements in insulin sensitivity and blood fat levels.
Non-traditional exercise can also help strengthen bones and muscles.
In the stair-climbing study, the stair-descending group improved muscle function and bone density more than the stair-climbing group.
And incredibly, the stair walkers improved their muscle strength by 34 percent, twice as much as the stair climber group.
A 2019 study comparing older adults who did conventional exercise to a non-conventional exercise group found that the non-conventional exercise group saw a 38 percent improvement in leg strength compared to only an eight percent improvement in the conventional exercise group. came.
It also reduces the risk of injury and can improve balance, which is very important for general health.
Standing on one leg can give you great benefits.
Other studies show that focusing on the easy phase of lifting weights can increase the rate of calorie burn when the workout is over.
So for some reason, the part of the workout that feels easiest actually has the most beneficial effect… but why?
Here’s what Tony Kaye, professor of biomechanics at the University of Northampton in the UK, has to say.
Why is unconventional exercise so effective?
First, because it is easy to do. It’s much harder to go from bottom to top, and yet we’re moving the same amount of our body.
The second reason lies in the way the muscles work.
Here’s the simple math I’ll explain to you with fictitious numbers: Let’s say we’re sitting and lifting 100 kg. When we lift it, we use 100 muscle fibers, so each one has a load of one kilogram.
