Fitness

Exercise is an important part of physical fitness. If you exercise regularly, your heart, lungs, muscles and other parts of your body will get stronger and work better. There are many ways you can exercise and different exercises help your body in different ways.

Stretching exercises help you warm up your muscles before you do other exercises. Stretching your legs, arms, back and neck keeps your muscles from getting hurt during exercise.

Aerobic exercises strengthen your heart and lungs and help them work better. If you take a long bike ride or run for a long time, you might notice that you are breathing more and that your heart is beating faster. You breathe more and your heart beats faster because your muscles need oxygen to keep exercising. Aerobic exercises are exercises that you do for an extended period of time that raise your heart rate and make you take in more oxygen. Walking and bike riding are fun aerobic exercises.

Strength exercises help make your muscles stronger. If your muscles are strong, you will be able to run, walk and carry things more easily. Strength exercises can work specific muscles in your body like your stomach, arm or leg muscles. Sit-ups are an example of a strength exercise that strengthens your stomach muscles.

After you exercise, you should do stretching exercises to help cool down your muscles and heart. Stretching exercises done after exercise will help you keep your muscles healthy.

Exercise is an important part of fitness, but good eating habits are important, too. If you eat foods from the four main food groups and drink about 6 to 8 glasses of water every day, you are giving your body what it needs to work and grow. If you don't have good eating habits and eat lots of junk food, your body may not be as healthy or feel as good as it could.