Exercise simply cannot be overlooked when it comes to living longer and better! Here are the types of exercises you’ll want to include for the greatest benefit.
Physical fitness has many well-known – and a few potentially surprising – benefits to our health. For one, if you exercise regularly, you’re more likely to live longer. Studies have found that regular, moderate physical activity has an even greater impact on longevity than obesity. In one study, active people who were overweight lived an average of 3.1 years longer than inactive people with lower body weights.
Regular exercise also helps you to live better. Even a single workout can improve your ability to shift and focus attention, while consistent physical activity seems to have a protective effect against developing depression. It also has an antidepressant effect in people who already exhibit clinical depression. And regular exercise can even increase the size of your prefrontal cortex and hippocampus! These areas of the brain are susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, and regular exercise offers a protective effect.
Of course, for the best health-and-fitness-boosting benefits, you’ll want to focus on filling your plate with as many minimally processed foods as possible. Think: fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, and wholegrains. And if you exercise at a moderate to high level of intensity, make sure to include protein-dense foods like tofu, tempeh, lentils, and nutritional yeast in your daily nutrition. Director of nutrition education for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and registered dietitian Susan Levin notes, “A vegan diet allows [athletes] to train more often because of the shorter recovery time needed. A vegan diet full of fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes provides a clear immune boost with its high antioxidant content (and avoidance of proinflammatory products found in meat and dairy products).”
Let’s take a look at the different types of exercise and why they are important for your health and longevity. Plus, we’ll cover the best way to fuel your workouts with plants!
CARDIO TRAINING
Cardio exercise (also known as aerobic exercise) improves your cardiovascular health, helps to regulate blood sugars, lowers blood pressure, decreases symptoms of anxiety, and decreases the risk of many chronic diseases, including cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and stroke. This type of exercise involves oxygen in the energy-generating process in your muscles, so your aerobic fitness refers to the ability of your respiratory and cardiovascular systems to maintain moderate-intensity exercise over extended periods. Swimming, jogging, or cycling at a consistent pace for 30–60 minutes, for example, requires aerobic endurance.
Carbohydrates are the primary fuel source for cardiovascular exercise. The more active you are, the more carbohydrates you need. Lucky for us, a plant-based diet rich in wholefoods provides a goldmine of carbohydrate options. Before a cardio workout, fuel up on complex carbohydrates with a small amount of protein and/or fat. Try oatmeal with soy milk and fruit, sweet potato with lentils, or wholegrain bread with nut butter.
STRENGTH TRAINING
Strength training uses resistance to induce muscle contraction, which builds the strength, size, and endurance of our muscles. Strength training has incredible benefits, including injury prevention, improved athletic performance, lowering our risk for many chronic diseases, and improving our day-to-day functioning. It also helps maintain bone density, which refers to the amount of calcium and other minerals in our bones. This decreases as a normal part of ageing, but the good news is you can prevent and slow down this bone loss by strength training regularly, and you can even build new bone in later life. Muscle mass also naturally decreases as we age, but we can prevent much of this by making sure we engage in regular strength training. In contrast to aerobic exercise that requires oxygen, strength training is anaerobic. This means our muscles rely on stored reserves of fuel, rather than oxygen. Anaerobic activities are short duration and high intensity, like weightlifting, squats, yoga, and high intensity interval training (HIIT).
If you strength train regularly, you’ll need about twice as much protein as someone who’s sedentary. Protein is the building block of muscle, so you’ll want to ensure you’re consuming an appropriate amount in order to repair muscles after workouts. Your individual protein needs depend on many factors like your body weight, overall activity level, and the type of training you do. When strength training regularly, you’ll need between 1.5 and 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, whereas if you’re inactive, you’ll need 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day.
A day’s worth of protein for strength training athletes may include a tofu scramble with seitan strips for breakfast; a smoothie made with hemp hearts, chia seeds, and flaxseeds for a snack; a lunch of edamame pasta with tomato sauce and veggie mince or TVP; and a black bean burrito for dinner. Hitting a higher daily protein goal is very attainable as a plant-based strength athlete – it just takes a bit of planning (like any healthy diet!).
FLEXIBILITY AND MOBILITY EXERCISES
Flexibility refers to the ability of a muscle to lengthen passively, while mobility refers to the ability of your joints to move actively through their full range of motion. Together, flexibility and mobility keep you injury free, help you perform your exercises with correct form, improve your coordination, and increase your athletic performance.
Try to perform mobility movements before a workout, which will help prepare your joints and muscles for the work ahead. Bodyweight squats, leg and arm swings, and hip-opening yoga flows are all good choices. On the other hand, it’s best to perform flexibility exercises (or stretches) after a workout, when your muscles are warm. Work with a fitness professional to determine the exercises that will be of the most benefit to you, as everyone has different needs.
Since flexibility and mobility training isn’t as taxing on our bodies as cardio or strength training, you don’t need to tailor your nutrition around these activities. However, proper hydration keeps your joints lubricated, so make sure you drink water throughout the day – especially if you’re active.
BALANCE EXERCISES
Balance exercises are often overlooked, but they’re extremely important for well-rounded fitness. Training your ability for balance can prevent injuries, improve your posture, increase athletic performance, and improve your proprioception (knowing where your body is in space). Balance exercises are especially important for older adults in order to prevent falls.
Balance training focuses on the muscles that keep us upright, including our legs and core. When performing balance exercises, try to mimic everyday life as much as possible, rather than using equipment like BOSU balls or balance boards. Single-leg deadlifts, yoga poses that involve standing on one leg, walking on uneven ground, and single-leg squats are excellent exercises to improve your balance.
WHICH TYPE OF EXERCISE IS BEST FOR ME?
Ideally, all four types of exercise will be part of your regular exercise routine! If you prefer cardio training, use strength training two to three times a week to support that activity. If you prefer strength training, do a few cardio sessions a week for its cardiovascular benefits. Try to incorporate flexibility, mobility, and balance exercises into each workout you do. You could start with five minutes of mobility moves, include a few balance-intensive strength training exercises in your workout, and finish with five minutes of flexibility (stretching).
Just as fuelling your body healthfully on a plant-based diet (or any diet) takes a bit of planning, integrating all four exercise types into your workout routine requires a little thinking ahead too. It doesn’t need to be difficult or take up lots of time, and once you find a routine that works for you, you’ll reap the benefits for years to come. Exercise is an important aspect of living longer and better!
