So why do so many of us really benefit from aerobic exercise? The purpose here isn’t to use aerobic exercises to prevent cardiovascular disease. It is about giving your body the correct exercises required to carry on the activities of life, and for the energy you need to meet the demands and overcome the challenges of the workplace, sports and recreational environments.

Aerobic conditioning is very specific. If it were not, you could take any champion athlete, say a professional cross-country runner, and throw him on a bicycle for a chance of winning the Tour de France, or taking first place in the Mr. Universe contest.

Strength training is also very specific. There is a definite overlap of benefits and gains from one movement pattern to another. Otherwise, you would encounter conditions where the best dead weight lifter would also be the best bench press lifter as well.

But no matter what the strength specialty, every athlete needs to concentrate on fitness, both aerobic and anaerobic. And for fitness to be long lasting, it must be acquired through the application of a series of proven health principles. As  cases in point, take the premature deaths of professional athletes Jim Fixx and Lou Barry. Fixx, a noted expert on running and author of several books, ran his last lap and succumbed unexpectedly on the track, and Barry, a former Mr. Australia, also died of a heart attack at an early age.

There’s a correct way to eat for every nutritional type. But generally speaking, we should eat only high quality and organic foods where available, eat small meals more often to keep optimum blood sugar levels and give the body sufficient rest and sleep. Other than this, try to keep stress at a minimum and practice some form of exercise to increase the body’s immune system and resistance to pathogens.

The typical American fast-food diet does not increase the body’s immune system. In fact, carbohydrates, refined sugars, preservatives and additives may very well bring on disease itself, or at least cause the body to be susceptible to diseases. How does this choice of poor foods cause this to happen?

That’s elementary. Cardiovascular exercises are greatly beneficial on their own, but when they are mixed with a lifestyle of incorrect and unhealthy eating, they become catabolic stressors. This elevates the production of glucocorticoids (stress hormones) adding more stress to a system that’s already overly stressed. The results? A breakdown and crash.

Here again, that ounce of prevention is well worth that pound of cure. Prevent injuries to the body by choosing the correct aerobic fitness exercises with only those movement patterns that improve performance in the workplace and the sports environment.

The most commonly needed movements, aside from walking, involve the motions of bending, squatting, lunging, twisting, pushing and pulling. These movement patterns do the most good when performed standing, un-aided, in an upright position.

While doing these movements, remember to wear a heart rate monitor, regulate your rest periods during exercises and alternate workout types to a 2:1 ratio (2 cardio for every 1 strength exercise). Now that you know the basics, use them and they will just become part of your life—a very healthy life.