Stretch...

I don't know why, but recently I've been surrounded by aches, pains, fevers, and unfortunately upset stomachs.  So, health, wherefore art thou?

Keeping in mind that stretching, strength and cardio are ALL important, which ones come in to play first?  It depends.  Age, health, injuries, nutrition all play a part.  That being said, the easiest ones in my opinion to change are strength and stretching.  All cardio is good, take a flight of stairs, walk for at least 10 minutes in a row, etc.  The hard part about cardio is making the time.  You can walk and watch tv or talk on the phone, but a lot of cardio involves just setting aside a little time, which is what makes it difficult.  That's not an excuse, though!

So the easy ones, stretching and strength.  Stretching ideally should be done in the morning and evening, relax, and renew.  Yoga is great for stretching.  Basically though, stretching is about meeting the needs of your body.  It's good to stretch every major area, the back (front to back and side to side [be careful with twisting stretches, that's when a lot of injuries happen]), the legs (hamstrings, quads, and calves), the shoulders and arms, the neck and the hands and feet.  Stretches don't have to be long, but it's good to get most areas addressed.

Strength, can be done almost anywhere.  Static strength exercises (non-moving) can be done as you're reading this.  If you're at a desk, push up against the desk with your legs (engage your abs to avoid straining).  Push-ups, sit ups, arms, legs, back, abs all can and should get some time.  They've done studies to show how important strength training is and have found that it influences our bodies is almost every way, energy, heart health, bone health, hormones, all of it.  Hand weights are great, ankle weights too.  Even just engaging the muscles and breathing helps. 

Tighten and hold, 2....3.....4.....5.... and release.  Keep it up!