There is a great article in this week’s Sign of the Times titled “Lifting weights can make you live longer.” According to the article, over the past decade, researchers have begun to demonstrate benefits of strength training for strength, muscle mass, and physical function, as well as for improvements in chronic conditions such as diabetes, osteoporosis, low back pain, and obesity.
The article points out that older adults who strength trained at least twice a week had 46 percent lower odds of death for any reason than those who did not. They also had 41 percent lower odds of cardiac death and 19 percent lower odds of dying from cancer. According to the CDC strength training (also referred to as resistance training) enables adults to improve their overall health and fitness by increasing muscular strength, endurance, and bone density and by improving their insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.
So, with all this wonderful research, why is it that we have an almost 80 percent failure rate in the percentage of adults who meet the CDC Physical Activity Guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity. After all, the CDC only suggests moderate or high intensity strength training that involves all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week. We are better about getting aerobic activity, but even then the failure rate is too high with only 49.2% getting at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity, or 75 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. Fitting regular exercise into your daily schedule may seem difficult at first, but the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans are more flexible than ever, giving you the freedom to reach your physical activity goals through different types and amounts of activities each week. Everyone always says “it’s easier than you think.” But we know schedules are busy, people are living with chronic pain, struggling through an injury knock you off your routine, and there are a lot of reasons not to exercise, but there are more reasons to get our bodies moving and strong!
At Excy, we want to create more opportunities for resistance training and aerobic activities with complete exercise versatility in both time and place. Excy supports long duration exercises just like many other devices, but Excy also supports quick burst resistance activity involving a wide range of muscle groups that packs a full exercise punch in literally a minute or two. And with Excy’s small size and low weight, the ability to get an easy or intense exercise is no longer restricted to the fixed location of your pervasive stationary exercise devices.
When designing Excy, we knew we had to reach a magical balance between portability and maximal utility. We wanted a wide variety of functional fitness and strength training exercises available over a wide range of intensities. With 30 pounds of resistance in a lightweight, compact, and transportable cross trainer, we think you’ll be amazed at the opportunities to squeeze in a spontaneous aerobic or strength training workout anywhere, anytime!
Here’s a quick video of Excy as a stand-alone portable cross training system for strength training anywhere! It’s easy to double-dip on cardio and strength training too! Plus, we have a free high intensity interval training mobile coaching application that serves up on-demand workouts!
