Over the course of the past couple decades, it has been easy to notice a how out of shape and overweight this society has become. It seems people have fallen into some sort of eating fast-food and being lazy trend, without truly realizing the consequences of these actions. This could be a result of the rapidly increasing amount of unhealthy food choices being made by people today or be a result to the lack of exercise that today’s society receives daily but, by exercising the proper amount and in the proper way could be enjoyable and viewed as somewhat of a stress reliever and release. Once exercise isn’t viewed as an unwanted burden or have created a routine, it can be pleasant and allow for the body to be in its best state both mentally and physically while also creating a positive relationship with physical activity.  As Doctor Darren E.R. Warburton states in the CMAJ article, “There appears to be a linear relation between physical activity and health status, such that a further increase in physical activity and fitness will lead to additional improvements in health status.”(Warburton), which is a credible statement from a qualified source, but does not avoid the inevitable question; why do a large amount of people choose to not exercise and live an unhealthy life, if there is a clear relationship between exercise and a healthy life? Even though there are plenty of reasons that people use instead of exercising, there Is still more than enough time in the day to complete a small exercise period in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Of course, many people know that exercise benefits you in some type of way, shape, or form physically but not everyone knows how or that it can also provide physiological benefits such as a stress reliever or by allowing the mind to grow and develop through cardiovascular exercises. However, some of the greatest benefits of exercise are considered long-term as Doctor Darren E.R. Warburton explains “There is incontrovertible evidence that regular physical activity contributes to the primary and secondary prevention of several chronic diseases and is associated with a reduced risk of premature death.” (Warburton). Anything that reduces the chances of both multiple forms of cancer and premature death would be believed to be performed as much as possible to better their odds. There have also been several studies that have suggested that regular physical activity it is related directly to decreased chances of getting cancer in particular the breast and colon which are two of some of the most common and very deadly forms of cancer. With these factors in consideration, wouldn’t it make more sense for people to exercise more often rather than spending their free-time doing other unproductive things such as watching Television or taking a nap. Of course, there are examples of those who cannot exercise due to an injury or an illness and those who claim they do not have the time in their day, but even those incapable and people who claim that they do not have the time could find some portion of the day to fit in exercise. The proper amount of exercise a day is about sixty minutes and that is not a very large period of time that many people claim that they do not have but in reality, these people replace the sections of time in which they could exercise with other unproductive activities. As previously explained, routine exercise also has the ability to decrease the chances of multiple forms of cancer in very common locations by reducing stress at the expenditure of energy. While establishing a physical exercise routine it has been proven to improve a person’s physiological well-being, by allowing for the person to follow the routine and create a healthy exercise lifestyle. In the article by Darren Warburton, he references the physiological benefits of physical activity by stating, “Psychological well-being is particularly important for the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease, but it also has important implications for the prevention and management of other chronic diseases such as diabetes, osteoporosis, hypertension, obesity, cancer and depression.” (Warburton). Having a stable, positive mentality is an extremely important aspect of living a healthy lifestyle and can be improved through a workout schedule. A workout routine can be one of the most helpful methods when it comes to physical activity because it allows a set aside time for exercise during the day that could also contain busy or conflicting activities that would have previously been substituted for physical activity. Setting aside a specific time for exercise can extremely benefit somebody looking to achieve their fitness goals, as it increases the chances of actually exercising during that period and can also be useful when it comes to planning the day, in order to reduce the chance of not having time to exercise. However, with an allotted time period and a plan for how you are going to exercise, it is much easier to make it a small portion of the day that can be easily tackled. Although, for some people, the drive to exercise is not the problem but simply lack of experience and the awareness of how to exercise properly and safely. So now the question has become, what kind of exercise should be done in order to obtain the most benefits?

There are many forms and types of physical activity that could qualify for daily exercise but the question is which type of exercise is the best and will yield the most benefits. For many the most common forms of exercise involve some kind of weight-lifting or cardiovascular exercise. It is hard to know exactly which form of exercise is best for everyone but there are specific benefits each form of physical activity provides. For example, one form of physical activity called Cardiovascular exercise involves exercises such as jogging or playing any sport that involves a decent amount of running. This is one of the most sought after forms of exercise and for the most part can be performed by most people and hopefully can be done with ease. Although cardiovascular exercise can be performed as easily as walking, some people struggle while beginning to craft their routine as different people can have different disabilities. For example, somebody who is obese or overweight could find it much more difficult to begin cardiovascular exercise than somebody who is not. This is a natural disability that can also sway people away from physical exercise such as weight lifting or jogging. The definition of cardiovascular fitness as defined by Darren E.R. Warburton is “The ability to transport and use oxygen during prolonged, strenuous exercise or work. It reflects the combined efficiency of the lungs, heart, vascular system and exercising muscles in the transport and use of oxygen.” (Warburton). This type of physical activity is very beneficial and can help prevent one of the deadliest diseases in the United States, Cardiovascular disease. However, is not the only form of exercise that is important to establishing a healthy lifestyle.  Another form of exercise that has become very popular in today’s society is bodybuilding or weight lifting. Weight-lifting and bodybuilding exercises involve physical activity that is accompanied by weighted resistance or resistance produced by the body. For example, two very common form of weight-lifting and bodybuilding are flat bar-bell bench press and pull ups. Although the two exercises are completely different, they are still classified under the weightlifting category of physical exercise because it involves the resistance of something against the muscles, allowing them to grow. Of course, there are many that associate this form of exercise with performance enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids which are very deadly testosterone boosting drug that in the short term allows for extensive muscle growth and strength, but in the long-term can have some very deadly side-effects. However, many have ignored these side-effects and continue to use to product knowing the deadly effects it has had on the many people who have taken it before them, but why? If exercise has proven to yield so many benefits, then why do people use drug enhancements that have been proven to be very harmful to the body?  It must be because of how much these people want to have the effects and results of constantly exercising with a difficult workout plan, in the form of an injection that will eventually kill them. Achieving your exercise goals through the use of anabolic steroids is not a healthy and natural way of reaching your goals and actually is very unhealthy and can lead to numerous health problems including death. This is a rather large problem in this branch of exercise and can be a reason of why people do not exercise, as peer pressure to use these drugs is definitely present and can lead to people doing unhealthy actions. It seems as if those who use performance enhancing drugs are receiving exactly what they are trying to avoid in the first place, which is being average or unhealthy. However, if a person chooses to naturally become physically fit by either performing some sort of cardiovascular exercise, bodybuilding/weightlifting exercise or get into a routine that involves both, they can enjoy the benefits from exercising naturally instead of receiving the results from a performance enhancing drug with deadly side-effects. However, there have been many body-builders over the history of the sport who have used performance enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids that it has become a common practice but as explained by F.H. Lloyd on bodybuilders and the use of steroids confirming that there is a relationship between the amount of steroids that has been injected into the body and the amount of sperm the male is able to produce (Lloyd 100). This is a very strange relationship because not many people know the direct relationship between sperm count and steroid use however, this is not one of the worst side effects to routine steroid usage, it is somewhat remarkable to believe that this is one of the side-effects and is on the list of negatives that are involved with exercise. This negative however, might be the most severe of them all as it truly does yield minimal to no benefit while opening up the possibilities to countless negative side-effects that have and will continue to take people’s lives. 

Although there are many benefits to exercise that have the potential to allow someone to hopefully live a long and healthy life, there are definitely reasons people have to not exercise. For example, an article from Livestrong by Nikki Kearny states that there are cons to exercising often such as increase to injury “If you’ve never exercised before, you may not know how to perform certain exercises properly, which can lead to injury.” (Kearny). Injury, although common, is mostly an uncontrollable con of exercise, and with the proper help and experience can for the most part be avoided.  This is a common reason to be somewhat hesitant to exercise especially if just beginning but if properly trained or assisted for the task, it could ease the transition into a routine. Once transitioned into a routine however, exercise becomes a much easier a more likable task that can be accomplished with ease every day. Another negative associated with exercise that could also be considered with exercise is fatigue or soreness. Although a minor side-effect of exercise, fatigue and soreness is actually a negative associated to exercise that some people view as viable reason to not exercise.  These are side effects or cons that could be considered as minor but could affect people in different ways and influence their desire to exercise. However, there are few cons to exercise, and its benefits c. Although there are people who struggle with the task of exercising or have a genetic disable, it is still very difficult to live a healthy life without a physical activity routine and is directly related to why society as a whole should exercise.

In conclusion, physical activity has proven to have many more benefits towards a healthy and long life than not exercising. As Dr. Darren E. Warburton stated in his article that Osteoporosis’s primary prevention from exercise is, “Weight-bearing exercise, resistance exercise, appears to have the greatest effects on bone mineral density. In one review, several cross-sectional reports revealed that people who did resistance training had increased bone mineral density compared with those who did not do such training. Furthermore, athletes who engaged in high impact sports tended to have increased bone mineral density compared with athletes who engaged in low-impact sports.” This review truly shows how a certain form of contact exercise can truly be beneficial and have a positive outcome on the future of the person’s life. Warburton also says that “The risk and incidence of fractures is also reduced among active people.” Which again is an argument that discredits a con made by Nikki Kearny and how she stated that “If you’ve never exercised before, you may not know how to perform certain exercises properly, which can lead to injury.” (Kearny). This fact is actually ironic because those who exercise are actually have a better chance to have stronger bones, which could lead to less injury. Therefore, those who It could also be argued that certain forms of exercise are more dangerous than others but there are really few legitimate reasons to not exercise and it should have a routine placement in everyone’s life in order to establish the healthiest lifestyle possible. In today’s society, people have continuously become overweight and it could be due to the continuous consumption of unhealthy food or could be linked to an unhealthy lifestyle that does not exercise, but with the proper amount of exercise throughout everyday lives people can begin to live healthier lives.
