Nutrition and recovery

Proper nutrition is at least as important to health as exercise. When exercising, it becomes even more important to have a good diet to ensure that the body has the correct ratio of macronutrients whilst providing ample micronutrients, in order to aid the body with the recovery process following strenuous exercise.[26]

Proper rest and recovery are also as important to health as exercise; otherwise the body exists in a permanently injured state and will not improve or adapt adequately to the exercise. Hence, it is important to remember to allow adequate recovery between exercise sessions. It is necessary to refill the glycogen stores in the skeletal muscles and liver. After exercise, there is a 30 minute window critical to muscle recovery. Before doing anything else, one should drink something for recovery. Liquids are ideal after exercise and there are several studies that show low-fat milk and chocolate milk as being effective recovery beverages because of its ideal 4:1 combination of carbohydrate and protein that fuels and replenishes our muscles the best.[27][28] Branched-chain amino acids are also recommended for exercise recovery.[citation needed]

The above two factors can be compromised by psychological compulsions (eating disorders such as exercise bulimia, anorexia, and other bulimias), misinformation, a lack of organization, or a lack of motivation. These all lead to a decreased state of health.

Delayed onset muscle soreness can occur after any kind of exercise, particularly if the body is in an unconditioned state relative to that exercise.[29]

Exercise and brain function

In the long term, exercise is beneficial to the brain by:

• increasing the blood and oxygen flow to the brain
• increasing growth factors that help create new nerve cells[30] and promote synaptic plasticity[31]
• increasing chemicals in the brain that help cognition, such as dopamine, glutamate, norepinephrine, and serotonin[32]

Breathing

Active exhalation during physical exercise helps the body to increase its maximum lung capacity. This results in greater efficiency, since the heart has to do less work to oxygenate the muscles, and there is also increased muscular efficiency through greater blood flow. Consciously breathing deeply during aerobic exercise helps this development of the heart and lungs.[citation needed]

History

The benefits of exercise have been known since antiquity. Marcus Cicero, around 65 BC, stated:  It is exercise alone that supports the spirits, and keeps the mind in vigor. [33]

Targeted fat reduction

Spot reduction is a myth that consists in believing that exercising and training a particular body part will preferentially shed the fat on that part. For example, doing sit-ups is not the best way to reduce subcutaneous belly fat. One cannot reduce fat from one area of the body to the exclusion of others. Most of the energy derived from fat gets to the muscle through the bloodstream and reduces stored fat in the entire body, from the last place where fat was deposited. Sit-ups may improve the size and shape of abdominal muscles but will not specifically target belly fat for loss. Such exercise might help reduce overall body fat and shrink the size of fat cells.

Muscle and fat tissue

One misconception is that muscle tissue will turn into fat tissue once a person stops exercising. This is not literally true  fat tissue and muscle tissue are fundamentally different  but the common expression that "muscle will turn to fat" is truthful in the sense that catabolism of muscle fibers for energy can result in excess glucose being stored as fat.[20] Moreover, the composition of a body part can change toward less muscle and more fat, so that a cross-section of the upper-arm for example, will have a greater area corresponding to fat and a smaller area corresponding to muscle. This is not muscle "turning into fat" however  it is simply a combination of muscle atrophy and increased fat storage in different tissues of the same body part. Another element of increased fatty deposits is that of diet, as most trainees will not significantly reduce their diet in order to compensate for the lack of exercise/activity.

Exercise and brain function

In the long term, exercise is beneficial to the brain by:

• increasing the blood and oxygen flow to the brain
• increasing growth factors that help create new nerve cells[30] and promote synaptic plasticity[31]
• increasing chemicals in the brain that help cognition, such as dopamine, glutamate, norepinephrine, and serotonin[32]

Breathing

Active exhalation during physical exercise helps the body to increase its maximum lung capacity. This results in greater efficiency, since the heart has to do less work to oxygenate the muscles, and there is also increased muscular efficiency through greater blood flow. Consciously breathing deeply during aerobic exercise helps this development of the heart and lungs.