Interesting Facts About Exercising

While most adults know the benefits of exercise, the majority still consider it more of a chore than a recreational endeavor. For many people, the most strenuous exercise they get is walking to the mailbox or opening the refrigerator door. These folks will often have a list of excuses from not being athletically inclined to being too overweight for not working out. However, exercising doesn't have to be such a serious endeavor. With a little lighthearted dose of humor from the funny facts about exercising, you may reconsider the prospect of getting out there and moving.

  1. Move Your Muscles

    • You could actually give the Hulk a run for his money if all of your 600 muscles were applied in the same direction, giving you the ability to lift 25 tons with a single tug. Because your heart is the strongest muscle in your body, it can easily propel the largest muscle in your body, which is your butt. A good strong contraction from a runner's heart can propel blood from 30 to 45 feet in one direction.

    Faster Than You Think

    • If you think you're too slow, think again. Your nervous system is capable of relaying a wide variety of messages at speeds up to 200 miles per hour to your brain. Your brain receives and responds to more than 100 million messages each second from your nervous system. It only takes .02 of a second for your brain to realize that you just stepped on a nail as you run through that construction site. Not too bad for a brain that is approximately the size of a small watermelon and weighs about 3 pounds.

    Just Breathe

    • You can generate up to a cup of snot in a single 5-mile run, depending on your level of hydration. At rest, you breathe about 4-miles an hour, or really, air passes through your upper respiratory tract at about 4-miles per hour. When you exercise, that figure goes up exponentially which means you are breathing way faster than you are running. You also breathe about 400 gallons of air per hour, which again, goes up exponentially with aerobic exercise. No wonder runners sound like mini freight trains; every time they step forward, their body not only uses more than 10 gallons of air, it also uses 54 muscles to propel their body forward.

    Fresh Blood

    • Regular exercise actually reduces wrinkles and your propensity for wrinkles. An increase in blood flow to your dermis and epidermis, or skin, bathes your cells in water and nutrients, helping your skin stay supple and hydrated. Think of the money you will save on cosmetics once you start moving! Regular exercise and increased blood flow to the brain also makes you sharp due to an increased and constantly changing blood supply containing fresh oxygen and nutrients.