Since triglycerides are used by the body for energy, especially during long duration activities such as walking or swimming for 30 or more minutes, moderate-paced habitual exercise is a good place to start to lower fat levels in the blood.

Walking or participating in another large muscle activity, and progressively increasing it up to 30 - 60 minutes five or more days per week should be a part of your routine.

Whether you aim to lower blood triglyceride levels or reduce weight, the recommendation for aerobic exercise is the same. Clearly, this is the simplest way to start improving fitness levels and achieving all kinds of important health benefits.

According to the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, exercise is especially helpful in lowering triglycerides and raising HDL-"good" cholesterol, which tends to decrease when triglycerides increase. Exercise also helps diabetics minimize their need for insulin.

The metabolic changes occurring with exercise reflect better utilization of energy by body tissues, helping to reduce blood triglyceride levels by as much as 40 percent, fitness experts say.

The newest recommendations serve as a minimum needed to achieve and maintain good health throughout the life stages.

If You Are Under 65 Years of Age
For people under 65 years of age, the guidelines are broken into categories:

• One suggests 30 minutes of moderate cardiovascular (aerobic) exercise five days a week.
• The alternative is a more vigorous cardiovascular exercise for 20 minutes, three days a week.

If you need to lose weight, or you are a diabetic, the time spent should be longer than these minimums.

Cardiovascular (aerobic) exercise, essential for everybody, is basically any exercise that raises your heart rate, such as walking, jogging, dance, rowing, stair climbing or stepping, biking. It can be performed at any age. When done properly and at the right intestisity, it is safe, comfortable and effective in as little as ten to fifteen minutes.

However, if you are taking medications for high blood pressure, on a scale of one to 10 (with 10 being the hardest you could exercise) think of exercising at about a five or six for moderate exercise and at about a seven or eight for vigorous exercise.

In addition, it is also recommended that all adults under 65 years of age do eight to 10 strength-building exercises (eight to 12 repetitions each) two times a week. In order to know what weight or resistance is appropriate for challenging each muscle group, at the end of the repetitions, you should feel like you could not lift the weight too many more times.

• Increase the rate that calories are burned.
• Improve or maintain bone density.
• Reduce the risk of falling.
• Reduce high blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides.

Resistance movement can be effective in even two - three minutes, and can be performed at home or in a backyard with some plain tools like adjustable dumbbells or hand or leg weights.

If You Are Older than 65 Years of Age
For people older than 65 years of age, the new guidelines suggest the same goals as for those under 65, but they also recommend adding exercises for balance to reduce the risk of falling.

Regularity vs. Intensity
When it comes to cardiovascular risk, moderate activity for longer periods is just as good as vigorous exercise for shorter periods of time. It seems that the regularity of the exercise is more important than the intensity. This exercise consistency helps lower triglycerides and increase HDL-"good cholesterol".

Always start gradually, especially if you have not been exercising regularly. Establish the habit of exercise first by finding the ways to fit it into your daily routine. Second, increase the time you spend being physically active.

If prefer to exercise more vigorously, gradually increase the intensity of your exercise over time.

After a break from regular exercise for whatever reason, ease yourself back into the activity. Do not try to resume exercise at the level where you stopped.

Exercise safely. Stop, if you experience any acute pain or dizziness. A few little aches are common in the beginning, but after a few weeks, they will disappear.

Daily stretching will keep your muscles flexible and help maintain range of motion. Consider a healthy snack about 30-60 minutes before and after exercise.

If you have trouble with balance, use some type of support (such as a handrail) and do strength exercises in a seated position.

Low-intensity and not strenuous, Y-DAN produces real health benefits, especially for those who have little or no experience with exercise and find even moderate aerobic exercise unrewarding, even boring!

Y-DAN is a perfect system for those who want to experience the benefits of gentle physical activity effectively, safely, and quickly.

It can be performed any day and anywhere; it requires no special clothing or gear, therefore, it is suitable for older adults who don't identify themselves as 'exercisers'.

Learning and practicing Y-DAN can be beneficial to your cardiovascular health. As a matter of fact, it has amazing healing potential.

It focuses on the "outside" of the body - muscles, tendons, joints, etc., hence its name "Y-DAN," meaning "External Elixir". In that way, this form of exercise is able to

Blood circulation, vitality, and overall energy are all enhanced with good Chi. When Chi flows well throughout the body disease never takes root.

Having said that, one of the best ways to improve Chi is through a proper and safe, physical movement of the blood. That's exactly what Y-DAN is all about!

Often compared to T'ai-Chi, another form of Chinese gentle exercise, Y-DAN, however, has a few different features. It is considerably:

• safer, with no potential for injury
• less complex, with lower levels of internal work and intense breathing
• simpler, focused on straightforward physical movements of various joints and muscles
• easier to learn and grasp, with only 19 movements (as opposed to 108 Taoist T'ai-Chi movements).

The second part consists of twelve movements, which are referred to as "Core" or "Main Movements." They start with a "Preparation" and consist of circulation-promoting exercises, particularly of the hands and arms. Some of the later movements involve gentle exercises of the shoulders, wrists, legs, and lower back.

Therefore, many people consider Y-DAN a "perfect exercise," as it

• fits readily into your daily life
• is varied and perceived as fun
• emphasizes endurance and flexibility
• does not depend on other people, and
• can be followed throughout your life.

The beauty of Y-DAN is that anyone can learn it!

• It becomes a very powerful tool that is yours for life, once you have mastered the simple moves.
• You need no one to practice it.
• You can practice it anywhere, any time.
• There are no appointments to wait for.
• No needles, drugs or scalpels and no paper work or FDA approval.

There is just you and your abilities.

Y-DAN exercise videotape, recorded by Christopher Wong - certified fitness trainer and Y-Dan instructor - provides clear, step-by-step 30-minute instructions on the nineteen movements and can be easily followed by anyone.

Some experts, however, believe they are useless. Health science expert, Robert K. Cooper says: “America’s most popular abdominal exercises - traditional sit-ups and leg lifts—don’t work even if you do 5,000 a month.”

But Y-DAN, which is also a simple breathing exercise, can do the trick. In our experience, it is one of the most important abdominal exercises you can do!

Abdominal fat, or so called "beer belly" responds well to Y-DAN.