Regular exercise helps decrease fat mass while building and maintaining muscle mass - key elements in a weight management plan. Research shows that incorporating exercise into your lifestyle can increase your metabolism. Exercise can make you look better and feel better, as well as prevent a range of health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, colon cancer, osteoporosis and arthritis.
I takes time and patience to change from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one. "The Fidget Factor," a term coined by nationally known sports nutritionist Nancy Clark, M.S., R.D., refers to the fact that any activity is better than none. Here are some simple ways you can help with the transition: stand, don't sit, avoid elevators and take the stairs, move in your chair, ride a stationary bike while watching TV, or use weights on your wrists and move your arms.
What is fitness?
Total fitness has three components:
Aerobic Endurance: The ability to take in, deliver, and efficiently utilize oxygen in the body over a sustained period of time.
Muscle Strength, Endurance and Tone: Muscle strength is the ability of a muscle to exert force for a brief period of time. Muscle endurance is the muscle's ability to exert force repeatedly or sustain a muscular contraction for a period of time. Muscle tone refers to the readiness of a muscle to respond to action. This readiness is directly related to the firmness of the muscle.
Flexibility: The ability of muscles, joints, and tendons to move through their full range of motion to allow free movement.
When designing your personal fitness plan, you must take into consideration 3 key elements for each type of exercise:
Duration: How long you exercise
Frequency: How often you exercise
Intensity: How hard you are working
Your Personal Fitness Prescription
Set realistic goals: Just as it is important to take weight off slowly, getting into shape should be a gradual process. The longer you've been inactive, the longer you will need to reach your desired fitness level. By setting realistic, achievable goals, you will find success and positive reinforcement with each passing week.
Record your progress: Tracking your training program helps you to evaluate the positive effects of exercise. Record the length of time of your exercise sessions as well as your heart rate to see improvements in endurance and intensity. Measuring your body not only on the scale, but in inches around the waist, thighs, buttocks and arms will indicate gains in muscle mass and loss of body fat.
Start slow and easy: Working out 10 minutes three times a week is an easier way to start than jumping into a 40 minute workout 4 times a week. Start at a moderate intensity level that leaves you feeling good afterward (and avoids injury) and gradually work up to a higher intensity or duration.
Do activities you enjoy: If you have to force yourself on the rowing machine each day, you aren't likely to continue your plan in the long run. Convenience and fun are the keys to incorporating activity into your life forever. Find activities that don't require extra special effort to get involved in (the guy is an hour trip, the local pool is only open three days of the week) and most of all, have fun!
Find a support group or exercise partner: Finding someone to exercise with even once in a while will help get you out the door on days you might not be as motivated. It's always harder to say no when someone else is expecting you to be there.
Add variety: Incorporating more than one type of activity into your fitness plan makes it more interesting and you also reduce your risk of injury by exercising more muscle groups. The TYPE of exercise you do determines what components of fitness you will influence.
Remember to choose activities you like, take it slow, and enjoy the benefits increased fitness can offer.
Aerobic Exercise - The Ultimate Fat Burning Activity
Exercise is considered aerobic if it uses the large muscle groups of the body, is rhythmic in nature, raises the heart rate into the Target Heart Rate range (60-85% Maximum Heart Rate, see chart) and involves between 20 and 60 minutes of continuous activity. When working within your Target Heart Rate range, your breathing will be fairly labored, however, you should still be able to carry on a conversation. Of particular interest to dieters is the fact that aerobic exercise burns fat and elevates metabolic rates both during exercise and for hours afterwards.
Target Heart Rate Range
Your Age Number of beats in 10 seconds
20-29 21-28
30-39 20-27
40-49 19-26
50-59 17-24
60-69 16-23
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends the following aerobic activities to improve aerobic endurance:
Brisk walking, jogging or running (outdoor or treadmill), cycling, swimming, aerobic dancing, rowing, and cross country skiing.
Duration: Beginners should start with 10-20 minutes of aerobic exercise eventually building up to 30-60 minutes of activity to maintain cardiovascular health, increase metabolism and burn calories.
Frequency: A minimum of three days per week is necessary to improve aerobic endurance. Increase to 4-5 days per week during active weight loss to boost calorie expenditure and help get over plateaus. Maintain fitness with 3-5 days of aerobic exercise.
Intensity: Beginners should start at the low end of the Target Heart Rate range, slowly working up as you become more fit.
Weight Training
Weight lifting and calisthenics are easy, effective ways to increase muscle strength, endurance and tone. Muscle tissue burns more energy than fat tissue. Increasing muscle mass leads to a higher metabolism and greater calorie expenditure even while resting.
A weight training program provides variety, helps maintain muscle mass while decreasing fat, improves strength and helps you to perform daily activities more efficiently.
Weight training does not necessarily mean "bulking up" - you can individualize your plan with the amount of weight, the number of repetitions ("reps") and the number of sets of each exercise. Eat lift, or muscle contraction, is referred to as a repetition; a series of repetitions is called a "set."
Duration: Beginners should start with 2-3 sets of exercises involving the thighs, shoulders and arms.
Frequency: Allow 1-2 days rest in between weight training sessions to let muscles recover.
Intensity: Start with lighter weights and increase weight as it becomes easier to do repetitions. (Increase strength by using heavier weights for fewer reps; muscle endurance and tone is enhanced by using lighter weights for more reps).
Weight Training Pointers
DO:
Concentrate, at least initially, on only a few key muscle groups. Use exercises that target those muscles in the shoulders, arms, and thighs that are most important for improving your normal, everyday activities. Wait until after you've gained strength and endurance if you want to move beyond these muscle groups.
Begin each session with several repetitions without a weight. This helps stretch that muscle group.
Perform all strength-building movements slowly, making sure the targeted joint has been put through its entire range of motion.
Breathe properly. With each repetition, inhale before you lift, exhale as you lift, and inhale again as you slowly lower the weight to its beginning position.
Take your time. Each repetition should take 6 to 9 seconds to complete. Rest for a few seconds between each lift.
Stay with the appropriate weight. The appropriate amount of weight for you is the amount you can lift between 8 and 12 times, after which your muscles are too tired to continue.
Don't:
Swing a weight fast or bounce at the end of the movement.
Attempt to speed up a workout. It's dangerous. Even if you don't injure yourself, you'll find that you're unduly fatigued at the end.
Hold your breath during a repetition. It increases pressure in your chest, which can impair the normal flow of blood through the heart. End result: you feel dizzy or faint.
Exercise the same muscle groups more than once a day. You must allow your muscles sufficient time to recover.
Substitute heavier weights than you can comfortably lift, thinking you can just do fewer repetitions and speed up your workout.
Flexibility Exercise
A total fitness program needs to incorporate stretching. This helps prevent muscle and joint injuries, relieves muscle soreness caused by over activity, improves posture and maintains strength for better overall athletic performance.
Flexibility naturally decreases with age, but a regular stretching program can significantly slow down this process.
The most highly recommended stretching technique for individuals is the static stretch, which gradually lengthens muscles through the joint's range of motion for maximum flexibility. Each stretch should be done slowly, without the aid of momentum, and held for 15 to 30 seconds before being gradually released back to the starting position. Special attention should be paid to hip, lower back and thigh muscles, as well as stretches for the entire body.
Stretching Pointers
Stretching is not quite as easy and straightforward as it may seem. Here are some tips to insure that your stretching session doesn't go awry and actually cause an injury.
Do Stretch:
Ever so slowly. Quick, abrupt, jerky movements can cause injury and won't accomplish the task of lengthening your muscles and strengthening joint connective tissue.
By holding each position between 5 and 30 seconds.
As far as your agility allows. Try to perform as complete a movement as possible, even if it's difficult for you. You'll be surprised at the progress you make toward being able to perform all of the stretches in our illustrations.
Don't Stretch:
By curving your spine. Always keep your back as straight as possible. Back flexing (bending) can trigger an injury in people prone to back trouble. This can be especially problematic in women with a tendency to osteoporosis.
If you feel a sharp pain. Stop and give the aching muscle a couple days of rest. If the pain was so sharp that you think you pulled a muscle - or a joint continues to hurt long after your stretching session - consult your doctor or other trained professional.
These are all good tips and guidelines to follow. If possible, consult a professional trainer to help you through your paces and put you on the right track. It might be a bit pricey to start with, but they are trained and can help you if you are approaching exercise incorrectly. And always use common sense. Your body will let you know if something is wrong - pay strict attention to it. ~ Aunt Millie
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