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Indian American Actor Dream - Want to Look good, feel good and live longer |
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Fitness and Exercise Introduction When it's cold: Here is the few steps plan to get fit.
These steps are like a chain. You break one step in the chain, start again. Making a Commitment The
decision to carry out a physical fitness program cannot be taken lightly. It
requires a lifelong commitment of time and effort. Exercise must become one of
those things that you do without question, like bathing and brushing your
teeth. Unless you are convinced of the benefits of fitness and the risks of
unfitness, you will not succeed. Patience
is essential. Don't try to do too much too soon and don't quit before you have
a chance to experience the rewards of improved fitness. You can't regain in a
few days or weeks what you have lost in years of sedentary living, but you can
get it back if you persevere. And the prize is worth the price. Checking Your Health If
you're under 35 and in good health, you don't need to see a doctor before
beginning an exercise program. But if you are over 35 and have been inactive
for several years, you should consult your physician. Vigorous exercise
involves minimal health risks for persons in good health or those following a
doctor's advice. Far greater risks are present by habitual inactivity and
obesity. Defining Fitness Physical
fitness is to the human body what fine tuning is to an engine. It enables us to
perform up to our potential. Fitness can be described as a condition that helps
us look, feel and do our best. More specifically, it is: "The ability to
perform daily tasks vigorously and alertly, with energy left over for enjoying leisure-time
activities and meeting emergency demands. It is the ability to endure, to bear
up, to withstand stress, to carry on in circumstances where an unfit person
could not continue, and is a major basis for good health and well-being." Physical
fitness involves the performance of the heart and lungs, and the muscles of the
body. And, since what we do with our bodies also affects what we can do with
our minds, fitness influences to some degree qualities such as mental alertness
and emotional stability. As you
undertake your fitness program, it's important to remember that fitness is an
individual quality that varies from person to person. It is influenced by age,
sex, heredity, personal habits, exercise and eating practices. You can't do
anything about the first three factors. However, it is within your power to
change and improve the others where needed. Knowing the Basics: Body
Composition is often considered a component of fitness. It refers to the makeup
of the body in terms of lean mass (muscle, bone, vital tissue and organs) and
fat mass. An optimal ratio of fat to lean mass is an indication of fitness, and
the right types of exercise will help you decrease body fat and increase or
maintain muscle mass. Cardio
respiratory Endurance It is the ability to deliver oxygen and nutrients to tissues, and
to remove wastes, over sustained periods of time. Long runs and swims are among
the methods employed in measuring this component. Muscular
Strength It is the ability of a muscle to exert force for a brief period
of time. Upper-body strength, for example, can be measured by various
weight-lifting exercises. Muscular
Endurance It is the ability of a muscle, or a group of muscles, to sustain
repeated contractions or to continue applying force against a fixed object.
Pushups are often used to test endurance of arm and shoulder muscles. Flexibility It is the
ability to move joints and use muscles through their full range of motion. The
sit-and-reach test is a good measure of flexibility of the lower back and backs
of the upper legs. A Workout Schedule How
often, how long and how hard you exercise, and what kinds of exercises you do
should be determined by what you are trying to accomplish. Your goals, your
present fitness level, age, health, skills, interest and convenience are among
the factors you should consider. For example, an athlete training for
high-level competition would follow a different program than a person whose
goals are good health and the ability to meet work and recreational needs. Your
exercise program should include something from each of the four basic fitness
components described previously. Each workout should begin with a warm-up and
end with a cool down. As a general rule, space your workouts throughout the
week and avoid consecutive days of hard exercise. Here
are the amounts of activity necessary for the average, healthy person to
maintain a minimum level of overall fitness. Included are some of the popular
exercises for each category. Warm-up - 5-10 minutes of exercises such as
walking, slow jogging, knee lifts, arm circles or trunk rotations. Low
intensity movements that stimulate movements to be used in the activity can
also be included in the warm-up. Muscular Strength You would need
a minimum of two 20-minute sessions per week that include exercises for all the
major muscle groups. Lifting weights is the most effective way to increase
strength. Muscular Endurance Do at least
three 30-minute sessions each week that include exercises such as calisthenics,
pushups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and weight training for all the major muscle
groups. Cardio respiratory Endurance Perform at
least three 20-minute bouts of continuous aerobic (activity requiring oxygen)
rhythmic exercise each week. Popular aerobic conditioning activities include
brisk walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, rope-jumping, rowing, cross-country
skiing, and some continuous action games like racquetball and handball. Flexibility - 10-12 minutes
of daily stretching exercises performed slowly without a bouncing motion. This
can be included after a warm-up or during a cool down. Cool Down - a minimum of
5-10 minutes of slow walking, low-level exercise, combined with stretching. A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE The
keys to selecting the right kinds of exercises for developing and maintaining
each of the basic components of fitness are found in these principles: Specificity - pick the
right kind of activities to affect each component. Strength training results in
specific strength changes. Also, train for the specific activity you're
interested in. For example, optimal swimming performance is best achieved when
the muscles involved in swimming are trained for the movements required. It
does not necessarily follow that a good runner is a good swimmer. Overload - work hard
enough, at levels that are vigorous and long enough to overload your body above
its resting level, to bring about improvement. Regularity - you can't
hoard physical fitness. At least three balanced workouts a week are necessary
to maintain a desirable level of fitness. Progression - increase the
intensity, frequency and/or duration of activity over periods of time in order
to improve. Some
activities can be used to fulfill more than one of your basic exercise
requirements. For example, in addition to increasing cardio respiratory
endurance, running builds muscular endurance in the legs, and swimming develops
the arm, shoulder and chest muscles. If you select the proper activities, it is
possible to fit parts of your muscular endurance workout into your cardio
respiratory workout and save time. MEASURING YOUR HEART RATE Heart
rate is widely accepted as a good method for measuring intensity during
running, swimming, cycling and other aerobic activities. Exercise that doesn't
raise your heart rate to a certain level and keep it there for 20 minutes won't
contribute significantly to cardiovascular fitness. The
heart rate you should maintain is called your Target Heart Rate. There are
several ways of arriving at this figure. One of the simplest is: Maximum Heart
Rate (220 - age) X 70%. Thus, the target heart rate for a 40 year-old would be
126. Some
methods for figuring the target rate take individual differences into
consideration. Here is one of them. 1. Subtract age from 220 to find Maximum
Heart Rate. 2.
Subtract resting heart rate (see below) from maximum heart rate to determine
Heart Rate Reserve. 3. Take
70% of heart rate reserve to determine Heart Rate Raise. 4. Add
heart rate raise to resting heart rate to find Target Rate. Resting
heart rate should be determined by taking your pulse after sitting quietly for
five minutes. When checking heart rate during a workout, take your pulse within
five seconds after interrupting exercise because it starts to go down once you
stop moving. Count pulse for 10 seconds and multiply by six to get the
per-minute rate. CONTROLLING YOUR WEIGHT The key
to weight control is keeping energy intake (food) and energy output (physical
activity) in balance. When you consume only as many calories as your body
needs, your weight will usually remain constant. If you take in more calories
than your body needs, you will put on excess fat. If you expend more energy
than you take in you will burn excess fat. Exercise
plays an important role in weight control by increasing energy output, calling
on stored calories for extra fuel. Recent studies show that not only does
exercise increase metabolism during a workout, but it causes your metabolism to
stay increased for a period of time after exercising, allowing you to burn more
calories. How
much exercise is needed to make a difference in your weight depends on the
amount and type of activity, and on how much you eat. Aerobic exercise burns
body fat. A medium-sized adult would have to walk more than 30 miles to burn up
3,500 calories, the equivalent of one pound of fat. Although that may seem like
a lot, you don't have to walk the 30 miles all at once. Walking a mile a day
for 30 days will achieve the same result, providing you don't increase your
food intake to negate the effects of walking If you
consume 100 calories a day more than your body needs, you will gain
approximately 10 pounds in year. You could take that weight off, or keep it
off, by doing 30 minutes of moderate exercise daily. The combination of
exercise and diet offers the most flexible and effective approach to weight
control. Since
muscle tissue weighs more than fat tissue, and exercise develops muscle to a
certain degree, your bathroom scale won't necessarily tell you whether or not
you are "fat." Well muscled individuals, with relatively little body
fat, invariably are "overweight" according to standard weight charts.
If you are doing a regular program of strength training, your muscles will
increase in weight, and possibly your overall weight will increase. Body composition
is a better indicator of your condition than body weight. Lack of
physical activity causes muscles to get soft, and if food intake is not
decreased, added body weight is almost always fat. Once-active people, who
continue to eat as they always have after settling into sedentary lifestyles,
tend to suffer from "creeping obesity." CLOTHING All
exercise clothing should be loose-fitting to permit freedom of movement, and
should make the wearer feel comfortable and self-assured. As a
general rule, you should wear lighter clothes than temperatures might indicate.
Exercise generates great amounts of body heat. Light-colored clothing that
reflects the sun's rays is cooler in the summer, and dark clothes are warmer in
winter. When the weather is very cold, it's better to wear several layers of
light clothing than one or two heavy layers. The extra layers help trap heat,
and it's easy to shed one of them if you become too warm. In cold
weather, and in hot, sunny weather, it's a good idea to wear something on your
head. Wool watch or ski caps are recommended for winter wear, and some form of
tennis or sailor's hat that provides shade and can be soaked in water is good
for summer. Never
wear rubberized or plastic clothing. Such garments interfere with the evaporation
of perspiration and can cause body temperature to rise to dangerous levels. The
most important item of equipment for the runner is a pair of sturdy,
properly-fitting running shoes. Training shoes with heavy, cushioned soles and
arch supports are preferable to flimsy sneakers and light racing flats. WHEN TO EXERCISE The
hour just before the evening meal is a popular time for exercise. The late
afternoon workout provides a welcome change of pace at the end of the work day
and helps dissolve the day's worries and tensions. Another
popular time to work out is early morning, before the work day begins.
Advocates of the early start say it makes them more alert and energetic on the
job. Among
the factors you should consider in developing your workout schedule are
personal preference, job and family responsibilities, availability of exercise
facilities and weather. It's important to schedule your workouts for a time
when there is little chance that you will have to cancel or interrupt them
because of other demands on your time. You should not exercise strenuously during extreme hot, humid weather, or within two hours after eating. Heat and/or digestion both make heavy demands on the circulatory system, and in combination with exercise can be an overtaxing double load.
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