FITNESS TRAINING: ARTICLES

Why You Should Exercise
By John Hoeber, MS, RD

If “getting in shape” is on your list of New Years resolutions, but you are struggling with the where’s, how’s, why’s and when’s then it’s time to make some decisions and move it from the wish list to the action list.

Where? There are plenty of places to exercise from taking walks or runs by the bay to working out at a studio or club. Health club statistics show that the decision to join a club is often based on price and facilities, but the decision to continue is based on 1. convenience, 2. atmosphere (cleanliness, music, décor, crowds) and 3. staff friendliness and personalities. The people make the difference. The decision to exercise is basically an emotional one and we tend to stay where we feel comfortable.

How to exercise depends on the Why. The five basic ingredients of a good physical fitness routine include exercises to improve cardiovascular function, muscular strength/endurance/balance, flexibility, coordination, and posture. There is not one perfect exercise that can give you all of those things so take a good look at what your body needs most, and combine different exercises. A good fitness assessment from a fitness trainer is highly recommended. For the beginner it will provide a starting point to plan a progression of exercises. The experienced athlete should look at a fitness assessment as a second opinion through more objective eyes than their own. Often a new focus is just what the athlete needs to get to the next level.

Everyone needs to do some type of cardiovascular exercise to maintain the efficiency and strength of the heart, lungs and circulation. Cardio exercise will also increase energy and mood, and improve blood pressure and blood lipids. The minimum is about 20 minutes three times per week where your heart rate is elevated to 60-90% of maximum. Maximum heart rate can be calculated by subtracting your current age from 220.

Likewise, resistance training, or weight training, is important to maintain muscle strength, bone density, metabolism, and joint stability. Without it we eventually lose all of those things and succumb to the frailties usually blamed on aging. Training should include exercises for balance, such as core stability and agility exercises. Flexibility exercises will help keep the body feeling comfortable while improving posture.

New training philosophies have emerged that focus on ability rather than physique. Traditional body building regimens have been replaced at most gyms with strength and conditioning programs geared for the average adult, often called functional fitness. Bodybuilding exercises that isolate muscles in unnatural positions increase the size on one muscle at a time, whereas functional training focuses on motions rather than muscles. The muscles are worked together as they would in real situations. What you get is an increase in ability, agility, balance and strength without the bulk. If done in a “circuit training” style (quickly, with exercises to raise the heart rate) it can be an effective cardiovascular exercise. These regimens can also be tailored for sport specific training to improve your leisure activities.

Pilates and Yoga exercise routines are excellent ways to increase ability, strength, flexibility, posture and balance. They also offer a meditative quality not often found in other resistance training that impacts emotional and spiritual fitness – lowering stress and giving a sense of inner peace. They are not cardiovascular in nature and do not impact bone density and metabolism as much as more intense resistance training.

That brings us to the When? The when is now. Begin your exercise program as soon as you can. If you’re just getting started begin with two to three workouts per week. Your first goal is to simply show up and develop consistency. No matter what the exercis e program, it will not work without consistency. Don’t concern yourself with the intensity, the weight loss or anything else for the first month, just show up.