Let’s talk about the benefits of exercise. We live in a world of self-gratification. If you know what exercise can do for you, you may be more inclined to do it. A regular fitness routine will help you lose weight, improve your heart health, increase your daily energy, improve your mood, boost your immune system, improve your sleep, and even increase your libido. It also helps prevent diabetes, coronary heart disease, osteoporosis, and decreases the risk of dementia. Best of all, you look better and feel better about yourself. Exercise is also a great anti-ager. It helps keep you young!
Last week, I wrote that weight loss is 80 percent diet and 20 percent exercise. Why does diet have so much to do with weight loss? Because, we eat a lot more often during the day than we work out. The average workout is 30 minutes to one hour long. Many of us are lucky if we can fit 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity into our busy day.
Why the range in time? It all depends on your fitness goals. The CDC recommends 150 to 300 total minutes of moderate activity or 75 to 150 total minutes of vigorous activity per week. Minimally, this can be broken up into 30 minutes of activity five days per week.
If you are just getting started with a fitness program, stick with the 30 minute goal in order to build cardiovascular endurance. As you get stronger and have more stamina, you can increase the time and intensity of your workout. If 30 minutes seems too much, start with 15 minutes, and increase it by five minutes every week until you can reach 30 minutes. You can also plan to work out three days a week at first giving yourself one day of rest in between and then work up to five days.
What type of exercise is considered vigorous? Cycling at over 11 miles per hour, running, and jumping rope, and hiking up hill are good examples.
Exercise that is considered moderate would be brisk walking, Pilates, elliptical trainers, rowing, and water aerobics.
One thing to keep in mind is that walking 10,000 steps a day is good for heart health and preventing dementia. In fact, a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) suggested a strong correlation between walking over 3,800 steps daily and decreased dementia risk.
Heart Rate and Weight Loss
If you have been working out for a while and have hit a plateau in your progress, it is because your body has gotten used to your workout intensity. The body is an efficient organism. This means that your body will literally find the path of least resistance to adjust to the activity performed. Once it has done that, the body uses less energy to perform the activity.
What can you do to combat the exercise plateau? Step up your work out intensity. How do you know you have increased your workout intensity? Try the talk test. For example, if you are walking with a partner, and you find that you can easily talk and are able to maintain a normal breath, its time to walk faster. You should still be able to talk, but your breathing will become slightly harder. If you are walking fast, and you can no longer talk without losing your breath, you have hit the anaerobic level of exercise. This is great for cardiovascular health, but it uses a different energy pathway and it cannot be sustained for a long period of time. If you hit this intensity, try to slow it down a little until you can better manage your breathing and ability to talk.
If you find that you are getting dizzy, light-headed, or nauseous, it’s time to stop and sit down. That means you worked too hard.
You can also overcome that pesky plateau by changing up your work out. Try a different activity. If you have been using a treadmill to walk or jog, for example, use the stationary bike or indoor cycling bike instead. You can even try a rower, which has long been touted as a great way to train, as it burns more calories by using both the upper and lower body. It is also low-impact, which is good for your joints. The other benefit to changing up your workout routine is that is can prevent overuse injuries.
Strength Training
Why is resistance training so important? Because strength training increases muscular endurance, strength, and power. It also can prevent injury. It increases bone density, and it increases your metabolism. In fact, the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate, which is the amount of energy the body uses over a period of time.
Recently, a new client approached me and asked if she would actually gain weight through strength training. She was trying to lose weight. Even though muscle weighs more than fat, muscle is denser than fat. One pound of muscle is equivalent to the size of a golf ball, while one pound of fat is about the size of a stick of butter.
How does muscle help burn fat? When the body engages in strength training, it is actually creating microtears in the muscular tissue. The body, in turn, needs to burn more calories in order to repair and rebuild the muscle, which generally takes 24-48 hours (in some cases, 72 hours). The fuel used for this process is stored fat and protein. Thus, the more muscle you have, the more fat you burn.
How often should you practice resistance training? Aim to strength-train twice a week at minimum. One set of 8-12 reps is adequate. Two to three sets are appropriate for hypertrophy and muscle maximization. By the 12th rep, it should feel challenging to complete the movement. Allow one minute of rest between sets (USE A TIMER!).
Low Impact Versus High Impact
There is a common misconception that you have to work really hard when you exercise to get good results. This is not true. In fact, this is the main reason why people get injured when they start to work out. Too much too soon almost always leads to injury, soreness, and decreases the chances of sticking to a regular fitness regimen.
Start out slow. You may feel like you can do more, but your body ultimately benefits. It typically takes 30 days to see the physical benefits of a regular strength-training routine. These benefits include, more muscle definition (toning), a smaller waistline, more energy, more self-confidence, and diminished pain.
I train many clients who suffer from lower back pain, hip pain, and knee pain. Within 2 weeks to a month of regular training, they have all experienced less physical pain and more mobility in those afflicted areas. They did not have to engage in a high-impact or high-intensity activity to get these results. As a matter of fact, engaging in an intense activity would have made their symptoms and injury worse.
Keep Yourself Accountable
As I said in the beginning of this article, we all lead busy lives. It is easy to use lack of time as an excuse to avoid exercise. You need to make time for yourself. Carving out 30 minutes to one hour per day out of 24 hours is important for self-care. If you cannot care for yourself, you will not be able to care for those around you.
Consider hiring a personal trainer or other fitness instructor (Shameless plug: I am a Certified Personal Trainer and Pilates Instructor, and I can always remotely train you). Investing in a trainer will compel you to commit to a time during the week to exercise.
Reserve a spot in a group exercise class. Knowing that you need to go to a regularly scheduled class will help you maintain your fitness routine.
Get an exercise partner. Ask your friends or spouse to work out with you. There is definitely strength in numbers Carve out a time during the week and exercise together. It can be more fun.
If you are still unsure how to start a cardio and strength training regimen, email me, and I will be happy to help you out.
Thanks for reading!
