If you have never been given an exercise prescription, ask your healthcare provider at SETMA about one. SETMA providers have the ability to personalize an exercise program for you every time you come to the clinic, based on what you are currently doing and on your gender. Your exercise should include:
Strengthening of your muscles (upper and lower body) -- use weights that are a comfortable size for you and do multiple repetitions rather than one or two liftings of weights you can barely move. The object is to tone and strengthen your muscles, increasing your lean body mass, improving your basal metabolism rate, rather than building big muscles. For weight control, this is the most important part of your exercise regimen. Strengthening exercises should be done four to six days a week, rotating from upper to lower body muscles from day to day. Repeating lifting to fatigue without injury is the best way to gain lean body mass and muscle strength.
Stretching of your muscles -- nothing will contribute more to the decrease of injury than stretching. You should not stretch to the point of injury, but you will stretch to the point of discomfort. Once your muscle is stretched out do not stress it by bouncing against it or trying to go further. Hold the muscle in the stretched position for sixty seconds. Stretching should be an everyday exercise. It does not require any equipment, except possibly for an elastic band.
Striking of your muscles (jogging, walking, running, cycling, swimming, etc) -- this is where the capacity to use oxygen, particularly the heart muscle, is increased. This is called aerobic capacity. If you are contemplating a conditioning program, SETMA's cardiopulmonary physiology test is an excellent way to establish your baseline and to determine how you are progressing. Ask about it. Aerobic activities should be done at least three days a week and preferably five.
Recommended Minimum Exercise
Walking/Jogging/Running
Distance: 3.0 miles
Duration per Session: dependent upon gender
Aerobic Units per Session: gender dependant
This recommended amount of exercise 4 times per week will give you a total of _______ aerobic units each week. This will place you in a "good" aerobic conditioning category.
10,000 Steps a Day
The Amish and Activities of Daily Living
A study of Amish men and women was published in the journal Medicine and Science and Exercise in January, 2004. The result of a project at the University of Tennessee, the study documented that Amish men are six times more active than the average American. While the average American takes 2-3,000 steps a day; Amish men take an average of 18,425 steps a day and Amish women take an average of 14,196 steps a day. One Amish man took over 51,000 steps in a day, which is equivalent to walking 25 miles.
What is the result? The Amish have a 4% incidence of obesity and 26% were overweight as opposed to a 31% obesity and 64% overweight in the general American population. And, this is in spite of the very high-calorie, high-fat-content diet which the Amish typically consume.
Activities of Daily Living and Exercise
Can something as simply as walking further to get the mail or the newspaper make a difference in your health? Absolutely! In another study published in the May, 2004 issue of Medicine & Science and Exercise, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, it was reported that middle-aged women who took at least 10,000 steps per day on average were much more likely to fall into recommended ranges for measures of body composition such as total body weight and body fat percentage. Conversely, inactive women those taking fewer than 6,000 steps per day were more likely to be overweight or obese and have higher waist circumferences, a strong predictor of increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Middle-aged women who accumulate more daily steps have a more favorable body composition profile. This is the first study to specifically examine the relationship between average accumulated steps per day and body composition variables in women who are in their middle years. In the study, eighty women between the ages of 40 and 66 were first weighed and measured, then instructed to wear pedometers for one week and log the number of steps taken each day. They were asked to follow their typical work and leisure routines during the one-week period. Researchers classified the participants into groups of:
* Inactive (6,000 or fewer average daily steps),
* Somewhat active (6,000 to 9,999) and
* Active (10,000 or more)
They then analyzed body mass index (BMI), body fat, and waist and hip circumference. The study showed a significant inverse correlation between average steps and each of these measurements. On average, those in the active category had only 26 percent body fat and were within the recommended BMI range while those in the inactive group had a body fat percentage of 44 percent and fell well into the overweight category for BMI.
Researchers point out the public health implications of the evidence, particularly the apparent benefit of accumulating steps throughout the day. Although dietary intake is of equal importance, the investigators suggest that this evidence may eventually lead to the establishment of a standard volume of daily walking for middle-aged women that may help to prevent unhealthy weight gain.
These "step" recommendations are not complicated by heart rate monitors or by stop watches or distance measurements. They are simply a means of documenting that you are "moving."
Get a Pedometer (a device which documents how many steps you take in a day) and increase your activity to 10,000 steps a day. It works as well as "going to the track or to the gym.
Steps Per Day
Ways to increase steps per day:
- Park further away from buildings
- Take the stairs
- Walk to the store
- Take the long way to where you are going
- Mow your yard with a mower that you walk behind rather than ride
- Find excuses to go up and down the stairs at home rather than looking for ways to avoid steps
- Walk the golf course rather than ride
- Walk around to a colleague's office rather than calling
- Get out and walk into the post office rather than using the drive up window
- Schedule time each day for a 30-60 minute walk
Remember, the more you walk, the healthier you will be. And, if you decrease your calorie intake by 100 calories per day (that's an apple a day less intake) and increase your steps by 10% every two weeks, you will lose 20 pounds in a year without trying.
Deciding Where to Start and How
If you are a beginner with the goal of improving overall fitness, losing weight or reducing stress, exercise at 50-60 percent of your maximum heart rate.
- If you already exercise regularly but are aiming to lose body fat, exercise at 60-70 percent of maximum heart rate. Build up to a work out of an hours continuous exercise.
- If your goal is to improve aerobic capacity or athletic performance, exercise at 70-80 percent of your maximum heart rate.
- Competitive athletes may need to add interval training sessions during the week by training at 80-90 percent of maximum heart rate. This high intensity exercise helps train muscles to handle lactic acid.
Train sparingly at higher heart rates. Exercising regularly at a heart rate intensity that is too high does not produce additional aerobic benefits and increases the possibility of an athletic injury. Interval training and anaerobic threshold workouts require a high degree of fitness, and is not necessary for general fitness training.
Once you determine your individual training zones, you can easily program them into your heart rate monitor. Your monitor will notify you with a beep if you are exercising above or below the pre-programmed zones. Many heart monitor models record time spent in your heart rate target zone. You can then evaluate your exercise after each session and adjust your intensity if needed. Recording heart rate also allows you to monitor your fitness improvements over time.
Tips on Effective Training
Warm up & cool down.
Always do a slow warm up of 5-10 minutes, followed by some gentle stretching. Then gradually climb into the target range you have set. End every workout with a 5-10 minute cool down, again followed by some gentle stretching. The importance of this can not be over emphasized. Studies have shown that people who warm up and cool down adequately have fewer athletic injuries.
Type of Exercise.
Choose activities that use large muscle groups and which are continuous in nature. Some good examples are walking, swimming, running, aerobic dance, stair climbing machines, ski machines, treadmills, cycling or exercise bikes. Feel free to include more than one activity - cycle one day, swim the next, and do aerobics on the third. This is called Cross Training and helps exercise all muscle groups, reduces boredom and keeps motivation high.
Exercise in the target range that you have set at least 3-5 times per week, with no more than 48 hours between sessions. Even on 'rest days' gentle exercise such as a leisurely walk can be beneficial.
Intensity of exercise.
Select an exercise intensity zone that is both within your capability and in which you can achieve consistency. Studies show that people who exercise at too high an intensity, especially in the initial stages of their program, drop out sooner, have more injuries, and tend to develop a negative impression towards exercise in general. If necessary start in a low exercise intensity zone and build up.
Time exercising.
Aim for 20-60 minutes of continuous exercise in your target zone each session. If you are unable to exercise for 20 minutes initially, slow down and gradually build up to this.
Before you begin your exercise program, get an assessment of your overall fitness level. You must get clearance from your doctor that it is safe for you to exercise. |
