Planning Your Exercise Programme
Exercise has many benefits. For a start, endorphins are released, giving your mood a lift, increasing your sense of wellbeing. If you are a little overweight, exercise assists in loosing those flabby bits when combined with a healthy diet. Muscular strength can improve too, together with your balance, co-ordination and blood pressure. Regular exercise may also lower the risk of some cancers and diabetes and weight bearing exercise may help to maintain bone density. Functional fitness isn't training for a martathon, it's keeping fit to carry out the activities in our daily lives and maintain a healthy body as far as is under our control.
There are five main areas to consider. Aerobic, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility and motor fitness. Our abilities in these areas are influenced by our body shape.
Aerobic exercise is necessary for heart health. We need to maintain a good supply of oxyen to our muscles. This is exercise such as walking at a reasonable pace (not a slow stroll), swimming, football, netball, tennis, badminton, dancing and cycling. If you join a gym, there are cardio vascular machines that you can use such as the cross trainer too. Aerobic exercise may mean that you become a little breathless, but you shouldn’t allow yourself to become exhausted, for example, you should be able to hold a conversation whilst walking at a pace. Activities such as gardening and housework can also be aerobic, depending on the intensity.
Muscular Strength.
This refers to the power of a muscle to contract e.g. to lift a weight. Training to maintain/improve muscular strength could include the use of resistance bands or weights, activities such as rock climbing or some martial arts plus the weight bearing moves in mat-work classes such as pilates.
Core strength exercises focus on working the deep internal muscles that support the spine, thus reducing possibility of back problems in many individuals. Fitball workouts and Pilates can increase core fitness.
M
Muscular Endurance
This refers to how well a muscle can contract repeatedly for an extended time without cramping up.
M
Motor Fitness
This is how well your nervous system functions regarding sending signals to your muscles affecting areas such as co-ordination and balance.
Flexibility
This is largely determined by the shape of our joints but we can influence the stretch of the surrounding muscles. Scroll down this page for suggestions about stretching exercises.
The current official recommendation is that healthy adults achieve a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least five times a week, although some believe that the word ‘moderate’ is often being interpreted a little too gently! You do need to become slightly breathless (slightly is the word here, don't overdo thingsm either) to gain benefit to your heart health.
It is important to check with your doctor before starting a new exercise regime if you have any concerns at all. For those with medical conditions such as heart, back or joint problems, or who are new to exercise, this is especially important. Strength training may need to be more moderate for those with heart problems. Exercise has many benefits for most pregnant women, but, if you’re pregnant do check with your doctor or midwife regarding the suitability of the type of exercise. For example, contact sports (where there could be abdominal injury) and activities which involve exercises lying on the back (due to the weight of baby affecting the blood flow whilst exercising) would be unsuitable.
Example of Exercise Programme:
Walking or cycling three times a week for thirty minutes becoming slightly breathless. Stretches following session.
Covered- Cardiac, strength, endurance if cycling and motor fitness. Stretch.
Dance class once a week. Cardiac, strength, endurance and motor fitness. Stretches may also be covered depending on the class.
Housework which makes you a little out of breath at various times throughout the week. Cardiac, strength and endurance.
A routine of whole body stretches for a few minutes a day would complete this programme.
Below is a list of cheap, simple ways to integrate more exercise into you daily life, many of which are indoor activities for rainy or cold days. Have a look and see if you’d like to add any into your week:
Walk to a friend’s house instead of taking the car.
Have a turn at skipping with your child’s rope.
Turn the television off for an hour in the evening and get busy with cleaning the house.
Park the car a little further from your place of work and walk or get off the bus a stop earlier than usual.
Use the stairs instead of the lift.
Play hide and seek, hunt the thimble or a ball game with your child, grandchild,
niece, nephew etc.
Play twister, it’s weight bearing (don’t do this if you have a bad back).
Take the kids to the park.
If it’s practical, walk to talk to colleagues at work rather than using e-mail.
Do some feather dusting around the house, reach those high up cobwebs!
Take a walk to the newsagents to pay the paper bill.
Find that long forgotten exercise video or dvd, dust it off, watch it all the way through first to check it’s OK for you to do, then if so, get active!
Have a hunt for neglected fitness equipment. Do you have a stability ball, stretch band, exercise bike, hand weights or similar lurking in the depths of your home unused? If so, you know what to do!
Go shopping : you will need to walk.
Get dancing indoors to your favourite music, you could even grab your partner!
Take the family, or yourself, swimming.
Go for a brisk walk just for the sake of it. If you walk with a partner/friend, this can make it more fun.
Wash the paintwork in one room.
Tidy up the garden if you have one.
Visit you local museum or art gallery, you will have to walk around rather that sitting at home watching TV and eating.
Walk to your local duck pond to feed the ducks.
Walk to the library to borrow books or dvds for the winter evenings.
Visit the zoo.
Go for a walk in the woods.
Join a conservation group and participate in practical projects.
Join a local walking group such as The Ramblers Association.
Participate in a health walk (your local council sports centre may have details).
If your finances stretch to it you could consider the following:
Take the family/friends bowling.
Book a badminton or indoor tennis court.
Go ice skating.
Visit a National Trust Property or similar (a few open in winter, check first).
