adminInnocent Choga : Fitness
I had an interesting debate with two young gentlemen. Tawanda Tombe aged 21, an undergraduate business student on attachment and Eliya Mudondo (26) who has just finished an accounting degree and has started working. The younger gentleman Tawanda thinks exercise is a waste of swatting time and requires me to prove that exercise is necessary for schoolchildren and young adults. The other young man Eliya argues on the contrary and believes exercise is important and that actually there is need to convince parents who do not believe in exercise and sport.
These guys told me that there are some parents who believe in enrolling children at schools that have no sporting and exercising programmes because they view these activities as energy sapping distractions.
We have all heard of the saying all work and no play makes Jake a dull boy. I did not know that at this day and age such mentality and such schools exist but the young men cited them by names and I suppose they know what they are talking about. They say the pass rate at these schools is excellent and from that stems the justification.
In my earlier articles I mentioned the need to introduce physical education and sport as an examinable subject and I also cited various reasons why children should exercise.
My young friends obviously missed those articles but I suppose repetition is part of good teaching. I mentioned the main reason being that it is necessary to teach the children why they should exercise than to just instruct them to exercise.
I have had the opportunity to visit a number of schools and I am a witness to the emerging number of obese school children, particularly in group A and private schools. It is a heart-wrenching experience to see children who cannot walk properly as they shuffle around unable to lift their legs.
When you look into their eyes you see lack of confidence, and you can practically hear them breathing. Obesity is now termed not as a pandemic that is affecting only the developed countries, but it is an epidemic that is rapidly spreading throughout the world.
When I think of it, these are the children that need more attention when it comes to exercise and sport. But the big question is; are they getting the attention when sports teachers are supposed to deliver good tournaments results and the parents are mainly interested in academic results?
During the old days at school the nerds were not expected to be physical but that has changed because we are living in the same environment that requires us all to be physically active more so now than before.
When we say exercise makes people sharper it does not mean exercise increases people’s intelligence. I do not think exercising will improve one’s IQ beyond what they were naturally blessed with but it enables one to have mental endurance.
Exercise relieves stress so that one has a clear mind thus it enables one to use what they have naturally to their maximum ability without distractions. The rush of blood flow that is supplied to exercising muscles also flows to the brain carrying supplies of oxygen and nutrients. Most people use exercise time to solve problems.
I do not know whether Albert Einstein exercised or not but he lived in different times. The world is a much different place altogether. If he was around I am certain because of his intelligence he would have seen it necessary to take up some form of exercise .
Although science and medical advances have made significant improvements to the lives of people in general there are side effects that have emerged along with these improvements, requiring us to exercise and select our food with caution.
I always like to compare the human being the motor vehicle. There are so many similarities. The car is made to move, there is need for the human being to move. If a car does not move it still loses value as the parts get rusty.
A vehicle needs good fuel just like we need good food. If the vehicle gets clogged with dirt this affects the supply of fuel to the engine. If our blood gets clogged with cholesterol from bad food this affects the blood supply to the brains and hearts resulting in strokes and heart attacks. If a vehicle gets exposed to bad weather conditions the body is affected.
Extremely hot temperatures reduces our performance as does extremely cold temperatures that require us warm up. You just do not start a car that has been stationery for a long time and start to move.
In the earlier centuries the human being was forced to exercise to live. They had to run whilst hunting for food. The food was natural, untainted by chemicals and sugar. Although the honourable minister of agriculture has assured us that the Government will not bring GMOs; there is talk of food being smuggled and there is the case of droughts and floods. Is there an assurance that we will not come across the GMOs that lack sufficient nutrients?
It has become necessary for children to exercise because instead of physically playing games, our children now play them on computers, phones etc. From what I have heard around 80 percent Zimbabweans suffer from back pains at one time or another and sitting for hours can cause back pains especially when one is heavy and there is an imbalance in the strength between the stomach and back .
Physical training is also recommended as a corrective measure for children with spinal deformity problems. In physical training competition maintaining good posture contributes marks for a team to win.
Realising and accepting that one has a problem leads to implementation of correction measures. Some of us unknowingly exaggerate bad posture and adopt that as swag. Adopting bad posture can cause back problems in the long run.
Ten percent Zimbabweans are said to be living with diabetes. Diabetes is caused by obesity lack of exercise and genetics. Instead of accepting the predicament we are in and doing something about being obese some of us are adopting it as a style and emulating other popular big guys. It is a good thing that Rick Ross has changed.
The two young men also mentioned and agreed on the fact that most former sports stars’ lifestyles do not match their achievements and fame hence this is also a discouraging factor to most parents.
My argument is that, times change and way back people played sports for nothing but health and talent doubling up as workers in other industries. And when you think about it if they had not played sports they would have been far worse than they are now even in terms of the little material things they have as well as health and discipline; two attributes related to exercise and sport
Sports and exercise has also been credited with instilling a sense appreciation of team work in participants.
Research has also proven that students involved in individual sports have been seen to grow up with a sense of responsibility.
The ability to carry the burden of representing the whole school or even the country on your shoulders extends to other life situations like shouldering family matters and entrepreneurship. Honesty and integrity is also a trait that has been observed in athletes who follow rules of a game on the pitch.
When I mentioned Tauya Murehwa as a perfect example of a learned sports person, one of the youngsters did not know who I was talking about.
Murehwa, known as the Flying Doctor, is a doctor who successfully played soccer for Dynamos and the national team. I am also tempted to mention two former national bodybuilding champions Grant Henderson, a successful economist now based in America and Chenai Mambwerwe who holds several education degrees and is now based in Dubai.
There are also a number of individuals in other sporting disciplines who have benefited from scholarship schemes. If I were to list a the number of Zimbabwean professionals who frequent exercise spas, I would need at least two full pages of the Saturday edition of The Herald and this list includes a lot of journalists, doctors, pharmacists, engineers etc.
This week we have a doctor in the column as our guest Doctor Mufudzi Mushaninga is 33 and he is a specialist doctor. He practices as an anesthetic doctor, serving both Parirenyatwa and Harare Hospital. He holds two degrees that are linked to his profession.
Doctor Mushaninga says during his school days he was a good cricket player but he had to stop because of university commitments.
As a result his weight shot up to almost one hundred and five kilograms at a height of one hundred and seventy seven centimeters.
During that time Dr Mufudzi also suffered from frequent gout attacks. He says although gout is caused by red meat, it can also be due to genetics. Dr Mufudzi also used to experienced frequent fatigue.
Dr Mufudzi started working out last November at a gym at the Harare Sports Club and he is a very happy man. He says his is weight has dropped to 90 kilograms and he says one of the notable changes is that he no longer experiences the frequent gout attacks.
He eats red meat once in a while. He says he now realises that during his university days he would always be tired. The long reading hours would leave him mentally exhausted but now he feels energetic and he is always mentally alert. He gives credit to exercising for giving him mental endurance.
Dr Mufudzi has introduced two other friends of his to exercise. One of them is also a qualified doctor and the other is in his final year. The three of them use the services of a personal trainer. His trainer says the doctor is consistent and he trains five days a week.
The first four days are weight training days that also comprise twenty minutes of warm up on either a rowing machine or an arc trainer.
The weight workouts are evenly balanced covering the entire body in four days. The fifth day is reserved for cardiovascular work outs only and this comprises of jogging, tyre flipping, shuttle runs, worm walk, jump squats, stair climbing and mountain climbing imitations
Good health is something that we take for granted when we are young and healthy. It is something that we cherish as we grow older and realise its value. Sadly it is something that we all yearn for and dream of when it is gone.
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