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Trust Marandure
This week we are focusing at the benefits and importance of exercising in one’s life. Exercise helps people lose weight, thereby reducing the risk of developing some diseases which include blood pressure and diabetes.
Remember; as a people we evolved from our nomadic ancestors who spent all their time moving around in search of food and shelter, travelling large distances on a daily basis. Their movement was some form of exercise, helping them burn excess fat. Our bodies are designed, and have evolved, to be regularly active.
Here is how to start your exercise programme:
Test your ability
Use simple methods to test your ability to exercise.
Before you embark on an exercise you need to:
(a) Check your resting pulse for one minute. If over ninety per minute don’t exercise until you have seen your doctor. Exercise by running on the spot or walk around the block. If your pulse is over 110 in two minutes see your doctor before doing further exercises.
(b) Walk test.
The object of this test is to determine how many minutes (up to 10) you can walk at a brisk pace, on a level surface, without undue difficulty or discomfort. If you can walk for five minutes without distress gradually increase distance and speed over a period of weeks. If you cannot walk for five minutes without discomfort consult your doctor.
(c) Start walking daily.
(1) Go at the rate of three and a half miles per hour for thirty minutes each day. You may have to begin more slowly before you start walking at the rate of three and half miles per hour. At this stage you will expend 100 to 125 calories each day through exercise. This in itself would take off 10 to 12 lbs per year.
What exercise can do for you
Exercise increases the efficiency of your lungs, conditioning them to process more air with less effort. It increases the efficiency of your heart in several ways. It grows stronger and pumps more blood with each stroke, reducing the number of strokes necessary. It increases the number and size of your blood vessels as well as your total blood volume, thus saturating the tissue throughout the body with energy-producing oxygen.
It increases your body’s maximal oxygen consumption by increasing the efficiency of the means of supply and delivery. In doing so, it improves the overall condition of your body, especially its most important parts: the lungs, the heart, the blood vessels and the body tissue, giving you protection against many forms of illnesses and disease.
It improves the tone of your muscles and blood vessels, changing them from weak and flabby tissue to strong and firm tissue, often reducing blood pressure in the process.
It slows down your ageing process and physical deteriorating as it restores your zest for life and youthful activity.
It may change your whole outlook on life. You learn to relax, develop a better self-image, and tolerate the stress of daily living. You will sleep better and get more work done with less fatigue.
Please Note: Some of the best exercise for building cardiovascular endurance are running, swimming, cycling, walking, stationary running, handball, basketball, and squash. Exercise must be regular, vigorous, and sufficiently prolonged if it is to be of any appreciable benefit.
Pick an exercise that you enjoy, that you would like to do the rest of your life. Plan for time each day for this exercise. This week think of what you want to do- cycling, swimming, and so on, but while you are thinking WALK.
How To Exercise
General advice
Avoid alcohol. Start with warm-up exercises. This increases the synovial flow (fluid in the joints) and increases neuro-muscular coordination and prepares the reflexes for later demands during exercise. Start slowly. Tight tissue may tear and must have time to adapt and stretch. Move to conditioning exercises. These improve muscle tone and strength and flexibility. Avoid over-fatigue. Move to circulatory activities. These improve the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Tapper off and cool off. This is important to avoid pooling of the blood in the extremities. Avoid isometric exercise (contracting the muscle with no joint movement). These exercises prevent circulation through the muscles by compressing the arteries. Exercise regularly.
Warm-up exercises. Side body bend. Chest and shoulder stretch. Head rotation. Forward trunk bend. Trunk rotation.
Conditioning exercise. Leg raise and bend. Push-ups –knee push-up, regular push-up. Sit-ups.
Circulatory activities . . . Walking (for every one) Jogging (do not recommend this to be done regularly save for a few individuals).
Cycling, swimming, etc. Endurance and distance are more important than the speed. Doing a variety of exercises so that all the muscles are used is best.
Ground Rules For Would-Be Joggers
Save yourself a lot of misery by learning some dos and don’ts of jogging early in your running. Don’t wait until experience teaches you to do it the hard way.
Make a practice of warming up before you jog, with leg- and arm-stretching exercises such as touching toes, fencer’s lunging, and scissoring. Warm down after your running stint is as important as warming up. Use the same exercises.
Wear shoes with a wedge build up from sole to heel. Have the heel section at least half an inch higher than the front of your running shoe.
Choose a shoe that flexes at the ball of the foot rather than at the foot’s midsection. Your shoe should have a toe box roomy enough to allow for the toe swelling that normally accompanies substantial jogging. Keep in mind – especially when you are tempted to stop running – that jogging one mile is rough enough exercise to burn up to 100 calories.
Analyse your footwork. You will get stop performance by having your heel hit the ground first-before any other part of the foot- and by letting your weight roll forward over the flat of your foot, along the ball, and right off to the next step. When jogging in the evening or early in the morning, wear a shirt of luminous material or on both chest and back strips of that glow in the dark.
Don’t run on roads that have heavy traffic. You’re not only in danger of being hit, but you’ll also breathe in larger-than-normal amounts of poisonous gases from the exhausts of cars and lorries.
Don’t run too fast too soon. By running fast before your heart and blood have adjusted to the demands you’re making, you can run into oxygen debt. In that situation the runner is using up oxygen faster than he is breathing it in. Oxygen debt causes pain and blacking out.
Don’t run too far too soon. If you get exhaust ed and experience sore feet and legs, chances are high that you will quit jogging before you’ve given the sport a real tryout.
Don’t run the whole route on hard surface roads. If possible, plan to run at least part of your route on level grassy areas so that the impact of your heel on the ground will be lessened.
Don’t let any other jogger change your run into a competitive race. Make and keep your own rules.
Trust Marandure is a Naturopathic practitioner. He can be contacted on cell: 0772482382or email: [email protected]
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