Well you have now gotten a clean bill of health and are ready to get active! The biggest mistake most people make when starting a program is doing “too much, too fast”. Even in healthy people this can result in excessive soreness and unnecessary fatigue. So start slow and work into a total conditioning program.
Another mistake too many people make is that they do not address a total conditioning program and just perform one exercise. A great example is the 45 year old corporate executive who was an avid runner and got pretty good running in 10K races and enjoyed his workouts.
However, he never did any resistance training and thus had low strength fitness. He also had a love of skiing and was pretty good on the short runs in the New England region but then took on some serious hills that were double and triple the time down the hill out West. With these more demanding and long downhill runs his lack of strength and power ended up in a knee injury on a late run in the day. In addition, without the needed muscular fitness his recovery was slower as well. So it is important to have a program that addresses all of the fitness elements.
A total conditioning program consists of cardiovascular endurance fitness, muscular fitness, flexibility fitness and body composition fitness via optimal nutritional and supplementation practices.
Exercise training should also be progressive, meaning starting at a level that can be easily tolerated and progressing to harder workouts over time. In addition, variation in training called “periodization” should also be used in order to provide for needed rest for optimal recovery and to avoid boredom in the training programs.
In addition, a warm up and cool down should be a part of every workout and this should include both static and dynamic stretching and light warm-up activities.
The American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association currently recommend that healthy adults need:
* 30 minutes (minimum) of moderate intensity cardio, 5 days per week
- or -
* 20 minutes (minimum) of vigorous intensity cardiovascular exercise, 3 days per week
Moderate intensity physical activity is classified as a physical activity performed at a level sufficient to noticeably raise one’s heart rate and cause one to break a sweat, yet still allow the individual to carry on a conversation (such as brisk walking).
Vigorous-intensity activity is classified as a physical activity that causes rapid breathing and a sufficient elevation in heart rate (such as jogging). These activities should be performed in addition to the routine activities of daily living.
These guidelines can be achieved by combining moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activities on different days. It is possible to achieve these guidelines by walking briskly for 30 minutes two days per week, and jogging at a higher intensity on two other days per week.
Additionally, these recommendations are minimum recommendations. In order to lose weight or maintain weight loss, 60 - 90 minutes of exercise may be necessary.
Tips for fitting cardiovascular exercise into a busy lifestyle
Accumulate 30 minutes - The recommended 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity can be achieved by three shorter 10-minute bouts of exercise, totaling 30 minutes. Research indicates, that this can be just as affective as 30-minutes of moderate intensity physical activity done in a single bout, and is particularly useful for individuals who have a hard time finding 30 minutes at one time.
Schedule the activity - It is important to make exercise a regular part of a daily schedule by setting specific days and times for exercise.
Choose activities you enjoy - In order to stay motivated and adhere to exercise goals, activity selection is important. Suitable activities to meet the recommendations are vast, and include such activities as swimming, biking, or playing basketball with friends. Activity selection should consider individual interests, needs, schedules, environment, family, work, and social commitments, travel, and weather conditions.
In my next article we will examine how to determine your exercise intensity.
Keep up the good work and just get started with some regular cardiovascular activities to help you get into the habit of exercising several times a week. Remember, you need to take that time for yourself to optimize your health and fitness potential and live life to its fullest!
Good luck and good training.
William J. Kraemer, Ph.D., FACSM, FNSCA, CSCS
Professor, Human Performance Laboratory
Department of Kinesiology
University of Connecticut
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