Kenneth GardnerKenneth Gardner
SOME OF us get most of the health benefits of an exercise programme just by becoming more active on a regular basis. Others exercise for an extended period at a fairly high intensity to improve their capacity and improve their physical fitness.
Regular physical exercise makes you feel healthier and helps to
prevent the development of
numerous lifestyle diseases. Some physical exercise is better than none at all, and more is better than some as long as it does not result in any injuries. If we daily utilise more of the energy from the foods we eat via physical activity, that is good. Any increase in physical activity will contribute to your health and well-being.
A total duration of 20 to 60 minutes of exercise is recommended. This can take place in a single
session or in multiple sessions of 10 minutes or more. However, the length of the exercise session really depends on the intensity of what is being done. To improve your cardiovascular endurance during a low-to-moderate intensity routine like walking, you need to continue the activity for 45 to 60 minutes.
CONSIDER SAFETY
Activities that are performed at a high intensity should last for about 20 minutes. The higher the intensity of the exercise session the shorter time factor will be. It is difficult to maintain exercise at a high level of intensity for a long time so we must make some adjustments with either how hard we are exercising or how long we continue the exercise.
We must also consider the
safety factor when we exercise. The higher the intensity of the exercise, the risk of injuries increases. Discomforts are also experienced with high intensity exercise programmes which can also disrupt your interest and
ability to continue participation. Exercise sessions that are of a longer duration and low to
moderate intensity result in slower and more gradual improvements.
REGULAR EXCERCISE
Exercising three days each
week such as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday is a good way to start. When you have acquired the taste for regular
exercise, exercising five days per week is good. However, exercise can be addictive as we have seen in some persons who exercise on a daily basis. Exercising daily is the ideal but that is not convenient for most of us for numerous reasons. Exercising for fewer than three days each week makes it difficult to improve your fitness unless your exercise intensity is very high; however, the body never gets a chance to fully adapt to this
schedule.
One of the best ways to
determine how much exercise the body can tolerate is to
monitor the heart's response to the exercise. By using the target heart rate zone, the effects of exercise on the heart will influence changes in the heart rate. Persons who are just beginning to exercise should start by exercising at the lower end of their target heart rate range. As they improve the exercise
programme should be changed to increase the demands of the
activity.
Fast and significant gains in
fitness can be made by exercising closer to the top of the heart rate target zone. You can achieve
significant health benefits by
exercising at the bottom of your target zone. So, don't feel
pressured into exercising at an unnecessarily intense level or working out so hard that you no longer enjoy it. By monitoring your heart rate, you will always know if you are working hard enough to improve, not hard enough or much too hard.
Kenneth Gardner is an
exercise physiologist at the G.C. Foster College of
Physical Education; email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.
