Exercise Today

If you are like the majority of Americans,, fitness, you probably would like to lose some weight, move better with less pain, and be able to perform everyday activities easier. You’ve probably tried a handful of fitness programs in the past only to realize that you weren’t, fitness, seeing the results you had expected. Or, you are thinking about starting a fitness program, whether as, fitness,, fitness, another attempt or for the first time. But where do you start?, fitness, After all you are inundated with fitness, fitness, information from TV infomercials, that gurus book, a celebrity fitness program,, fitness, and your friend who looks great.

So how do you know what works?

The only real way to know, fitness, what works is too look at each type of exercise, fitness, program and what it is designed to do. There are 3 popular approaches to fitness: Aerobics, Yoga/Pilates,, fitness, and Strength Training. Let’s take a look at each of these in more detail.

Aerobics
The are many variations of this approach from the step classes of the 80s and 90s to the more modern, fitness, dance versions popular today, along with walking, jogging, running, and swimming.

The problem with this approach, while always useful for, fitness, health, was that it was never the, fitness, ultimate tool for fat loss. This is because the only place fat burning, fitness, takes place is in the muscle. More muscle = more fat burning machinery. The only reason aerobic exercise, fitness, burns any calories at all is because of the demand for oxygen from the muscles. By, fitness, only performing aerobic activities you make you body more efficient resulting in less calories burned from the same activity, a slower metabolism, and thus a fatter body.

To take this a step further, fitness, let’s look at the research:

1) The addition of 45 minutes, fitness, of aerobic exercise at 78% MHR 5 days a week for 12 weeks had NO EFFECT over dieting alone, fitness, .

Utter AC, Nieman DC, Shannonhouse EM, Butterworth DE, Nieman CE
Influence, fitness, of diet and/or exercise on body composition and cardio respiratory fitness in obese women.
Int J Sport Nutr. 1998 Sep; 8(3):213-22.

2) 20 weeks of aerobic training burned 28, 661 calories compared to 15 weeks of interval training, which only burned 13,614 calories.

However, the interval group lost NINE TIMES the body fat of the aerobic group (when corrected for energy cost) in 5 less weeks.

Tremblay A, Simoneau JA, Bouchard C.
Metabolism. 1994 Jul;43(7):814-8.

Yoga/Pilates
These types of classes have gain popularity in the past few years with many variations emerging. This type of fitness program doesn’t fail per se, but many people, fitness, taking these classes are looking for weight loss and to improve bone density to prevent osteoporosis. In order to achieve those outcomes you need to create a metabolic demand on your body that progresses over time.

Without the intensity and progression you will end up with the same results as aerobic training. As far as osteoporosis prevention goes you will benefit your bones more through a strength-training program, fitness, . If flexibility and balance are what you are looking for then this is the right choice, but if what you’re looking for is something different this not the right approach.

Strength Training
Like the above-mentioned approaches there are many different ways to do strength training. However, when done properly a well-designed strength training program is the answer to your health and fitness goals.

“Functional, fitness, Training” is the current buzzword in the fitness world and for good reason, fitness, . With the birth of functional training, fitness, we now have a fitness program that ties the benefits of strength training and aerobics, along with yoga and Pilates into one supreme program.

So what is a functional training program? Let’s start with what it isn’t. It is not using pin-selected weight machines, it is not pedaling on the elliptical, or as far as some have taken it standing on one leg while on a wobble board performing squats and pressing a weight overhead.

So what is it? Functional training is the method of training that focuses on improving everyday movement patterns,, fitness, building useful strength, increasing cardiovascular, fitness, endurance,, fitness, improving balance while in motion, and progressively challenging the body more and in different ways.

The nature of strength training, which is highly weight bearing, is also the best way to prevent osteoporosis. By participating in weight bearing activity, lifting, fitness, weight, fitness, and working against a resistance you will improve your bone density, but the weight needs to increase, as you get stronger.

This is why yoga and aerobic exercise fails to prevent or improve osteoporotic bones because the weight you are, fitness, bearing does not increase.

You have many options, fitness, available to you for fitness. But, if you are not seeing results you may need to evaluate your current fitness program. Is it truly the best option for your goals? Are you actually following it as designed? This may require moving out of your comfort zone and opening yourself up to some new ideas.

Cardiorespiritory fitness is one of the essential ingredients for fitness and is acclaimed for improving cardio health. The terms cardiorespiritory fitness describes best the health and functions of the heart. Lungs and the circulatory system and relates to cardio endurance, the ability of a person to sustain activity for a prolonged period of time. It also describes the ability of a persons lungs to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide with the blood, and in addition, the ability of the circulatory system to transport the blood and nutrients to active tissues for long periods oft time without becoming overly fatigued.

There are many benefits of cardiorespiritory fitness. It helps to decrease the chances of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes, fitness, . This is achieved by modifying some of the risk factors which,, fitness, fitness, include obesity, insulin resistance and hypertension.

Cardiovascular health however, goes way beyond just being aerobically, fitness, fit. The status of the blood vessels and the heart and circulatory system are defined by the status of ones cardiovascular health.

If you can attain good cardiorespiritory fitness, this is one of the primary routes to gaining good cardiovascular health.

There are, fitness, many routes to gaining good cardiorespiritory fitness. Tennis, running, basketball, volleyball and boxing, and virtually, fitness, all muscular strength training programs will provide, fitness, huge benefits to cardiorespiritory fitness. A good level of cardio fitness will generally provide more stamina, resulting in less injuries and less fatigue during physical activities.

There are a number of important components to an aerobic training program, fitness, . These include the warm-up and the cool-down, the mode of exercise, the frequency of the sessions, the, fitness, duration, the intensity, any supportive conditioning exercises such as strength and flexibility training.

I have personally been following a program of running, combined with some strength training, fitness, on the days in between my runs. A run usually consists, fitness, of a 30 or 60 minute run, 6 km up to about 10 km for the long run.

I usually begin a run with a few minutes of gentle running, before upping the pace to a predetermined level, defined either by pace per km or heart rate. This is an excellent way to increase your aerobic fitness without running at too fast a pace, a major problem for beginner runners. I currently run to pulse rate, and although this has some limitations, the same can, fitness, be said for pace running. I know that if I keep a heart rate of between 150 and 160 bpm, regardless of the terrain, I can sustain my running for a long period of time.

Over time the speed at which I run increases for the same heart rate, fitness, as my aerobic fitness increases. I have found this to be a safe, sustainable way of gaining fitness without over training problems.

With regard to strength training, I utilise some compound exercises such as squats,, fitness, dead-lifts, weighted push ups and pull-ups. These have produced great, fitness, results, not only in body composition, but also in my running ability.

I will provide, fitness, a detailed guide on my training program in a future article.