HOW TO START YOUR EXERCISE PROGRAMME

TEST YOUR  ABILITY

Simple  methods 

1. Check your resting pulse for one minute. If over ninety per minute don`t exercise until you have seen your door. Exercise by running on the spot or walk around the block.  If pulse over 110 in two minute see your doctor before doing further exercises.
2. Walk test. The object of this test is to determine how many minutes (up to ten) 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.

Start walking daily. Go at the rate of the three and a half miles per hour for thirty minutes each day. You may have to begin more slowly and then work up to this point. At this stage you will expend 100-125 calories each day from exercise. This in itself would take off 10-12 Ib. per year.

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, etc., but while you are thinking - WALK!

HOW TO EXERCISE

General advice. Avoid alcohol. Alcohol causes vaso- constriction of the coronary arteries. Start with warm-up exercises. This increases the synovial flow (fluid in the joints) and increases neuro-muscular co-ordination 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 muscles tone and strength and flexibility. Avoid over-fatique. Move to circulatory activities. These improve the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Taper off and cool off. This is important to avoid pooling of the blood in the extremities. Avoid isometric exercises (contracting the muscle with no joint movement). These exercises prevent circulation through the muscle by compressing the arteries. Exercise regularly.

Warm –up exercises. Side body bends. Chest and shoulder stretch. Head rotation. Forward trunk bends. Trunk rotation.

Conditioning exercises. Leg raise and bend. Push –ups – knee push-up, regular push-up. Sit-ups. Circulatory activities. Walking ( for everyone). Jogging ( do not recommend this regularly, for a few). Cycling,  swimming. Etc. Endurance and distance are more important than the speed.

Variety of exercises so all the muscles are used is the best.

YOUR EXERCISE PROGRAMME MUST INCLUDE THESE PRINCIPLES

1. Variety

2. Outdoors

3. In sunlight

4. Regular

5. Daily

6. Planned

7. Vigorous- for youth

8. Moderate- for older folk

9. Enjoyment

FALLACIES REGARDING EXERCISE

Exercise is impractical for reducing since exercise expends for so few calories.

No. A woman needs to eat only ninety-six calories more per day from the time of her marriage until her third child five years later to have gained fifty pounds. An added twenty-five minutes of brisk walking daily would have prevented it.

The Basic Metabolic Rate (MBR) increases and with some people is still up six days after the exercise and therefore calories are expended because of this from previous exercising.

Exercise increases the appetite so better not exercise. No. small amounts of exercise do not increase the appetite. Only large amounts of exercise will do this. In one animal experiment, those that exercised one hour a day ate a smaller amount of food than those that exercised less than an hour or not at all.

EXERCISE AND OBESITY

Some obesity is primarily due to lack of exercise.

Obesity is best handled by combination of exercise and diet.

Those who exercise have a better attitude towards reducing.

Less wrinkles and sagging skin occur if muscles are toned up with exercise.

WHAT EXERCISE CAN DO FOR YOU

It increases the efficiency of your lungs, conditioning them to process 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 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, heart, the blood vessels and the body tissue,  giving you protection against many forms of illness 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 deterioration 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 fatique.

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 them to you 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. Warming down after you running stint is as important as warming up. Use the same exercises. Wear shoes with a wedge buildup 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 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.

Keeping in mind- especially when you are tempted to stop running- that jogging one mile is roughly enough exercise to burn up 100 calories.

Analyse your footwork. You`ll get top 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 stops of tape that  glow in the dark.

Don`t run  on roads that have heavy traffic. You are not only in danger of being hit, but you will also breathe in larger- than – normal amounts of poisonous gases from the exhausts of cars and lories.

Don`t run too fast too soon. By running fast before your heart and blood have adjusted to the demands you are 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 exhausted and experience sore feet and legs, chances are high that you will quit jogging before you have  given  the sport a real tryout.

Don`t run your whole route on hard surfaced 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.

MODERATION IN EXERCISE

ORGAN OR FUNCTION	EXERCISE  IN MODERATION	EXERCISE  TO  EXCESS	COMMENT
Heart Rate	Slower during rest and the same exercise	Too rapid heart  beat. Deficient blood supply to body	With too fast a heart, blood flow to heart muscle decreases.
Strength	Increased	Decreased	May lead to heart failure
Rhythm	Usually  improves	May worsen	Irregular rhythm during exercise needs medical attention
Muscles	Usually   improves	May develop heart failure	Continual overwork may surpass ability of heart muscle to adapt, especially when valves or coronary arteries are deficient.
Blood Pressure	May help reduce	May increase	Excess causes marked deficiency of blood flow to internal organs
Lungs	Vital capacity increased, especially in youth	May aggravate unhealthy conditions such as emphysema or asthma
Brain  Arousal Fatique Stress	Increased alertness Decreased Decreased especially  if pleasant and with sustained motivation	May reduce scope of awareness Increased May increase, especially With competition, frustration	Moderate exercise increase brain  performance Importance in stress control
Skin	Improves  circulation	Decreases   circulation	Significant in heat; dangerous in very high heat and humidity