FitnessCrew

So you finally want to get fit? The first step is always the hardest. Fear of aches, pains and injuries keeps many would-be exercisers from lacing up their runners and heading out.

The solution is simply to be realistic about your fitness goals. Push yourself too hard and you’ll wind up sore and discouraged. Exercise sensibly and you’ll gradually build strength and endurance without getting hurt. Also:

• Have a complete physical examination. It should include a stress test – also called a treadmill test or stress ECG – which measures how the heart responds to exertion. This usually involves walking on a treadmill or stairs, pedalling a stationary bike at increasing levels of difficulty while a technician monitors your heart rate and blood pressure. It’s also wise to ask your doctor or an exercise specialist which types of exercises would be best for you, especially if you are over 40, if you are overweight, or if you have a history of smoking or heart disease.

• Don’t take up a sport to get into shape; get into shape and then take up a sport. For example, someone who is 15 kg overweight and has arthritic knees should focus on strengthening the thigh and leg muscles so they can withstand the stress of the sport before taking up tennis or jogging.

• Start with one day of working out followed by one day of rest. Your eventual aim should be to exercise five (or more!) days a week, alternating harder workouts (vigorous aerobic exercise) with easier ones (stretching and/or light weight lifting). 

• Always warm up and cool down. Warming up gets your muscles ready and your heart pumping so that you can exercise without straining anything or depriving your muscles of oxygen. Stretch all of your muscles and do some deep breathing. Cooling down should include the same things – stretching to get the muscles back to their resting length and deep breathing to slow your heart rate and keep the oxygen flowing to all your organs. 

• Wear the right clothing. Keep in mind that your sensations of cold and heat will change as you work out. Exercise, which produces heat, increases both sweating and blood flow to the skin. Avoid exercise in high humidity or high temperatures as serious health problems can develop. If the humidity is low, your body can lose a lot of heat when sweat evaporates. Put on extra layers of clothing in cold weather to keep from losing too much body heat. Wear silk or another nonabsorbent fabric next to your skin. On a cold day, a sweat-drenched T-shirt will chill you through and through. Layered clothing will also keep you comfortable on cool days; just shed a garment when you start to feel warm.

• Drink up. Sip water before, during and after exercise, especially when exercising in warm conditions. (Don’t wait until you feel thirsty – by then, some of your body organs are already under stress.) Otherwise, you may become dehydrated, which makes your body less effective at cooling itself. Dehydration also ‘thickens’ the blood, increasing the workload on a heart already working overtime to keep you moving at a faster-than-normal pace.