The Joy of Exercise

There have been several studies of the physiology of exercise, and now it is generally agreed that the best sorts for overall fitness are aerobic activities—running, swimming, rowing, and bicycling. You can add to that list cross-country skiing, disco dancing (providing you do enough of it and really get your heart beating and lungs working). Walking is acceptable too if you walk fast and far enough and if you go over hilly ground as well as over flat terrain. For only these activities offer the kind of steady, sustained movement that builds muscle strength, increases the flexibility of joints, and also fortifies the heart and lungs. You may be able to exert yourself by playing tennis or squash or golf, but how well depends on how you play the game and whom you play with. You can win sets of tennis without moving more than a few feet from one place or you can be all over the court and totally exhaust yourself. A recent study of men from thirty-five to seventy-four at Stanford University concluded that these games do not give as effective protection as swimming or running or cross-country skiing. So play them and enjoy them, but take up something else too. Let’s take a look at aerobic exercises first.

Take Aerobic Fitness to the Water

Swimming is one of the best of all the aerobic activities to start with, particularly if you are very much overweight. The support the water gives your body makes you able to put all your effort into participating in the movement, instead of having to direct some at just keeping yourself erect as you do in running. Swimming is also a wonderful way to build beautiful muscles if you are very thin, or to pare down and firm up muscles if you are flabby. This is because swimming develops long muscles in the legs and back, gradually reshaping and reforming any body that has lost its shape, no matter what its age.

If you are going to take up swimming, arrange things so you can do it regularly and without fail at least three times a week. The fitness that comes with aerobic exercise is built gradually and depends on consistency. No amount of weekend heroics will accomplish it.

You will need to set yourself a goal—say, at first fifteen minutes of constant swimming from one end of a pool to the other without stopping —and stick to it. If you are troubled by chlorine in public pools, then buy yourself a small pair of racer’s goggles. They will keep your eyes protected. Begin slowly. Swim a couple of laps and then stop and, using a watch with a second hand (which a friend can keep for you or which you can leave at the side of the pool), take your pulse.

Here’s how: put the tips of the first three fingers of your right hand against the artery of the inside edge of your wrist, count the number of beats you get in six seconds, and then multiply by ten. This will give you your heartbeat rate for one minute. If it is 120 then you are doing well. If it is less than that make yourself swim a little harder, and if it goes above 160 then you are exercising too hard for your present level of fitness so draw back a little. After a few weeks you will find you are able to exert yourself much more and still your pulse will remain within the safe range. Besides being sure the level of exertion you are making is safe for you, the main reason for taking your pulse is to discover how much effort you need to make to continue to improve your level of fitness.

It is important to understand the difference between work and effort. Two people may swim a mile in sixteen minutes and do equal work, but if one raises his heartbeat by 60 percent over what it was in a resting state and the other only by 30 percent, then their effort has been different. Effort in this sense indicates the effort your heart is making in response to the work your body is doing. In order to increase your level of fitness, you have to keep up a certain level of effort for a specific period of time. The amount of work you will have to do to achieve this, the distance you will have to cover, and the speed at which you will have to swim (or run, walk, dance, or whatever) will constantly alter as you get fitter.

There has recently been a lot of medical research done to find the ideal range of effort. This is measured by the heartbeat rate during exercise. As usual, opinions vary, but there is a pretty good consensus that you need to exercise within a pulse range where your heartbeat rate is between 75 and 80 percent higher than in its resting state and then to sustain this pulse rate for thirty minutes three times a week.

Taking your pulse can seem a nuisance at first, but it is worthwhile until you get used to exercise and get to know by the feel of things how much effort you are making. After a few weeks you will never need to consult the second hand of a watch again. You will simply know.

Begin slowly. Swim for fifteen minutes the first three or four times. Then you can gradually add a couple of minutes each week until you work up to thirty minutes, three times a week. At this level, provided you monitor your effort by taking your pulse occasionally, you can be assured of gradually and steadily building fitness. Then if you want to do more for fun, that is up to you. However much you do, watch your breathing while you swim. It is important to breathe regularly, for oxygen is what gives you the power to sustain the physical effort you are making. This is what aerobic fitness is all about.

Riding a Bicycle

The same basic principles apply to bicycling. It too is an excellent endurance sport that promotes coordination and muscle strength, particularly in the lower half of your body. The other good thing about bicycling is that it gives you a feeling of getting good return on energy expended, as a bicycle will carry you a lot farther than a run or swim with the same effort, preferably in the early morning or on country lanes. Then you will be able to keep up a steady pace without having to stop for signals, cars, or pedestrians, and the air is free from dust and gasoline fumes. You can take your pulse in the same way—after, say, five minutes of bicycling—to ensure that you are making the right effort. And you can start off with fifteen minutes‘ bicycling and then work up to half an hour or more three times a week. Make sure that the seat and the handlebars on your bicycle are the right height for you or you can end up with back strain. And be sure to look after your bicycle well so it offers little resistance, for although working against unnecessary resistance from a machine may be physically beneficial when you are using an indoor bicycle exerciser, it can be an awful bore and very discouraging. Bicycling is a particularly good sport to take up if you have a family, as children delight in going on bicycle outings. An ideal Sunday afternoon activity is to make a fifteen- or even twenty-mile bike ride together, especially if there is a delicious picnic in the middle.

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Category: Exercise, Fitness, Outdoor, Plus Size, Workout

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