Why start an exercise
programme?
People start exercising for
many reasons. For some, it
is to prevent a heart attack
or diabetes, for others to
lose weight or to increase
fitness. Doctors often advise
an exercise programme fol-
lowing a diagnosis of high
cholesterol or high blood
pressure.
Whatever the reason,
there is plenty of scientific
evidence to show that even
moderate exercise is of ben-
efit to your health and well-
being.
Safety first
It is important to know how
to start an exercise pro-
gramme safely. To see a jog-
ger sweating it out down
the road or a squash player
in action is a poor role mod-
el for a newcomer to an
exercise programme. This is
because such activity can be
dangerous for unfit people.
It can also be quite discour-
aging to engage in an activi-
ty that causes too much
fatigue and sweating, not to
mention sore muscles.
The current belief is
that your health can benefit
from even moderate levels
of exercise on most, or every
day of the week. Activity
may be in a single session or
accumulated in bouts of
eight to 10 minutes up to 30
minutes a day.
Changing our lifestyle
We can achieve these levels
of physical activity with a
lifestyle approach. First we
must be conscious of just
how inactive we have
become in this high tech,
automated society. Life has
become so convenient that
our activity level has
reduced substantially from
our parents’ and grandpar-
ents’ generations. We need
to compensate for this
sedentary lifestyle by mov-
ing more in our day to day
activities. We need to see
walking as an opportunity
rather than an inconve-
nience.
Getting regular exercise
We need also to plan regu-
lar activity. This can be
walking, swimming, cycling,
gardening, or any exercise
that uses the large muscles
in the arms or legs. At least
30 minutes moderate exer-
cise, acccumulated over the
day, is preferable to more
strenuous exercise done less
frequently. As your fitness
improves, you will find it
easier to do more.
What is moderate exercise?
A good guide to what is
meant by moderate is how
puff