Making sure that we are staying active is an essential step in self care. There is a direct link between being inactive and sedentary to higher risk of multiple diseases. I want to be careful and note that we are not necessarily talking about losing weight. We are simply talking about moving more. While vigorous exercise will likely cause weight loss, I understand that that is not everyone's goal, and it doesn't have to be. I just wan t to encourage you to move according to how you feel and according to your personal goals.
Even the word exercise can be triggering to some people, so unless I am talking about a moderate to vigorous intensity activity, I will try to use the words physical activity to indicate that you can do any type of movement big or small. Physical activity is typically broken down into three intensity levels, light, moderate and vigorous. With such an array of types of physical activity with intent anyone can add more physical activity to their day. I realize that there are some people who have both physical and mental limitations these people should work with professionals to come up with a regimen hat works for them.
Why is Physical Activity Important?
Physical activity is important because it can prevent, delay, or alleviate a wide array of conditions. Here is a list of the top 6 conditions:
- Heart Attacks/Heart Disease - Physical activity helps make the muscles of your heart more efficient so that it pumps out more blood with each beat. This allows your heart to beat slower and keeps blood pressure under control. It also increases the level of HDL (good) cholesterol and lowers the LDL (bad) cholesterol.
- Diabetes - Physical activity can boost your body's sensitivity to insulin and lower blood glucose levels. When you exercise at moderate levels your body uses more glucose which is the sugar in your blood.
- Cancer - There is significant evidence that physical activity, especially at the moderate and vigorous levels, is linked to lower risk of many different types of cancer including, colon, breast. Endometrial, esophageal adenocarcinoma, myeloma, myeloid leukemia, and more.
- Stroke - A stroke happens due to lack of blood to the brain, and high blood pressure is an important risk factor to stroke. Because physical activity helps with high blood pressure it also helps lower your risk of stroke.
- Arthritis - Physical activity helps with arthritis and joint pain by strengthening the muscles around the joints and maintaining bone support.
- Depression/anxiety - Physical activity can help with anxiety and depression by releasing feel-good endorphins. Exercise also provides indirect benefits for depression/anxiety by temporarily taking your mind out of the cycle of negative thoughts, help you gain confidence as you hit personal goals, and give you more social interaction.
While physical activity is not a end all cure all, it is an important preventative measure. An important part of taking care of ourselves is making sure that we are giving our selves the best possible quality of life both now and in the future.
Types of Physical Activity
There are four main types of exercise. It is important to include exercises from each group in your training regime.
- Endurance - Also known as aerobic, endurance training speeds up your heart rate and breathing. This is the main type of activity most people think of when they think exercise. This type of training lowers blood pressure, lowers blood sugar, reduces inflammation, raises HDL cholesterol, relaxes blood vessels and boost moods and energy levels. Running, walking, dancing, biking, hiking, and swimming are types of endurance exercise.
- Strength - Just like the name suggests strength training focus on making your muscles stronger. This training helps with blood pressure, glucose levels, mental health, reduce cancer risk and lowers the risk of injury. Strength exercises typically use weights, resistance bands or even your own body weight. Examples of strength exercises include squats, crunches, bicep curls, lunges etc.
- Balance - Balance training helps us to improve or maintain stability. Many of these exercises are going to target the lower body and core. Yoga and Tai Chi are the most common type of balance training.
- Flexibility - Flexibility exercises improve your flexibility and loosen up your muscles. Flexibility exercises focus on stretching your muscles to increase range of motion. Stretching should be done in one smooth motion and not jerky. Basic stretching, yoga and Tai Chi are examples of flexibility exercises.
While you don't have to do each type of exercise every single day, it is important to incorporate each group into your fitness routine. Incorporating all groups will also help keep variety in your routine and break up monotony.
How hard should you go?
When training it is important to work hard enough to see benefits while also being careful not to over exert yourself. Intensity is the measurement of how hard you working while doing an activity. You can figure out your intensity level using the talk test, your heart rate or by looking at the activity itself.
Talk Test
The talk test is just like it sounds, a test of how well you can talk while doing an exercise.
- Light - You can comfortably sing a song while moving.
- Moderate - You can carry a conversation but you cant sing comfortably.
- Vigorous - You can only say a few words and have to catch a breath in between.
- If you can't talk at all you may be working too hard. Rest and catch your breath
Heart Rate
The recommended target heart rate when training is between 50% - 85% of your maximum heart rate. While everyone is slightly different, estimated maximum heart rate can be calculated by subtracting your age from 220. To calculate your target heart rate you would multiply your maximum heart rate by .5 for the low range and .85 for the high range. So for example I being 29 years old have an estimated maximum heart rate of 191 beats per minute so my target range would be about 95 to 163 beats per minute. To easily find your heart rate while working out you can get a fitness tracker or take a brief pause to calculate it manually. To track it manually find a clock or stop watch. Put your index finger and middle finger on one of your main arteries (neck, chest or most commonly the wrist) and press down slightly until you feel the radial pulse. The most accurate count would be a full 60 second count, however that can be hard to keep count and takes a whole minute out of your workout. You can do 30 seconds and multiply by 2, 15 seconds and multiply by 4 or 10 seconds multiplied by 6; however keep in mind that the smaller the monitoring time the less accurate due to natural murmurs. Be sure not to use your thumb to check your pulse since there is an artery running through your thumb so you could end up double counting the same pulse or missing it.
- Light- 50%-60% - you should feel comfortable, maybe warm but not a full on sweat (barring environmental factors). This is ideal for warming up or cooling down.
- Moderate - 60%-75% - this should feel like work and you may start to sweat after 5 to 10 minutes.
- Vigorous - 75%-85% - this should be difficult and you may start to sweat within just a few minutes
- Working out at 85%-100% is not sustainable for more than a couple of minutes.
Physical Activity Intensity Level by Type
The most general way to measure intensity is by looking at the type of activity, however this is also the least accurate as everyone has different starting point and goals so a light jog may seem like a task to someone who isn't active, but feel like barley a warm up to a seasoned athlete. Here's are some examples of exercise by intensity level.
- Light - Slow walk, active shopping, light standing work, playing an instrument, playing some video games, light house work
- Moderate - Walking briskly, biking (less than 12 mph or so), mowing the lawn, heavy house work, swimming
- Vigorous - Running/jogging, hiking, shoveling, biking (over 14 mph or so), soccer, basketball, football, carrying heavy loads.
- Note that there are physical activities that aren't traditional exercise at each level of intensity.
The American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, or 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity, preferably spread out throughout the week. They also recommend you add moderate to high intensity strength training on at least 2 days of the week. They note that even light-intensity activity can offset some of the risk associated with being sedentary, and you should start at your own starting point and gradually increase intensity over time.
Homework
- Evaluate your current situation. How active are you during an average week? What physical activity do you already do naturally? BONUS: Evaluate how sedentary you are, how much time do you actually spend sitting?
- Create a goal. Make sure that it is attainable and feels right to you. If your true goal feels too scary break it up into smaller goals. BONUS: Focus on goals that will truly make you feel good. You may need to sit and meditate on your inner desires.
- Create a weekly routine. Try to mix up the type of training and incorporate each of the 4 type in your week. BONUS: Once you are ready try stepping out of your comfort zone and try a new type of activity.
EXTRA CREDIT: Create your fitness story. Figure out the "why" to your goal. Write a story that tells how you will feel once you hit your goal and why it was important for you to hit this goal. Make sure to write the story in present tense. Tell yourself this story right before you start training to get you motivated. EX. "I feel secure because I can run a mile without stopping, this was important so I could run to safety if need be" or "I feel confident because I can dance for 10 minutes straight this was important to me so I could go out to the club and feel sexy" or "I am happy because I can run around with my children without getting winded, this was important for our bond."
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Additional Information
For more information on staying active visit the sources below.
Exercise Intensity - Mayo Clinic -https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise-intensity/art-20046887
Fitness Basics - American Heart Association - https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/fitness-basics