Do you remember a time when your body was awash with those great natural drugs called endorphins? If not you missed out on a pretty crazy rush of euphoria that for many became so addictive they spent most of their waking hours running on treadmills, doing countless situps, cycling to work after having had the morning 2 k swim!
Such madness! Yet a lot of us secretly admire their energy and dammed fit bods, whilst justifying our less edifying inactivity by labeling them narcissistic with too much time on their hands!
Most excersise routines are adaptive to stress, meaning that gradually increased loadings not only increase our capacity to do more, but amazingly increase our desire to hit pain thresholds. Alas this doesn't happen on day one.
Remember your first aerobics session in 2 years? The pain! Especially for the next 2 days after. Muscle soreness. stiffness, cramps...what fun,,,NOT! Why bother? Yet a month or two of consistent exercise brings its rewards. That first day when you actually feel buzzed after a workout. The real progress is apparent when you have to miss a session and you actually feel bad. it truley is addictive.
Like most things in life the motto 'Use it or Lose' it rings true. A week or two away from the routine and the body and mind rebel and resort to the default. Ie: desire for couch beer/wine and pizzas!
Which exercise routine is most effective?
There needs to be some stress threshold involved, other than boredom. 100 bicep curls with 2kilo weights isn't going to cut it. A stroll in the park intermittently broken up with some Frisbee throwing to the dog is equally unlikely to produce much benefit except perhaps for Rover!
Most new routines probably won't be enjoyable initially, but you need to work out what would you probably enjoy doing if you were a bit fitter?
Swimming.
Low stress, unless you're a poor swimmer in a deep pool! Fairly time consuming though as you need to do a lot to get much benefit.
Power walking.
The benefit is that you can build up your distances gradually and can probably do anywhere. To maximise the benefits it may be useful to include some hills.
Running.
As above although you will need to be aware of potential injury. If possible it might be preferable to start on grass and build up slowly in order to gauge joint and ligament strength.
Gym.
My choice. Most gyms have a duty of care responsibility and will ensure that you are medically ok before they assign you a program. The downside is that you will need a budget, probably not too exorbitant and some inconvenience issues. The upside is that it can be motivating (once you've overcome some initial fear of the unknown) to be in an environment of music and common sense of purpose.
Contrary to popular belief, most gyms are frequented mostly by normal people, and the preening, or bodybuilder types are actually in the minority and often frequent more hardcore facilities anyway.
Personal Training.
Again if your budget, which will largely be dictated by the importance you place on achieving your desired results, will allow, it can be very beneficial to get a half dozen personal training sessions to kick start. Most gym newbies have very poor techniques and are counter productive if leading to injuries. Also a personal trainer will motivate you to push through some of your limitations. Once you've done a month or so those endorphins will come to your aid and keep you self motivated.
Golf.
I'm dubious of any significant benefits from a purely fitness point of view from golf as there is too much standing around talking and occasionally swearing to really make progress
Tennis/Squash/indoor Soccer/Netball etc
Once a basic level of fitness has been attained, then the merits of team sports are obvious. Camaraderie. The motivation to work harder. Enjoyment-mostly. Be wary though of joint and ligament injuries as opposed to general muscle soreness. The latter is an adaptive response to becoming fitter, the former is defeating the whole point of the exercise.
Let us know what your exercise of choice is. if you don't have one I encourage you to venture in to the unknown. The benefits will undoubtedly amaze you. More energy, likely longevity, some social benefits, less stress, increased strength and stamina and a myriad of other plusses.
If you relate to any of this please RSS or connect on the side boxes.
Cheers Kiaran
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