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COMPONENTS
OF RTNESS
Over the past 25 years, many people have focused on walking, running, cycling,
swimming and other types of aerobic activity as their only means of exercise.
However,
we have learned
that two other components
of fitness
are just as
important.
These
other two components
are muscle
strength
and flexibility.
So in addition
to having
a strong
heart and lungs, we also need to be able to
pick up a full bag of groceries
and tie our shoes without
having to sit down.
When
developing
your
home fitness
program,
it is only appropriate
that you
develop
all three components
in order to achieve
balanced
overall
fitness.
Let's take a look at all three components:
Cardiovascular fitness is training the heart and lungs to be stronger and
deliver more oxygen throughout your body with less effort. It can help reduce
the risk of heart disease, and help you manage your weight. It is the cornerstone
of fitness, and can be achieved in many ways such as walking or running on
the treadmill or outdoors, climbing stairs, cycling, or using a StairMaster ® or
swimming
in the pool or ocean.
For many years, it was suggested
that moderate
level cardiovascular
activity
(activities
that make you sweat
and breathe
and a moderate
pace) should
be
done 3 - 4 days a week for 15 - 45 minutes
at a time. It is now recommended
that
you attempt
to do some
cardiovascular
activity
EVERY day, if possible.
The good
news
is that the cardiovascular
activity
does
not need to be
moderately
intensive
everyday,
nor does it need to be sustained
for 15 - 45
minutes
at a time.
So while it is ideal to challenge
your
heart and lungs by doing
something
like
a strong
power
walk every other
day for 15 - 45 minutes,
it is more important
to make sure you do at least a little bit of cardiovascular
activity
every
day,
even if you don't do it for very long or very intensely.
For example,
you might
try using your Schwinn®
exercise
bicycle
for a sched-
uled, moderate
level workout
for 20 - 30 minutes
on Monday, Wednesday,
Friday and Sunday
(see the intensity
monitoring
section
for further
details
on how hard to workout).
On the other days, you might try going for a lei-
surely stroll 10 minutes
in the morning
and in the evening
(or whenever
you
can fit it in).
Whatever
you do, just make sure you get your body moving,
and your heart
and lungs pumping
for some period
of time every day.
Muscular Strength is training your muscles to remain strong using resistance
such as dumbbells, elastic tubing or your body weight. In the past decade,
we have learned that building or maintaining muscular strength is extremely
important for a balanced fitness program. And it is especially important as we
get older.
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