Why be fit?

There are many reasons for having a fit body. Some of which you may desire, some you might not be bothered with but I am sure that there will be at least one that is extremely important to you:

• It feels good
• You live longer
• Less chance of illness
• It looks better
• Helps you attract a girlfriend/boyfriend!
• Makes you more supple
• Increases your strength
• Keeps your weight down
• Makes physical and even some mental tasks easier

A prior warning

We recommend that before you undertake any type of exercise that you consult your doctor for advice on the best exercise for you. Everyone is different and hence the correct exercise is different for everyone. They will be able to discuss with you what you would like to achieve and then tell you what sort of exercise is best for your body and your abilities.

If you suffer from one of the following listed conditions, it will put you in a higher risk group of people and is extremely important that you seek advice from a doctor before undertaking any exercise program:

• High blood pressure
• Heart problems
• Respiratory (breathing) disorders - e.g. asthma, bronchitis, etc.
• Blood disorders
• Muscle or bone problems
• Obesity
• If you are taking certain drugs

If you are unsure in any way, then consult your doctor.

Three categories of overall fitness

Your general fitness can be split into the following three areas:

• Strength
• Stamina
• Suppleness

Different activities improve these areas in varying magnitudes. For example weight lighting will increase your strength but will do very little for increasing your stamina or suppleness. In the same way hiking may increase your stamina but may only give you a bit of strength increase in your legs and will probably not do much for your suppleness.

If you are training for a specific sport or event, you should look at the importance of each of these areas to your activity and plan your training accordingly.

How strong are you?

Your strength is a measure of the maximum force one of your muscles can exert. This means that you can be strong in one part of your body and weak in another.

Your muscles convert energy into movement. They do this most efficiently when there is plenty of oxygen present. This occurs during 'aerobic' exercise. If the oxygen runs out and you continue to demand work from your muscles they are still able produce energy but 'anaerobically'. This can only work for a short time though.

Anaerobic exercise produces waste products in your muscles. The most important of these being lactic acid. This gives you the uncomfortable burning sensation. This is usually followed by stiffness and cramps. When you build up strength, you need to teach your muscles gently to work better without oxygen and less of the uncomfortable effects.

Strength training

All physical activity will increase your strength a certain amount as you will need to use your muscles to a certain extent in order to perform it.

The best training for strength requires short periods of intensive work with longer periods of gentle exercise or rest in-between.

Strength training safety

If you increase your workload too quickly you won't do anything for your strength. It will only lead to lactic acid build-up and damage to your muscles and tendons.

Before undertaking any strength training, always warm up enough first to allow your muscles to work efficiently and reduce the risk of injury.

After undertaking strength training, always perform stretches to disperse lactic acid and lengthen bunched muscles that could lead to stiffness.

Health benefits of good strength

Having well-built muscles helps protect vulnerable parts of your body. For example:

• Strong abdominals (stomach muscles) help protect your lower back.
• Strong quadriceps (front of the thigh) help protect your knees.

Strong muscles mean that you are less likely to suffer injuries from doing everyday tasks such as lifting, gardening or housework.

The most obvious benefit of strong muscles is that it helps performing tasks easier.

Another perhaps obvious benefit of strong muscles is that it improves the contours of your body and hence appearance!

The benefits of strength to sport

Good strength can greatly improve your performance in sport. The most obvious training for a given sport would be increasing your strength in the area of your body that you use most for that particular sport. For example, you may consider improving your leg muscles if you play football.

It is often overlooked though that improving less obvious muscles can also improve your performance. A good general musculature can give you a great advantage.

How long can you go for?

Stamina is a measure of your endurance. The greater your stamina, the further you may be able to walk, cycle or swim. Your stamina relates to the fitness of your heart. The greater your stamina the greater the amount of blood your heart can pump.

An adults heart at rest pumps about 5 litres (or 5 orange cartons) of blood a minute. During exercise an unfit heart pumps around 25 litres of blood per minute but a super-fit heart can pump as much as 40 litres per minute! When doing this exercise though an unfit heart will be beating much faster than the super-fit one even though it is pumping less blood!

The more efficient your heart is at pumping blood, the longer you can endure exercise and the quicker you can recover from it.

Aerobic Exercise

Stamina is also known as 'aerobic fitness'. The type of exercise that you need to do to improve your aerobic fitness or stamina is known as 'aerobic exercise'.

Aerobic exercise should keep your heart working at 70-80% of it's full capacity. At this level you should be building up a sweat but still be able to hold a conversation with someone. This level of exercise should be kept up for 20 minutes and repeated 3 times a week. This will improve your stamina gradually and in a safe way. As you become more aerobically fit, you will need to increase the frequency and/or duration of this exercise in order to keep improving your stamina.

Aerobic Exercise Safety

If you start feeling dizzy, nauseous, very short of breath or tight in the chest you should stop the exercise. These are all signs that your heart is working too much.

Whenever you stop aerobic exercise, don't stop suddenly. You should cool down before stopping by doing something like walking around after running.

The health benefits of aerobic fitness

As your aerobic fitness improves, the chances of having heart problems are reduced. As you have more blood passing through organs round the body such as your lungs, liver, kidneys and brain, their performance improves too. You may find that you are getting better grades at school!

Aerobic exercise also burns energy, breaks down body fat and speeds up your metabolism. This means that your weight becomes more controlled and you look better!

Improving your stamina also makes you feel better. You feel more energetic, more confident and feel like you can accomplish more.

Sports that require good aerobic fitness

If you compete or take part in any of the following sports, aerobic fitness is essential for you and will improve your performance in that sport:

• Squash
• Tennis
• Football
• Rugby
• Hiking
• and many more...

How flexible are you?

It doesn't matter how strong your muscles are or how efficient your heart and muscles work if your body is not sufficiently supple. Your body will be useless if its joints cannot move freely.

Your level of suppleness depends on the length and flexibility of your muscles, ligaments and tendons.

Unlike strength, females are naturally more supple than males.

Suppleness training

Suppleness is improved in the warm up and cool down phases of exercise. Gentle stretches encourage flexibility. Increasing the length of these periods and doing more types of stretches will help.

Swimming is a great way to improve your suppleness as it uses many muscles over large movements in many directions.

Suppleness training safety

As with any type of exercise, there are no short cuts. Your muscles with stretch when they are ready to. If you try and force them they will tear.

Health benefits of good suppleness

Trying to improve your suppleness through good warm up and cool down periods will be a benefit to you as it will prevent your exercise from causing muscle damage and strain on your heart.

Suppleness can help with everyday tasks by making it easier for your body to bend. You are less likely to get aches or pains when stretching or bending.

The benefits of suppleness to sport

Good suppleness is essential for all sports. It will help prevent getting a strain or rupture from a sudden reach, kick or jump. Gymnastics, dance and martial arts demand and encourage great flexibility. If your are involved in any of these then you should be very conscious of this form of fitness.

The Phases of Exercise

With any physical activity you should follow a good routine of warming-up and cooling-down before and after the exercise:

The Warm-Up Phase

A warm-up is commonly a lower-intensity version of what you will be doing in your main physical activity. For example having a bit of a 'knockabout' in tennis or a 'kickabout' in football before the game warms up your muscles and increases your pulse.

A warm-up can also include a moderate version of an exercise such as jogging, walking, cycling or swimming.

If you are undertaking any form of physical activity, a warm-up is essential. It loosens your muscles, prevents strain on your heart, prevents cramp and many types of injury.

Before stretching muscles, do something to get your blood flowing into them first. This could be some light jogging.

If you have just eaten a meal, then give yourself some time before warming-up and starting your exercise. At this time your blood will be flowing around your stomach and intestines and not your muscles. If you try and divert it elsewhere it could lead to cramps and stitches. Always allow 90 minutes for digestion.

When performing stretches, ease into the stretch and don't force it. Get into position, relax and breath. Concentrate on which muscles will be doing the most work. This would be the leg muscles for football for example.

During this phase you should give special attention to warm-up any muscles that are stiff, aching or have suffered any previous injury.

The Cool Down Phase

The cool-down phase prepares your body for returning to normal heart rate and breathing.

During your main physical activity, your blood will be pumping at a high rate and being used at a high rate in your muscles. If you stop your exercise too suddenly your blood can 'pool' at your muscles and starve other areas causing your heart to work harder to compensate. This can lead to dizziness, trembling and even blackout!

Cooling down and stretching are also essential for dispersing lactic acid in your muscles prevent stiffness and cramp in your muscles.

In any exercise, slow down gradually and repeat your warm-up stretches.