Body — Use it or Lose it!!
Nature will degrade and decompose something that is left unused beyond certain time. Iron will be rusted if not used and Termites will take over if any wooden item is left unused. Same is the case with human body. If we don’t use it, we are going to lose it much earlier than we are supposed to lose it. These days, most of our jobs don’t involve any physical activity and we don’t use our body the way it is meant to used. Hence, we have to make a conscious effort to use and challenge our body.
There are two major components in being Fit :
- Being Active
- Workouts / Exercise
Both are equally important. If we work out for an hour and be inactive for rest of the day, it will not benefit us much. If we are active throughout the day but don’t work out, that won’t help us either. But, a combination of 30 mins workout and being active throughout the day will make wonders.
Being Active
Recent studies show that “Sitting is the new smoking”. It is an independent risk, i.e. if you sit for too long, no matter what other things you do like eating home food, working out on daily basis, sleeping well , being happy, etc., you will still have high risk of life threatening diseases. I heard Dr. B.M. Hegde saying, “What you normally do by lying down, if possible, do it by sitting. What you normally do by sitting, if possible, do it by standing. What you normally do by standing, if possible, do it by walking. What you normally do by walking, if possible, do it by running”. Whenever you get a chance to move, don’t miss the opportunity.
Workout / Exercise
Let’s first understand the basics about workouts. We broadly have two energy systems in our body. One is Aerobic and the other is Anaerobic. By definition, Aerobic is something that utilises oxygen and Anaerobic is something that doesn’t use oxygen. We use either of the energy systems based on the type of task we do. Anaerobic energy system will have after-burn effect while recovering and rebuilding muscles. After-burn effect is oxygen consumed to recover and rebuild muscles and it is correlated to the calories burned after anaerobic workouts. Anaerobic exercise will have 24–48 hours of after-burn effect. Hence, it is not advised to do anaerobic exercise on two consecutive days.
There are different fitness parameters which we need to consider while planning our workouts. (from the book by Rujuta, Don’t Lose Out, Work Out)
Cardio Respiratory Fitness: Ability of the heart and lungs to deliver oxygen and nutrients to working cells or muscles which are demanding them. Let’s say, I am climbing stairs, then my leg muscles will demand more blood supply, oxygen, and nutrient delivery and will need to remove or recycle waste products (like lactic acid).
Muscular Strength: the greatest amount of force (maximal effort) that a muscle or a group of muscles, can exert at one time.
Muscular Endurance: The ability of a muscle or a group of muscles to perform repeated activity over a period of time.
Flexibility: Ability of joints to move through their full range of motion.
Body composition: This refers to the fat mass that we carry as compared to the total body mass we have. For women, this should be 25% or under and for men 20% or under.
Moral of the story is, when I improve on first 4 parameters of fitness, it results in improvement in 5th parameter. Weekly we need 150 mins of exercise to be fit. That translates to 30 mins per day for 5 days a week. I plan my workout in such a way that I work on each and every fitness parameter in any given week. Below is my workout schedule for a week.
Beginners should start their workout in slow and steady manner. Initially you may have to work out every alternate day. Once you get used to it, make it regular and include strength training once a week. After couple of weeks or a month, add one more day for strength training. After you build strength, you can do 3 days strength training in a week. Strength training is the only medicine for all lifestyle disorders.
I make sure my workouts are not repeating within a week. If I start to feel bored or stressed out, most likely I am going to drop out half way through. Couple of years ago, while working out in a gym, I used to set myself a target of burning 500 calories. It used to be very stressful. I never enjoyed my workout, all my focus would be on no. of calories burnt. As expected, I stopped going to gym after 3-4 months. Now, I am least bothered about calories I eat or spend (as per my understanding we can’t really count how many calories we eat or we spend). I feel so nice after a real good workout. After good strength training, don’t even ask me. :-) I feel like I am flying and I feel so light (high levels of dopamine is released after workout and this is how people get addicted to workouts). I have learned to enjoy my journey. If we enjoy the journey, we will surely reach our destination. Same is the case with counting your steps. When you are walking, just enjoy the walk and see the nature.
Fuelling ourselves before and after workouts
We should fuel ourselves very well before and after workouts. I can’t work out on empty stomach. I do my workout after 2 meals. If I have a fruit or light snack, I give 20 mins gap and do my workout. If I eat proper meal like breakfast or lunch, I give 60 to 90 mins gap and do my workout. During workout, we should keep ourselves hydrated. Keep sipping water for every 10 to 15 mins. After workout (with in 10 mins), I hydrate myself, eat banana and drink whey protein. Yes, Whey protein is not only for guys. It is for girls too. Because body needs energy to repair and recover after workout.
If we don’t fuel ourselves well and on top of it stress our body with workout, we are just accelerating the process of ageing. If we do it in the correct way, we will be reversing the ageing process. Food and workouts are like partners working towards a common goal. If they don’t support each other well, the organisation (body) will collapse.
Myths
Spot reduction. Naah!! Spot reduction is just not possible.
More sweat means more fat loss. If we are working in too much heat to produce more sweat, lots of energy is used to manage our body temperature and we will not work out at optimum level. There is nothing wrong in doing workouts in AC or under fan.
Should workout on empty stomach. Fuel yourself well before and after workouts.
Walking is the best exercise. Naah!! Walking is just being active. It will become exercise only when you increase intensity every week. Suppose you take 10 mins to walk 1 kms in 1st week, in 2nd week you should take only 7 mins and in 3rd week only 5 mins. Only then walking is considered as exercise.
Weight lifting makes you bulky. Weight lifting will not make any woman bulky unless something is terribly wrong with her hormones. Weight lifting is one of the best ways to get toned. All heroines lift pretty heavy weights. :-)
And many more myths. Let’s not worry much about myths. :-)
Let’s all work towards fitness/health, not towards thinness.
Caution — being fit makes you passionate about life. :)
Love, Mallika.
