Baby One More Time?

Feeling sluggish lately? Then get moving! Daily exercise is one of the best energy boosters around.

Most people will find a million excuses not to exercise, but investing the time is worth it. I have clients tell me all the time that they feel so much better when they exercise on a regular basis. One of my senior clients was particularly ecstatic with her training results. We met twice a week for weight training sessions for about two months. I also instructed her to “do cardio” for at least thirty minutes a day, as part of a maintenance and weight loss program. “You know,” she said to me one day, “I can’t believe it! I used to be so fatigued by around 4:00 in the afternoon. Now I can go until 6 or 7 p.m. and I feel great!”

A balanced workout routine consists of cardiovascular activity, resistance training exercises and flexibility exercises. Strength training yields higher bone density, helps with injury prevention, increases lean mass and muscle strength and even helps improve balance and flexibility. Increased flexibility yields increased range of motion about a joint.

Cardiovascular activity helps to burn calories (no doubt a must in the never-ending quest for weight loss – especially for us women who are never quite satisfied). Additionally, cardiovascular exercise yields increased aerobic capacity, increased lung capacity, endurance and a reduced risk of heart attack, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. But the benefits do not end there. Cardio has also been proven to aid in digestion, reduce stress and help with sleep. So if you’re sleeping better and digesting your meals better, chances are you will also FEEL better (and, in turn, more energetic) on a daily basis.

An ideal training session should include three components: a warm-up, the workout and the cool down. The importance of the warm-up exercises should be noted, as these increase cardiac output and blood flow to the skeletal muscles to be used during the training session. During this phase, muscle temperature is also increased. A proper warm-up may reduce the risk of muscle injury. Cool-down exercises are a necessary means to getting blood back to central circulation from the skeletal muscles used during the activity. The length of the beginning and ending phases of the workouts can vary from five to thirty minutes.

The ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) recommends an exercise frequency of 3 to 5 days/week. If you are just starting a workout program, you may have to work your way up to a desired number of calories burned per workout, or whatever other “goal” you are aiming for per workout. In regard to cardio training, I would always recommend a combination of long, slow distance workouts (LSD), tempo workouts and interval training to achieve best results. LSD workouts are generally performed at about 65 to 70% of max heart rate while tempo workouts are a bit more strenuous at about 75 to 85% max heart rate. (Max HR = 220 – your age.)

Intervals are comprised of “work” and “rest” intervals; the rest intervals don’t allow for complete recovery, however. One thing to keep in mind is that the harder the work, the longer the rest interval needs to be. During the work interval, training intensity can reach to about 95% max heart rate.

You have probably heard the term High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) used quite often when explaining cardio workouts. HIIT mixes high intensity bursts with moderate intensity recovery periods. You may sprint for 30 seconds, for example, then jog slowly for 90 seconds. This would conclude one interval. The intensity and number of intervals completed per training session would be dependent on your overall physical condition, goals and training stage. The initial conditioning stage would include the first four to six weeks of training. The improvement conditioning stage would take place during the next three to five months. Once the desired level is achieved, you would be within what’s considered a maintenance conditioning phase.

The New York Times published an article about the benefits of interval training in which it mentioned a study completed by the Journal of Applied Physiology. The study found that 75% of the subjects doubled their endurance after just two weeks of interval training. The individuals in the control group demonstrated no improvement in endurance.

When planning an interval training program, you should look to increase the duration first, then the intensity. An increase of 10% every two weeks is sufficient. You should avoid going all out too fast, as you need something to progress to as you get fitter and faster. Injury prevention is also important. A good session may include a five-minute warm-up jog, then a few intervals, then a cool-down jog and stretching session, for instance.

Start adding some variety to your exercise program by revving things up, so to speak, and expect to see a very pleasant result – more endurance. And I can only take an educated guess as to what you’re going to do with all that energy …

Elizabeth Hawk

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