Gyms offer a wide range of options, but what’s good for one person may not be for another. How to choose the physical activity that benefits us and that we can maintain over time.
That the best is swimming; that running a lot is bad; that strength exercises should be done. As in many other aspects of life, many myths also circulate around physical activity and I think it’s good to start banishing them. At a time when a sedentary lifestyle is wreaking havoc, it is best to know the ways we have to be active and take care of ourselves. Unprejudiced.
The first thing I want to highlight is that there is no perfect exercise. It is true, for example, that swimming is extremely beneficial, because it generates a symmetrical movement, activates a large part of the body’s muscles and strengthens the respiratory capacity. However, I often meet many people who do not know how to swim or who lack good technique to maintain continuous training. Although I still encourage them to learn to swim, some of them get bored in the solitude of a swimming pool and, therefore, many times the impulse that led them to swim soon wears off. On the other hand, if it is about preventing osteoporosis, it is good that they know that swimming alone is not enough; we must add another exercise to take care of the health of the bones .
Something fundamental: the activity that we decide to do has to please us, give pleasure, have fun. If not, there’s no way we’re keeping it in time
With this example I want to show that the important thing is not to look for “the best” but rather that which is closest to our capacities and realities. Something fundamental: the activity that we decide to do has to please us, give pleasure, have fun; if not, there is no way we can keep it in time.
Before debunking some other myths, I think it is important to clarify some other points .
On the one hand, it must always be borne in mind that any person’s physical activity should include three aspects: cardiovascular (ideally aerobic exercise such as walking, jogging or running, cycling or swimming); strength (work on muscular endurance) and flexibility .
On the other hand, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends for adults and the elderly a minimum of 150 minutes per week of moderate aerobic physical activities or 75 if they are vigorous ; or the combination of both, distributed in sessions of more than 10 minutes. And he advises strengthening the main muscle groups a minimum of two days per week. Of course this should be our floor. If we can overcome it, the benefits are going to be much greater.
The physical activity of any person should include three aspects: cardiovascular, strength and flexibility
Here are some things to keep in mind when deciding how to stay out of the chair
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Aerobic exercise : it is very healthy, especially if it is done with a moderate intensity. The issue is that this alone is not enough to keep the body healthy and fit; it is generally advisable to complement it with another type of physical activity. Sport : it is usually the most fun and therefore -if you find one that you like- the one that lasts the longest. But this, which at first glance is great, has its flip side: because injuries can be generated due to the friction that occurs when playing it (as in football, hockey or rugby) or because they are not the most suitable for the heart (such as short and fast tennis runs). high intensity exercises: although they are very fashionable (like crossfit), you have to be very careful because taking the body to a very high intensity can cause injuries. And the problem with fads is that sometimes people without any previous training join them and that can have serious consequences, as we have seen in the news lately. In fact, I think that CrossFit and any other form of high-intensity exercise should only be done by people with a very good level of training and with all the medical check-ups prior to the day (cardiovascular analysis, blood count, lipid profile, blood glucose, etc.) and evaluation of supports and body alignment to avoid spinal and joint injuries, especially in the spine and shoulders. strength exercises: they are basic to strengthen the muscles and with a correct prescription they are necessary at all stages of life, but especially from the age of 30, which is when you begin to lose muscle mass progressively (a phenomenon called “sarcopenia” ). This atrophy of the muscles increases with each decade of life: it is greater at 40 than at 30 and greater at sixty than at 50. The good news is that it is a REVERSIBLE phenomenon and that it will only occur if we do not train muscle strength. Studies conducted by Maria Fiatarone and Walter Frontera on people aged 60, 70 and 80 show that not only strength but also the amount of muscle mass can always be recovered with exercises that are suitable for each person.
Crossfit and any other form of high-intensity exercise should only be done by people with a very good level of training and with all the medical check-ups prior to the day
Something that I highly recommend is functional training , which has the following characteristics: it trains several muscle groups at the same time, imitates movements of daily life and combines strength with elongation. This type of training improves mobility, prevents injuries and spinal pain . And it is also efficient in terms of time, because at the same moment several muscle groups and various functions such as coordination and balance are being trained. I also use it a lot in people who report memory loss, since it allows for body-mind gymnastics : since concentration is needed to perform the exercises well, the body asks the brain to make an effort to send the correct signal to the muscles . It isa double training for the corporal and cognitive area .
Finally, those who do not find a sport “enjoyable” or do not like to go to a gym, it is important that they know that they can stay active by going for a walk, choosing the stairs instead of the elevators or using the bicycle as a means of transportation. They are simple measures but they have a huge impact .
Remember that the minimum is 30 minutes per day , and that it is preferable to include 5 or 10 minutes of movement per hour. Today that life has been very long, the quality with which we live it depends, in large part, on how much we move.
