Let’s start to consider the practices that feel good for us – bearing in mind, that these practices might, and probably will, change over time. After becoming aware of where we are right now, the time we have available and where our bodies are at, we can start to look at the movement practices that will work for us. We all have our own personal likes and dislikes. You are free to choose whatever works for you.
Let’s look at basic exercise theory and what has been proven scientifically to be the most beneficial for our bodies…
There are 3 basic areas of movement that we need for our bodies to be balanced:
- Strength
- Cardiovascular fitness
- Flexibility
We can also add Balance training as number 4). There are many different tests that fitness professionals use to assess these. Without getting too technical, I’m going to give you an outline of what these areas of movement are and basic tests you can do at home to safely test these areas:
1) Strength:
Strength exercises quite simply do as the name suggests – they strengthen our muscles. Strengthening our muscles helps us in all areas of our lives – from being able to lift things to maintaining our daily postures during any activity. If we don’t use a certain muscle group over a certain period of time, we lose the strength in it. This is where the term “use it or lose it” comes in.
How to gauge your strength:
When doing any exercise that requires some strength, for example a squat which requires thigh and glute strength. See how many you can do before you start to feel a mild burn in your thighs or glutes. If you feel the burn in your glutes before your thighs, that might indicate that your thighs are a bit stronger than your glutes – or it might be the other way round. Irrespective, once you feel the burning sensation, doing about 2 or 3 repetitions of the same exercise afterwards, without losing form, would be sufficient to stimulate the muscles enough to improve strength. Now you can use this same technique to assess your strength with any other exercise. You can decide whether you want to keep a note of the number of repetitions you can do, to gauge your improvement or, perhaps, you just prefer to go with how your body feels day to day.
How often should you do strength training:
To get a balanced strength workout, you should try to work all major muscle groups: arms, thighs, calves, glutes and core. To gain and maintain a good level of strength, strengthening each of these muscle groups a minimum of twice a week is all that is needed.
Examples of Strength Exercises: bodyweight training, Pilates, weight training, resistance band training
2) Cardiovascular Fitness:
Cardiovascular fitness has to do with how our heart, lungs and blood vessels respond to exercising. In the same way that our muscles get stronger when doing strengthening exercises, our cardiovascular system (heart, lungs and blood vessels) get stronger when we do cardiovascular (cardio) exercises like running or walking. This kind of exercise helps our breathing rate and general circulation.
How to gauge your cardiovascular fitness:
There are many techniques for assessing how your heart, lungs and blood vessels react to exercise. You can use a smart watch to assist you with this, but it is not essential, unless you have a specific condition that requires it. You can start by going for a walk or a bicycle ride. Notice how your breathing changes as you go faster. See how fast you can go, whilst still being able to breath, or talk if necessary. Then see how long you can maintain this intensity. It might be 5 minutes, 10 minutes or longer. If you can only keep it up for 5 minutes before having to slow down, consider going a little slower for longer. With time, you will be able to go for longer and possibly even increase your speed. Then after you finish your exercise, notice how long it takes you to get your ‘breath back’ – i.e. to start breathing at your usual rate again. The fitter you become, the faster you recover to your usual breathing rhythm.
How often should you do cardiovascular training:
To gain and maintain cardiovascular fitness, you need to be working at an intensity that increases your heart rate sufficiently for at least 20minutes, 3 times a week. This 20minutes can be broken down into smaller bits – for example, going for 2 brisk walks of 10 minutes a day instead of 1 for 20 minutes.
Examples of Cardiovascular Exercises: walking, running, swimming, rowing, cycling
3) Flexibility:
Flexibility is basically how ‘bendy’ your body is. Each of our muscles have an optimal range of motion that will allow our joints to move freely, without restriction. When we start to feel ‘tight’ or ‘restricted’ in certain areas, this is an indication that we need to focus on some flexibility training to loosen these areas up. Although, we shouldn’t be waiting until areas start feeling tight before we embark on a flexibility training regime.
How to gauge your flexibility:
To test the flexibility of each area of our bodies, perform a stretch for that particular area and see how far you can reach before feeling a pull. This shouldn’t be pain, just a pull and a bit of a restriction. There is a really large range of flexibility exercises out there, from various modalities like yoga and Pilates. I’m not going to go through them all right now, but I’ll give you a basic routine you can do to assess your flexibility:
Lie down on your back, legs straight, arms at your sides. Raise your one leg up, keeping your knee straight. How high does it go? Where do you feel a restriction? At the back of the leg? Behind the knee? Now do the same on the other leg. How high does the other leg go? How do they compare? Now, with the legs straight on the ground, raise both arms up overhead, as far as they will go. Do this without arching the back or flaring the rib cage. Can your arms rest above your head comfortably? Are your arms level? Where do you feel any restriction? This simple routine will give you a basic idea of your level of flexibility at your shoulder joints and hamstrings – 2 areas that are often tight in most of us with sedentary lifestyles.
Now, the topic of flexibility is extensive, so we are not going to get into the details right now. I simply want you to observe where your tight spots are. Most people know this without needing to be tested! For example, can you touch your toes?
How often should you do flexibility training:
We should stretch our major muscle groups at least 3 times a week or more. This could be simply stretching after doing our exercise, or dedicating a yoga practice to focusing on this. You can even just take breaks during your day to stretch out various areas of your body that are feeling tight.
Examples of Flexibility Exercises: Stretching, yoga
4) Balance:
Balance is something that we often take for granted until we lose it. Generally it becomes more important as we get older or if we have a certain condition or injury. Balance is more than just a physical test, it depends a lot on our state of minds and our breathing.
How do we gauge our balance:
A simple way to test your balance, is to just stand on one leg. This is something children will do often, but, as we get older, we tend to do this less – even though we need it more! Stand on one leg, closer to a wall or table to hold on to if this makes you feel safer. Play around with having your eyes open or closed, breathing faster or slower. See the difference it makes.
How often should you do balance training:
You can incorporate a bit of balance training into any of your other training sessions – strength, cardio or flexibility. The more you practice balance, the better your body awareness becomes and the easier it becomes.
Examples of Balance Exercises: Yoga
Weekly Practice:
So what would an ideal weekly practice look like, incorporating all the different exercises we’ve just spoken about?
1) Strength: Each major muscle group – 2 x Week
2) Cardiovascular: Keeping a pace that’s exerting, but still being able to speak – 3 x week for 20minutes each time
3) Flexibility: Stretching across each joint – 3 x Week or more
4) Balance: Find opportunities each day to balance, even if just standing on one leg whilst doing the dishes!
Find the exercises you enjoy doing for each of these categories and take a look at your weekly schedule. What times of the day are you most likely to be able to fit in this training? Remember, everything can be done with minimal training equipment and without joining a gym. Be creative with how you can fit it all in.
We should become aware of our bodies – how they feel when we are doing certain exercises and then adjust our movements or intensity accordingly. We should also be aware of how our movement practice feels at different times of the day and then we might need to adjust our planned training schedule accordingly. For example, I know I’m not that flexible first thing in the morning, so I prefer to do my yoga asana practice later in the day when my body feels more supple.
With regards to acceptance, we need to accept the limitations of our bodies, the constraints of our time, amongst many other things. Remember, acceptance does not mean that these things will never change, it just means that it is what it is right now. If you start a running practice and you can’t run for longer than 5 minutes, you need to accept that is where you are at right now. Becoming angry and frustrated with yourself is not going to change that. Accepting that is your current capability and then telling yourself that this will eventually get easier, is more likely to keep you motivated to continue than pushing yourself harder because you are not where you want to be right now.
How to start your movement practice:
- Find exercises that you enjoy doing, finding a balance between:
- Strength
- Cardio
- Flexibility
- Balance
- Create a movement schedule that fits in with your daily routine, but keep it flexible
- Be aware of the elements of your movement practice, including how your body feels and how your schedule is working out, and then make the necessary adjustments
- Be accepting of where you are right now in this process, don’t focus on what you should have been doing up until now or where you wish you were.
