Fitness: There is a happy medium for exercise for each individual. Finding that healthy, but obtainable exercise program, is what this author set out to do.

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Fitness and Health

Exercise As the Happy Medium for Health and Fitness

By Rob McLean

Fitness: Exercise is a components of fitness. But what kind of exercise, how much, where, when?

The role of fitness in health: 

I'm tired. And I feel guilty.

Why?

I'm tired because I get so much exercise. I feel guilty because no matter how much I exercise, I never feel like it's enough.

Then I get busy at work and stop going to the gym altogether.

Guess what? All that exercise has definitely increased my appetite. I put on a few pounds before I either get my appetite under control or get back to the gym.

It's a five or six pound yo-yo around my middle.

On the other hand, my friend Jim is an exercise nut. Sometimes I wonder when the guy finds time to go to work, much less see his family.

When he can't get in his morning jog, he's miserable. So, despite the fact that his knees often hurt him, he's still out there running, pounding that pavement and his knees.

It's easy for me to get too little exercise, even though I feel guilty. And apparently it's easy for Jim to get so much exercise that it literally hurts him.

What's a happy medium?

I asked two exercise gurus around town what would be an ideal exercise program for someone like me. First, they agreed that each exercise program should be geared to an individual's needs and his/her attitude toward exercise. Then here's what they suggested for me, an average, healthy, 45 year-old adult:

• Exercise three times a week for at least 20 minutes at a time.
• Try to get a sum total of 20 minutes of exercise for each day. Except for three times a week, that exercise can be broken up during your day. Example: climbing steps for five minutes at work, ten minutes scrubbing the car, five minutes carrying heavy items to the car, etc.
• A low intensity exercise should be performed longer than a high- intensity exercise.
• Choose moderate-intensity exercises when possible. They are best for avoiding injury and burn-out.
• Do exercises that work the large muscle groups like walking
• Using "life-style"exercises in the program also makes the program easier to maintain and combats burn-out.
• Make the work-outs intense enough that the heart beats at 60% to 80% of its maximum rate.
• Add a routine of strength training twice a week for a well-rounded exercise program. I will use a personal trainer for this. After I reach the level of fitness I desire, I was told once a week for strength training will be sufficient.

Life-style exercises include bicycling, climbing stairs, swimming, and brisk walking. These exercises work.

But that is not all they recommended. To facilitate getting those pounds off of my middle and to fuel my body correctly, both said I should eat a predominantly plant-based diet. I was told to indulge in flesh, eggs, or dairy foods (preferably fish) only three times per week maximum.

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In fact, I was told that exercise and a plant-based diet will help clean out my arteries, too. I recently read clean arteries produce a potentially more active sex life as well. Hummmm.

Our bodies are made to be used. In fact, the human body is the only machine that wears out from lack of use.

It is never too late to start receiving the benefits of exercise.

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