Everybody embarks on a New Year fitness program and jumps into the deep end with an advanced swimming program or a goal to complete a triathlon. While these goals are achievable for athletes or naturally athletic people, it is not necessarily the best exercise regime for an overweight male who has not done any exercise since playing rugby in high school.
Men and women tend to be ambitious when setting goals and forget that they need to start with walking or changing their lifestyle and eating habits instead of registering for the upcoming 10km road run. I have seen it time and time again at popular sporting events – a deconditioned runner (another polite term for an unfit person) will run 21.1km without the proper training and afterwards they will be vomiting at the side of the road, either because they have exerted themselves too much with inadequate training or they have celebrated their achievement too soon without proper water intake or unhealthy dietary choices. Beer is not a healthy carbohydrate and water should be drunk before and after the run to ensure proper hydration. This fact about beer and alcoholic dehydrators (I just made it a verb) shows that people tend to celebrate their achievements too quickly without proper research or planning. Committing to an exercise program should change most aspects of a person’s daily life.
The easiest way to lose weight is to increase the energy output (or decrease energy input), mainly through cardiovascular exercise. This does not mean getting on the treadmill and staying there until the belt is slippery from sweat and the runner is about to fall over. Increasing the heart’s activity throughout the day through practical ways will also increase energy output. Hide the remote and get off the couch to change channels, walk across the office to speak to a colleague instead of calling and walk to the deli for a healthy lunch instead of ordering to the desk. The old favourite of taking the stairs is also useful, but it may not be practical when wearing stilettos as this could cause terrible injuries and embarrassment and some sick leave. Walk the dog more often or put on your takkies for a walk around a rich neighbourhood to choose your next home.
As a runner who has seen a few injuries, I know how easy it is to get carried away and run further and faster too quickly and this results in injury, pain and weight gain. After a few weeks or months of inactivity it is critical to start slowly and walk longer intervals than running. Apart from sparing the knees and ankles too much shock, it will also encourage proper running technique. Runners should make a New Year’s resolution to try another form of cardiovascular exercise to give the running muscles a rest and expose them to something else. I have recently started cycling and it is so easy compared to running, but I have learnt two important lessons: never tell cyclists how easy their sport is compared to running and never cycle alone.
When setting goals take into account safety aspects that could become rules for other aspects of your life – never exercise alone in dangerous areas, look both ways before crossing a road and do not do anything potentially dangerous in the dark. Do not expect immediate results because being slow and steady will win the race every time and it will still make your heart flutter.
Happy 2012!
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