Monday, January 21, 2013

Week 4: Sweat a Little More (Part 1 of 4)

How did you do last week? I found last week's challenge to be pretty easy as long as I brought my water bottle with me. If you are interested in a new water bottle--I strongly recommend the Camelbak Eddy. They have a larger bottle that holds 1 L--so for those of you who have jobs that prevent regular trips to the water fountain (ahem--nurses, physical therapists, teachers, etc). this little bottle is WONDERFUL.

Ok, moving on...

This week's challenge focuses on getting moving! We have been discussing eating & drinking habits the past few weeks, but clearly, we can't forget about exercise.

http://tclw.das.ohio.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=137

So, why exercise?? Exercise offers amazing benefits for our health, helps us achieve and maintain a healthy weight, and builds lean muscle tissue to keep us looking and feeling our best! In addition, exercise promotes good cardiovascular function (and gastrointestinal function!!--hey, as a Women's Health PT, I couldn't help myself!) as well as promotes decreased anxiety and depression. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) published a new set of guidelines regarding physical fitness in 2011. You can see a summary of their guidelines here. Based on these recommendations, our regular exercise should include the following:
  • Cardiovascular Exercise: minimum of 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise each week. 
  • Resistance Exercise: 2 or 3 days each week working all major muscle groups, taking 48 hours off between days of strength training
  • Flexibility Exercise: 2 or 3 days each week holding each stretch 10-30 sec, 2-4x in a row for a total of 60 sec per stretch. 
  • Neuromotor Exercise: 20-30 min, 2 or 3 days each week. Exercises should include balance, coordination and proprioception exercises (i.e. tai-chi, yoga, etc) 

When you look at these recommendations, they can at first seem difficult to achieve. So, we're going to take this step by step, focusing this week on Cardiovascular Exercise as part of a 4-week series. Week 4's challenge is to sweat a little more. Look at last week and determine how many minutes of cardiovascular exercise you performed. Now, add a maximum of 60 min. to that amount to encourage bringing yourself closer to the "150 minute" recommendation. Read the article I posted above to find more guidelines for reaching your 150-minute goal!

Have fun with this challenge! Push yourself to try different exercises than you have tried in the past--find out what works for you! Are you having a hard time fitting exercise in your work day? Try these tips:


  1. At the start of each week, schedule the times and types of exercise you are going to do during the week. 
  2. Don't make unrealistic goals for yourself! If you normally exercise 1x each week, don't plan to exercise 5x the next week! Be slow, and realistic--this will help you see success so you don't give up! 
  3. Bring your equipment with you to work! This has been a great tip for me. If you pack clothing and shoes ahead of time (even for multiple days!), you won't have the excuse of not having what you need to exercise! Also, I have found that if I have to go home between work & exercise, I am WAY less likely to exercise. 
  4. Mix it up! Don't do the same thing every day. Try group fitness, swimming, cycling, running, rock climbing, hiking, etc. to put some variety in your day! 
What else? What tips do you use to stay motivated and fit exercise in to your daily activities?

Good luck and I look forward to next week for Resistance Training! 

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