Exercise Goals: Longevity, Not Sweat, May Be The New Exercise Goal

 If health rather than elite athletic performance is your goal, you may be able to embrace some new ideas about exercise.  We have gone through our lives with an “all or nothing at all” mantra and more often that not it has been our undoing.

Linda Friedland (Business Day. Johannesburg: February 14, 2007) writes that it is possible that you do not have to sweat to achieve maximum benefits from your gym workout.  I’ve always felt that being soaking wet from perspiration meant that I had done something really good for myself, but I could be wrong.  Professor Harvey Simon, the author of “No Sweat Exercise Plan,” believes that perspiration and pain are not necessarily the answer.  The old exercise gurus who maintained that you had to push your heart rate up to 70-80% of its maximum may have inspired a few avid athletes, but in the process discouraged the rest of us, so it makes you wonder who wins.

The good news, he says, is that moderate exercise seems to be just as good for long-term health plans (long term is the word that does most of us in) as the “big sweat.”  There are many reasons why you may choose to exercise.  You may want a firmer body, six pack abs, peak athletic performances or even to improve your over-all well being.  These are all good reasons, but your ultimate goal should be to achieve good health.

You still need cardio (aerobic exercise) but the interpretation of it, intensity and time has changed a bit over the last few years.  The frequency should be 3 times a week (more wouldn’t hurt), but the intensity doesn’t have to be as severe (moderate is good), but the time spent should be longer.  Experts are now recommending 40-50 minutes.  Walk, swim, cycle, jog at a comfortable pace for longer (instead of 20 minutes at a break-neck speed).

What is the perfect workout?  An optimal workout should include at least three cardio sessions a week of 40-50 minutes, coupled with some light weight training and a twice weekly flexibility and core strengthening work (yoga, tai chi or Pilates). The focus is not solely on athletic performance, it is about optimal health and longevity.

 

 

Comments

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This is actually very interesting. It takes a new form of understanding about doing exercise which can be a good contributing factor for people to exercise more.