How Much Exercise Do You Need?

Whether you’re 7 or 70, exercise is vital to your well-being. If you lack motivation to become physically fit, read on. Then get moving!

Not interested in the stair stepper? Turned off by bulky weights and skintight leotards? Do your knees hurt at the thought of a jog around the block? Don’t despair. You can still attain a healthy level of fitness by accumulating 30 minutes of moderate activity over the course of one day (several times a week), and you can leave your Rollerblades® at home.

The 30-minute guideline comes straight from the American College of Sports Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control, whose official position is: Moderate activity can keep you healthy.

Namely, exercise can considerably reduce the risk of heart disease (Journal of American Medical Association, July 17, 1996) and the risk of dying prematurely (Journal of American Medical Association, April 12, 1995). The 1996 Surgeon General’s Report adds to the long list of regular physical activity’s health benefits, stating that exercise:

•    helps older adults become stronger and better able to move about without falling
•    helps build, strengthen and maintain healthy muscles, bones and joints
•    reduces risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure and colon cancer
•    reduces feelings of depression and anxiety
•    promotes psychological well-being
•    helps control weight
•    helps reduce blood pressure in those who already have high blood pressure.

Heart disease, high blood pressure, colon cancer and diabetes are all linked to inactivity, says Andrea Dunn, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas, Texas.

Therefore, sedentary people who can ease into moderate activity can greatly reduce their risk of developing these diseases. It’s also a case of more is better: The more activity you perform and the longer the duration, the greater the benefits.

The key word here is moderate. Moderate activity, according to Len Kravitz, Ph.D., exercise scientist at the University of Mississippi, is a step above a leisurely walk and a step below being out of breath.

You should begin to become winded when partaking in moderate activity. Activity may include walking briskly, playing touch football with your kids, walking up several flights of stairs, shoveling snow, yoga, stretching or performing calisthenics.

The guidelines aren’t new. However, studies that support the thesis that cumulative activity can confer as many health benefits as a more aggressive fitness regimen are new. Researchers at the Cooper Institute are in the final stages of a four-year randomized clinical study called Project Active that compares a two-year lifestyle program (cumulative activity) with a more structured exercise program.

Results thus far indicate both approaches are effective for increasing fitness levels in formerly sedentary people. Preliminary results also show both approaches exert the similar effect of decreasing blood pressure, blood cholesterol and body fat — all coronary heart disease factors.

That’s not to say that by adding 30 minutes of gardening or frenetic window washing to your schedule you’ll be fit enough to run a marathon in a couple of months. If you want to become aerobically fit and improve your cardiovascular system, you must engage in sustained aerobic activity in excess of 30 minutes three to four times per week, Kravitz says.

Fitting in Fitness

Riding the wave of the aerobics-crazed ’80s and early ’90s, Cooper Institute scientists have put cumulative fitness to the test. Study leaders divided 235 men and women – ages 35 to 60 – into two groups. One group followed a structured gym workout schedule, which consisted of 20- to 60-minute workouts (on treadmills, indoor tracks or stair steppers) three to five times a week. The other group (lifestyle) was challenged to fit 30 minutes of activity into their daily lives.

The lifestyle group met with study leaders one night a week to talk strategy – mainly how to fit 30 minutes of exercise into already packed schedules. These strategic meetings included discussions on social support, barriers to exercise, motivation and changing their thinking.

“We encouraged people to think of as many physical activities as they could that would work with their lifestyle. The activities had to be things they enjoyed,” Dunn explains.

“Most people could think of one or two things they liked to do such as gardening, hiking or activities with their families. Ultimately, we challenged them to decrease their overall time spent sitting.”

Study participants took the challenge and devised innovative methods to fit in fitness:

•    One man set his computer to beep at him five times throughout the course of his workday. Each time the alarm sounded, he left his computer and walked outside for at least 10 minutes at a brisk pace.
•    A woman gathered her church friends and formed a group that met weekly to walk. The group also made a contest out of their appointment with fitness. Every time a fellow walker attended, she put money into a collection. Whoever showed up the most times won the entire pot of money.
•    Other types of reward systems worked as well. An avid reader made books her reward for exercising. She made sure she got her exercise in before she snuggled up with her latest novel.

Study author Dunn says the Cooper Institute trial lifestyle approach gives people confidence. They don’t feel like failures, which is how some feel in the competitive sports realm, she adds.

Participants expand their thinking of what’s possible, and the number of activities they can do subsequently increases. It expands the number of enjoyable activities people can and will end up doing for the long term.

Ease into Exercise

Before embarking on a new routine, remember to warm up to prevent injury. If you’ve decided on brisk walking, begin by slowly strolling, then gradually increase speed. Ease into other activities such as shoveling snow, cleaning out the attic or climbing stairs.

With these caveats in mind, Kravitz suggests three steps toward making exercise an integral part of your life:

1.    Make a commitment that fitness is important; otherwise, you won’t do it.
2.    Schedule exercise time in 10-, 15-, 30- or 60-minute increments, whatever your calendar allows.
3.    Find an activity you truly enjoy.

Author: Kathleen Mendola

 

Aerobic Alchemy: NIA Integrates Body, Mind And Spirit by Kendra Howard-Espinoza

“Nia is a dynamic workout program, a lifestyle blueprint that offers personal and professional growth. It is a living system that grows and changes as students do, working with the natural wisdom and intelligence of the body, mind, spirit, and emotions.” – Debbie and Carlos Rosas, creators of The Nia Technique.

Healthy body, healthy mind, healthy spirit
Take the playfulness of modern and ethnic dance, the intense power of Tae Kwon Do and Aikido, and the concentration of yoga and tai chi. Throw in a diverse blend of world, ambient, and pop music and you now have the outline for Nia (pronounced neeyah), an acronym for Neuromuscular Integrative Action.

Nia is a fitness technique that specifically aims to integrate body, mind and spirit through movement. A typical Nia session resembles the format of a traditional aerobics class. The instructor leads students through a warm-up characterized by meditative music and attention to body sensations. A more intense section follows that blends martial arts and dance technique. The class ends with yoga and what is referred to as “floorplay”, self-guided stretching on the floor. There is, however, a striking difference between Nia and the old style of aerobics: Nia opens the door to personal expression in the movements, and students are really drawn to this.

“Nia speaks to the person who wants more than a physical workout,” says Barb Wesson, a Brown Belt Nia teacher in Milwaukee. “The mind, emotions, and spirit deserve to be exercised as well. Engaging all facets of a person using a variety of music and meaningful movements creates a complete workout that feels much more like play.”

Certainly, Nia’s physical benefits delight dedicated followers. Nia devotees rave about strong, lean legs and head-to-toe conditioning. But the physical benefits are a mere third of what Nia has to offer. To initiate mind and spirit connections, an accomplished Nia instructor will evoke imagery such as pounding on drums or dancing like the wind. These visualizations create primal, recognizable references that resonate for many people and offer personal freedom within the context of the technique. Moreover, although teachers provide safety guidelines, Nia is completely adaptable to individual preferences and abilities.

According to Marcia Babcock, Ph.D., and also Nia student at RallySport, it’s this adaptability that allows her to access a deeply personal mind-body-spirit connection. “Nia sets my soul free,” says Babcock. “In other movement forms, I never experienced the sense of freedom and connection to myself that I can immediately access in Nia. It is the greatest therapeutic experience I have ever had.”

Every month, close to 1500 students seek that therapeutic experience at the Alchemy of Movement, another Boulder-based studio offering Nia. Kathy Wolstenholme, a Nia Black Belt instructor and owner of the Alchemy, says, “This technique creates for me and my students mental, spiritual and physical health on so many levels,” she says. “People desire a way of staying in shape that caters directly to every aspect of themselves. Nia does just that, and more.”