Fitness for Life Freshman Seminar

Benefits of regular physical activity

1: Exercise controls weightExercise can help prevent excess weight gain or help maintain weight loss. When you engage in physical activity, you burn calories. The more intense the activity, the more calories you burn. You don't need to set aside large chunks of time for exercise to reap weight-loss benefits. If you can't do an actual workout, get more active throughout the day in simple ways — by taking the stairs instead of the elevator or revving up your household chores.

Why exercise?

2: Exercise combats health conditions and diseases

Worried about heart disease? Hoping to prevent high blood pressure? No matter what your current weight, being active boosts high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good," cholesterol and decreases unhealthy triglycerides. This one-two punch keeps your blood flowing smoothly, which decreases your risk of cardiovascular diseases. In fact, regular physical activity can help you prevent or manage a wide range of health problems and concerns, including stroke, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, depression, certain types of cancer, arthritis and falls.

Benefits to exercise

3: Exercise improves moodNeed an emotional lift? Or need to blow off

some steam after a stressful day? A workout at the gym or a brisk 30-minute walk can help. Physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that may leave you feeling happier and more relaxed. You may also feel better about your appearance and yourself when you exercise regularly, which can boost your confidence and improve your self-esteem.

Benefits to exercise

4: Exercise boosts energyWinded by grocery shopping or household

chores? Regular physical activity can improve your muscle strength and boost your endurance. Exercise and physical activity deliver oxygen and nutrients to your tissues and help your cardiovascular system work more efficiently. And when your heart and lungs work more efficiently, you have more energy to go about your daily chores

Benefits to exercise

5: Exercise promotes better sleepStruggling to fall asleep? Or to stay asleep?

Regular physical activity can help you fall asleep faster and deepen your sleep. Just don't exercise too close to bedtime, or you may be too energized to fall asleep.

Benefits to exercise

6: Exercise can be funExercise and physical activity can be a fun way

to spend some time. It gives you a chance to unwind, enjoy the outdoors or simply engage in activities that make you happy. Physical activity can also help you connect with family or friends in a fun social setting. So, take a dance class, hit the hiking trails or join a soccer team. Find a physical activity you enjoy, and just do it. If you get bored, try something new.

Benefits to exercise

Exercise and physical activity are a great way to feel better, gain health benefits and have fun. As a general goal, aim for at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day. If you want to lose weight or meet specific fitness goals, you may need to exercise more. Remember to check with your doctor before starting a new exercise program, especially if you have any health concerns.

The bottom line on exercise…

MUSCULAR STRENGTH

MUSCULAR ENDURANCE

CARDIO VASCULAR FITNESS

FLEXIBILITY

BODY COMPOSITION

5 COMPONENTS OF FITNESS

The amount of force a muscle or muscle group can exert against a heavy resistance

ANAEROBIC exercise can improve muscular strength

Anaerobic---with out air EXAMPLE: sprinting, box jumps, bench press

MUSCULAR STRENGTH

The ability of muscle or muscle group to repeat a movement many times or to hold a particular position for an extended amount of time

Both aerobic and anaerobic exercise can improve muscular endurance.

Aerobic ----- with air EXAMPLE: jogging for 20 minutes, 20 REPS of calve

raises

MUSCULAR ENDURANCE

The ability of the heart, lungs and vascular system to deliver oxygen-rich blood to working muscles during sustained physical activity

What type of exercise do you think improves cardio vascular fitness?

Can you give an example?

CARDIO VASCULAR FITNESS

Flexibility is the degree to which an individual muscle will lengthen

Stretching improves flexibility

EXAMPLE: dynamic, static

Yoga anyone?

FLEXIBILITY

Is the amount of fat in the body compared to the amount of lean mass (muscle, bones, organs, etc.)

AKA: relative amount of fat mass to fat free mass AKA: Body Mass Index = BMI

How do you measure BMI? -- skinfold tests --measurements/ equations -- water pod test

Assessing body mass index (BMI) is a commonly-used method of measuring body fat. While BMI does not measure body fat directly, it helps to assess health risks related to body mass.

BODY COMPOSITION

A high percentage of body fat can have a negative effect on your overall well-being: Excess fat has been linked to numerous health problems such as increased risk for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

Having excess fat, specifically surrounding the internal organs, can damage your health and contribute to serious medical conditions such as liver disease.

Body Composition Cont.

There are 5 Basic Principles of Physical Fitness---

1. The Overload Principle

2. The FITT Principle

3. The Specificity Principle

4. The Rest and Recovery Principle

5. The Use or Lose Principle

Principles of Fitness

Frequency - how often

Intensity - how hard you are working

Time - how long

Type - what methods of training

FITT PRINCIPLE

OVERLOAD PRINCIPLEThe Overload Principle is probably the most important principle of

exercise and training.

Simply stated, the Overload Principle means that the body will adapt to

the workload

placed upon it. The more you do, the more you will be capable of doing.

This is how all

the fitness improvements occur when exercising and training. The human

body is an

amazing machine. When you stress the body through lifting a weight that

the body is

unaccustomed to lifting, the body will react by causing physiological

changes in order to

be able to handle that stress the next time it occurs. This concept is

similar in

cardiovascular training. If you ask the heart, lungs and endurance

muscles to do work not

previously done, it will make changes to the body to be able to handle

that task better the next time. This is how people get stronger, bigger,

faster and increase their physical fitness level.

When you are working out, you want to strive to somehow increase the workload you are

doing above what you did on your previous workout so you have overloaded your body to

create a training adaptation. This increase in workout stress can be a very small increase,

as many small increases over time will eventually be a large increase or adaptation. To

determine how to increase the workload of a given workout you need to understanding the

F.I.T.T Principle.

OVERLOAD PRINCIPLE (cont.)

COMBINING THE OVERLOAD AND FITT PRINCIPLES

RESISTANCE TRAINING

CARDIO VASCULAR TRAINING

FREQUENCY Increase the number of workout days

Increase the number of workout days

INTENSITY Increase the resistance/ weight

Increase pace or % MAX HEART RATE

TIME Increase time involved in exercise or increased repetitions

Increase time involved in exercise

TYPE Changing the exercise but still working the same area of the body

Changing the workout to a different cardio exercise. Ex. Jogging to jump rope

Specificity - sport and individual needs, specific to goals Progression - start at your level and gradually increaseOverload - work harder than normal ** more in next slides **

Reversibility - train regularly, (minimum 2 days a week)

3-5 recommended

Tedium (syn. sameness) - keep it interesting, change it up

SPORT PRINCIPLE

This principle is just how it sounds...how you exercise should be specific to your goals. If you're trying to improve your racing times, you should focus on speed workouts. If your main goal is simply health, fitness and weight management, you should focus on total body strength, cardio and a healthy diet. Make sure your training matches your goals.

Specificity Principle

The Principle of Use or Lose implies that when it comes to fitness, you "use it or lose it." This simply means that your muscles build strength (hypertrophy) with use and lose strength (atrophy) with lack of use. This also explains why we or lose fitness when we stop exercising.

“Use it or lose it” Principle

While we often focus on getting in as much exercise as possible, rest and recovery is also essential for reaching your weight loss and fitness goals. While you can often do cardio every day (though you may want to rest after very intense workouts) you should have at least a day of rest between strength training workouts. Make sure you don't work the same muscles two days in a row to give your body the time it needs to rest and recover.

The Rest and Recovery Principle

It depends on your TARGET heart rate….How to calculate…

START with getting your maximum heart rate:

220-age = maximum heart rate (MHR) {Ex: 220- 14 = 206 // 220-15= 205 }

THEN…. CALCULATE YOUR TARGET HEART RATE …

How do we know how intense our workout is? ….

Target heart rate is a percentage of one’s maximum heart rate. For an acceptable fitness program, it is recommended that your target heart rate (THR) falls between 55% AND 85% of your maximum heart rate (MHR).

Calculate: MHR x .55 = ___________ MHR x .85 = ___________

Your target heart rate ZONE is when your pulse is between…? (refer to your calculations on this page)

Target heart rate

-- Count beats for 30 seconds, multiply count by 2

--Count beats for 20 seconds, multiply count by 3

You can count the amount of beats you feel by using 1 of the 3 techniques…(most effective to least effective)

1. 2 fingers on neck to the right of your esophagus 2. hand on heart 3. 2 fingers on wrist

Why not use thumb??? Your thumb has it’s own beat!! – could confuse your count

How to take your pulse…

Now take your resting heart rate, and compare that to your target heart rate zone…

The best time to take your resting heart rate is right when you wake up.

The best time to see if you are working hard enough during a work out is during a break or right when the workout is completed.

Resting Heart Rate Comparison

Since we can’t work out for at least 30 minutes at our MHR, here is a chart that allows us to figure out how hard we are working, or need to work during physical activity…

Target Heart Rate Zones

Ideal for Benefit desired Intensity level (% MHR)

Light exercise Maintain healthy heart/ get fit

50% - 60%

Weight management Lose weight/ burn fat 60% - 70%

Aerobic based exercise Increase stamina aerobic endurance

70% - 80%

Optimal conditioning Maintain excellent fitness condition

80% - 90%

Elite athlete Maintain superb athletic condition

90% - 100%

http://lams.slcusd.org/pages/teachers/morrow/Fitness%20and%20Health%20Handouts/The%20Five%20Basic%20Principles%20of%20Fitness.pdf

http://weightloss.about.com/od/backtobasics/f/bodycomp.htm

http://www.topendsports.com/fitness/basic-principles.htm

http://www.heartmonitors.com/exercisetips/heart_rate_basics.htm

Sources