HOW OFTEN, HOW HARD
You should train at least 3 times a week. Your heart rate should be raised, and maintained at an elevated level for at least 20 mins each time; and to do this with a suitable warm up and cool down, requires 30 or 35 minutes at least:
THEREFORE: YOU NEED TO EXERCISE AT LEAST 3 TIMES A WEEK
FOR AROUND 35 MINUTES OR MORE EACH TIME
-
Longer periods of exercise (perhaps 50 to 60 mins are even better).
-
More frequent exercise (perhaps even daily) can be very beneficial; provided you don't over stress the body.
-
Alternate days for hard training. Excessively hard training on two consecutive days can create excess stress on joints, ligaments & muscles and deplete muscle glycogen levels. One very hard session each week is adequate. You can train daily, but be sympathetic to how the body feels & do not persist if pain increases or the legs become very heavy (even if it is only a light day). There is always a danger of over training, just as much as under training!
EXERCISE MOVEMENT COMPONENTS
Each exercise is composed of a combination of positions which different parts of the body remain in, or move through, over a certain period of time.
Movement can be analysed in terms of the following components.
-
Foot placement
-
Position of hips (from all directions)
-
Angle between hip and upper leg (at different stages of the movement)
-
Angle of the ankle (foot to lower leg), at various stages
-
Angle of knee (at various stages)
-
Position of arms
-
Angle of back (eg. at right angles to water surface)
-
Mid line displacement if in water (eg. how far the body is in or out of the water at different stages).
-
Balance and gravity (eg. leaning forward or to the side while running)
Exercises are easily understood if you divide the body up into a few broad sections (eg. Arms, Legs, The trunk/waist & chest, head) and then classify exercises as broad types of movements for each of these parts. For example, two different ways the legs might be used are for walking or jumping. Within each of these types of movements there is scope for a wide range of variations. For example, jumping could be done with the legs together, or apart. Beyond this, different types of movements of one part may be combined with different types of movements of another body part. The number of possible combinations therefore increases.
Example: LEG MOVEMENTS
Moving the legs will get the heart pumping more than moving the arms.
This is because of:
-
involvement of large muscle groups
-
the distance from the heart (if muscles worked are further from the heart & are using more blood...that excess blood needs to be pumped further)
-
gravity (the pushing of blood back up to the heart goes against gravity which makes the heart pump harder)
-
legs weigh more and therefore more effort is required to keep them in action and to sustain the action for extended periods. As such, repeated energetic leg movements are the basis for most aerobic exercise whether walking, running, jumping, stepping, cycling, skating, etc.
Variations in cleg movements include:
-
Jumping Jacks
-
Shuffles
-
Single leg lifts
-
Kicks
-
Dance steps
-
Squats
-
Lunges
-
Power Walking
-
Jogging
Step ups
We offer a range of ebooks that may interest you. You can find more information on our ebooks at
www.acsebooks.com
