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| Ranadeep Moitra demonstrates an exercise |
1. What comprises a balanced exercise programme?
A well-designed fitness programme should address all aspects of conditioning — muscular strength and endurance, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility and body composition.
Muscular endurance is basically the body’s ability to repeat an activity (called repetitions in training language) before tiring to the point of fatigue.
Muscular strength is more an all out thing. It is the ability to exert force in one maximal effort.
Cardiovascular endurance refers to the ability of the heart to supply oxygen to the working muscles at the time of exercising so that the body can sustain a rhythmic activity like running, swimming, cycling or dancing over a period of time.
exibility refers to the range of motion about a joint or, simply put, the muscles’ ability to remain elastic and stretch-worthy.
Body composition refers to the ratio of lean tissue to fat in the body. Fat is metabolically inert.
2.How long should an exercise session last?
A typical session should be:
Warm up: 5-10 minutes.
Resistance training: 30-40 minutes.
Cardiovascular training: 10-15 minutes.
Stretching, cool down: 10-15 minutes.
Total: 60-75 minutes.
Going for these sessions three to four times a week would be ideal.
3.Does fat loss need a special programme?
No, there is no such thing as a “fat loss” programme. A balanced programme with high repetitions and less rest to keep the pulse rate high will burn a lot of calories and promote fat loss. Quick-fix fat loss programmes work only for short periods and the client yo-yos back to the old body shape soon thereafter.
A really successful fitness and eating plan is one that is sustainable over a life span.
4. But isn’t cardio supposed to be the best form of exercise for fat loss?
Strongly disagree. In fact, long, slow cardio done at low to medium intensity actually makes the body secrete cortisol (a stress hormone), breaks down muscle, destroys metabolism and in the end makes you even fatter. Ever wondered why you see the treadmills in the gym always hogged up by overweight exercisers who remain that way? If they do manage to achieve some weight loss, it is primarily from muscle loss, which, remember, weighs more than fat. Losing muscles will cause your metabolism to slow down and is not a bright idea.
5. So, why is losing muscle such a bad thing?
Muscle is a very active and exacting tissue and keeps our metabolism fired up and helps burn calories. Losing this tissue will slow down our metabolism and burn less calories. Women need to be worried since they have less muscle tissue than men to begin with and usually lower metabolism. For this reason, I am a big one for resistance training for women. Adding one pound of muscle will burn an extra 50-100 calories a day.
6. But won’t women get bulky muscles if they train with weights?
Highly unlikely. It is difficult to build muscles with such low levels of testosterone, the male sex hormone. Okay, let me correct that. It is nearly impossible!
7. So is cardio a bad thing then?
Certainly not. The heart after all is one of the most vital organs so it needs to be trained. But it should be intense and short bursts of one to three minutes interspaced by rest periods of slightly shorter or similar periods for recovery. A total of 10 minutes of cardiovascular conditioning at 80 per cent intensity is a lot.
8. Are there any other benefits of resistance training?
Even if you ignore the aesthetic aspect, the benefits that come to mind straightaway are:
Increased bone density
Better range of motion
Injury prevention
Better balance between muscle groups....
I could go on…
9. What is the most neglected aspect of training?
It would have to be flexibility and core. Stretching your muscles at the end of the workout is critical but I see most people finish and run off without bothering to stretch. This makes the muscles tight and leads to injuries in the long run. And core training is catching up only recently.
10. If there is one thing that you would like to change in most people’s programme?
Reduce the number of reps they do for their abs. Most people feel that doing ab exercises will reduce the fat from their belly. Nothing could be further from the truth. A flat chiselled stomach is a result of a combination of good diet, cardiovascular exercises and multi-joint weight-training exercises. A six pack is never a result of abdomen exercises alone.
