- If you are very unfit or you have or think you may have any health conditions that may have any impact on undertaking increased levels of physical activity/exercise be sensible and discuss with your doctor first.
- If you don't know that you are already have a good level of cardiorespiratory fitness be cautious and stay safe by slowly building up your physical activity/exercise from lower levels of activity/exercise to higher ones over the course of a at least a month but may be significantly longer (departing on your age and starting condition), making sure you feel comfortable as you gradually increase the frequency, duration and the intensity of physical activity/exercise over time.
- Do not incorporate vigorous intensity physical exertion into your physical exercise/activity until you have a reasonable level of fitness.
- Vigorous intensity physical exertion is associated with a increased risk of heart attack compared with less vigorous intensity physical exertion but individual risk of adverse events is reduced in fit individuals.
- See the following link to research about the increased risk of heart attack following heavy physical exertion.
- Middle aged and older adults are recommended to take part in at least 12 weeks of moderate intensity exercise before introducing any vigorous intensity exercise
- Do not pursue or seek to incorporate a High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) into your physical exercise/activity until you have a reasonable level of fitness.
- "The physiotherapist Adam Meakins advises people in general to avoid high-intensity workouts if they are new to exercise. “The risk with a novice going in and doing HIIT exercises is that you can end up pulling something in your muscular-skeletal system a lot more easily than you would if you were an experienced exerciser whose body has adapted resilience to explosive forces.” That said, he welcomes anything that will get people moving. “There are always risks associated with any exercise … the biggest risk factor is not doing any exercise at all.”" See the following link to the article where this statement is made.
- See the following link to the research abstract about the increases in injuries related to high-intensity workout programs.
- For a long video discussion that explores the various forms of HIIT in detail and compares it to other forms of physical exercise/activity see the following link:
How to optimally undertake cardiorespiratory exercise
- Choose a form(s) of exercise you will enjoy (or find the most tolerable) and will be able to continue with on a ongoing basis. Everyone is different so you need to find out what works best for you.
- If you have never really embraced exercise you may find the brief articles linked below useful:
- If motivation and sticking at the exercise for the required duration is a problem for you, consider distraction techniques to enable the exercise session time to pass more quickly e.g. watching/listening to; tv, video, music, radio, podcasts and / or having a buddy(ies), taking part in group activity, using virtual training systems (e.g. Zwift), competition (real or virtual), etc. Or making it difficult not to do by making it the means of having to get somewhere you need to be e.g. cycling to work.
- The distraction should not be so mentally taxing that you are unable to monitor your exercise activity intensity effectively though.
- Advance planning your exercise by scheduling it a week or so ahead can be a useful strategy to ensure you put aside enough time and schedule in appropriate rest days.
- If you plan to exercise outside regularly consulting a good weather forecasting web site / app can be really useful. See the following link to a site that has excellent global coverage and provides data from multiple forecast models:
- Measure and monitor changes in your fitness. See the Metrics Tab.
- Stick at it by incorporating exercise into your lifestyle. It perhaps goes without saying that if your chosen amount of physical exercise/activity becomes/is an integral part of your everyday lifestyle then you have probably found an optimal approach.
- For an article about exercise and motivation see the following link:
- Fundamental to the following guidance is an understanding of you knowing when you are exercising at a particular level of exercise intensity (Heart Rate Reserve Intensity Exercise Zones are probably optimal to use). The easiest way to do this is to use a wearable heart rate monitor and use the chart in the Zones tab and information in the Key Terms tab (for definitions) to determine what your heart rate will be in each zone of exercise intensity or use a wearable to do it for you. But if you haven't got one / can't get one / don't want one, use the following table (click on it to enlarge it) to determine what zone of exercise intensity you are exercising at (although a heart rate monitoring wearable makes things much easier). You can also use this information to approximately check that a heart rate monitor is providing the correct output values to help you validate that it is working / has been set up correctly:
 |
Exercise Intensity and Perceived Exertion |
- Assuming your cardiorespiratory focused physical exercise is a dedicated exercise session (rather than say part of your work) then when you take into account the time to set up and get changed, warm up time, the session itself, cool down time, pack up and changing time, this suggests that 3 x 25 min (plus 20 mins total warm up/down time so 45 mins in total of the actual exercise) Vigorous Intensity cardiorespiratory focused physical exercise per week are likely to be optimal to do the minimum advised amount of exercise in the most time efficient way.
- This of course assumes you are physically able to do it and have safely built up to doing this amount and intensity of exercise.
- To get to the above level once you have a basic level of fitness each session should ideally be a minimum of 20 min bouts of at least moderate cardiorespiratory focused physical exercise/activity. If only shorter bouts can be managed they'll count although wearable activity monitors often don't count the activity unless it is maintained for a minimum 10 min as this was consistent with exercise guidance until recently. The latest research indicates that much smaller bouts also have an impact although if you are going to do a dedicated exercise session it would not be optimal, in most situations, to do less than 10 min anyway.
- Evidence suggests less than 3 vigorous intensity sessions per week increases exercise risks (cardiorespiratory stress, muscle pulls, etc).
- Each session should incorporate 10 mins of warm up cardiorespiratory focused physical exercise and 10 mins of cool down cardiorespiratory focused physical exercise, immediately before and after each session, as part of the overall session. This is important but often ignored.
- Warm and cool down is accomplished by starting and finishing the exercise with the same exercise but at much lower Intensity for warm up for at least 5 minutes at Light Intensity and the remainder at Moderate Intensity (at the low end) and this is done in reverse for cool down.
- A reasonable amount of concentration needs to go into making sure you warm up / cool down at the right Intensities. It is easy to warm up at too high an Intensity and not lower the Intensity enough when cooling down particularly at Light Intensity when the level of this exercise may not feel like exercising at all particularly after a longer session.
- Intense exercise can lead to a build up of lactate in the body and warm down light exercise can speed up the clearance process.
- The Moderate Intensity part of the warm up / cool down is likely to make a contribution to your exercise minutes as a bonus but is not the focus of it.
- For a brief article about the importance of cooling down / warming up see the following link:
- Once you are comfortable with this routine you should find it is relatively easy to increase the length of your exercise session and if increased gradually it shouldn't be long before you are able to double your exercise time by adding a further 25 min of vigorous intensity exercise to the session if you want to, although managing boredom may become more of an issue.
- Six days of exercise a week is also considered a sensible maximum as this ensures at least one recovery day which seems to be generally regarded as good practice.
- See the following link to an article about the importance of rest days:
- To increase your amount of exercise you'll need to add further sessions as above but an alternative optimal way to do this is to consider undertaking a much longer moderate intensity session(s) such as a long bike ride(s) or hike(s), perhaps on a weekend where you may be able to find more time and more easily incorporate such an activity(ies) into your lifestyle.
- The research links that follows reports that engaging in the majority of activity on only 1 or 2 days per week provides similar risk reductions to those who were more frequently active:
- In addition you need to do 1 to 3 dedicated strength exercise sessions a week that work all the major muscle groups.
- For an article that explains the fundamentals of strength exercise training see the following link:
- https://elemental.medium.com/the-best-strength-training-workout-is-surprisingly-easy-a7c7eb095a6f
- For a key research article mentioned in the above article see the following link:
- For a video that explains the differences between building muscles for strength versus size (which shows preserved human body parts) see the following link:
- For a site that contains an extensive library of fitness workouts see the following link:
- For an article that explains the extent of training required to develop highly defined muscles such as six-pack abs see the following link:
- For a video that explains why strength training is important see the following link:
- For a video about strength exercise training and muscle function see the following link (preserved human body parts are shown in the video):
- For a very long video which starts by summarising muscle function in more detail and then goes to look at the impact of different exercise types see the following link:
- For a comprehensive and consequently long video packed full of practical evidence based advice about strength exercise see the following link:
- https://youtu.be/SUy6HwOhT3U
- For access to a key article mentioned in the video see the following link:
- See the following link for UK NHS strength and flexibility exercise videos (please note this links to the "warm up" video, to see the other videos scroll down the page to see and select others):
- For a video (which shows preserved human body parts) which explains how to optimally combine strength and flexibility exercise see the following link:
- From an effectiveness perspective research suggests that for strength training the use of machines, free weights or a combination of both are equally beneficial. See the following link to the research:
- https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/21/7848/htm
- The research used a whole body resistance training programme where each exercise was repeated 12 times with a individual load set at the maximum that could be lifted correctly up to 12 times. Each exercise set, of 12 repeats, was undertaken 3 times per exercise session and there were 2 sessions per week. When a participant could perform 12 repetitions or more during two sets on two consecutive training sessions, the participant was asked to increase the resistance by 2 to 10 percent, depending on the available equipment. The order and targeted muscle groups for each exercise in the programme is shown in the table below:
- Alternatively you might want to consider incorporating strength exercise as an integral part of your exercise sessions (as an integral part of, for example; circuit training, aerobics, rowing, elliptical, running, skipping and recreational sports such as, football, rugby, netball, hockey, tennis, squash, all when undertaken at Vigorous Intensity) although this will probably not provide the full range of impacts of full body dedicated strength exercise sessions.
- For a video that considers the pros and cons of running versus rowing for exercise see the following link:
- For an article about jumping rope (skipping) which is a whole body work out activity that requires minimal space and equipment see the following link:
- If you cycle you might want to consider the use of pedal cleats to increase the range of leg muscles strengthened in your cycling so other strength exercises can be minimised to exercise focused on your core and upper body.
- Strength exercise can improve cardiorespiratory fitness independently of undertaking cardiorespiratory exercise however these adaptations are, for the most part, a result of strength exercise at high intensity (i.e., performed to failure).
- Schematic depiction of the chronic physiological adaptations and improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness from strength exercise performed to momentary muscular failure. Source:
- For a video about the impact of exercise on bone health (which shows preserved human body parts) see the following link:
- For an article about the impact of alcohol consumption on muscle see the following link:
- Workout library
- For a free to use website that provides a very extensive range of workout resources see the following link:
- Back pain
- For a long video about all things to do with back pain see the following link:
- Feet
- For a comprehensive 2.5 hr video about foot health see the following link:
- https://youtu.be/htF_GapzU_c?feature=shared
- For the foot training protocol mentioned in the video see the following link:
- Caffeine
Research suggests that consuming 3 – 6 mg/kg of caffeine taken 30 – 90 minutes prior to exercise has a suppressive effect on ratings of perceived exertion. So if you tolerate caffeine, timing the consumption of your preferred caffeine containing drink prior to exercise should make your exercise session feel easier. See the following link to access the research abstract.- https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijspp/13/4/article-p402.xml
- Endurance exercise research suggests individual genetics has an influence over the effect of caffeine on endurance exercise performance. The data file from a personal genetic test (from a genetic test company such as 23andMe) should provide the information required to apply the information that follows to a specific individual (see the Genetics section in the Weight tab for further on genetics). Source:
- See the following link for a video about the impact of coffee and caffeine and how it affects people differently:
- The mean elimination half-life of caffeine from a healthy human body is considered to by about 5 hours but ranges between 1.5 to 9.5 hours due to the wide variety of variables that influence caffeine metabolism.
- A lethal dose of caffeine is thought to be from about 3g of caffeine for those that can normally tolerate it but extreme side effects can be experienced from about 1g. So go easy on on how much you consume. See the following link to the research:
- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/1487123
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223802/
- For videos about over dosing on caffeine by consuming too much (via coffee and then caffeine powder) explained with the use of case studies see the following links:
- There are many variables that determine the amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee (e.g. coffee type, degree of roasting, method of brewing, etc), a rough guide would be that a 250ml cup of "standard strength" freshly brewed filter coffee would provide about 100mg (although the last video in the list below, which does some real world testing, suggests about 170mg). For further information see the following links:
- https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-much-caffeine-in-coffee
- https://elevencoffees.com/how-much-caffeine-is-in-a-coffee-bean/
- https://youtu.be/etnMr8oUSDo
- For an article about caffeine in tea and coffee see the following link:
- For a video about caffeine in general see the following link:
- For a video about caffeine with an anatomical (with internal body part images) and medical focus see the following link:
- For an article about eating coffee beans see the following link:
- For an article caffeine and exercise see the following link:
- For the International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand detail on caffeine and exercise performance see the following link:
- Energy drinks
- For a video about the risks and benefits of energy drinks see the following link:
- See the following link to a video about energy drink hazards based around a case study example:
- Medications / dietary supplements
- If you take any medications / dietary supplements you might want to check out the research to see if they have any potential capacity / performance impacts on exercise (e.g. Metformin, Resveratrol, etc). Some medications, for example, increase the rate of perceived exertion which will make the exercise feel harder. However such effects may be able to be managed by timing when you take the medication / dietary supplement.
- Will it hurt?
- For an article about avoiding exercise pain and injury when starting a new exercise regime see the following link.
- For most people, if you do not push yourself too hard, then no, unless of course you want it to,...There is plenty to be gained without pain:
- If you choose an exercise type(s) that suit you and gradually build up the intensity and duration of sessions and warm up and cool down appropriately you shouldn't incur injury or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). This of course might be difficult to manage if your exercise is competitively driven.
- For information about DOMS see the the following links:
- https://theconversation.com/health-check-why-do-my-muscles-ache-the-day-after-exercise-41820
- https://theconversation.com/heres-why-you-dont-need-to-feel-sore-after-a-workout-to-know-its-worked-179995
- For the research about the genetic makeup of people that are better able to recover from eccentric exercise see the following link:
- https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jan/14/doms-away-how-to-cope-with-delayed-onset-muscle-soreness
- Eating cherries / berries / spinach is suggested can help reduce DOMS. See the following video links:
- https://nutritionfacts.org/video/reducing-muscle-soreness-with-berries/
- https://nutritionfacts.org/video/flashback-friday-foods-to-improve-athletic-performance-and-recovery/
- See the following link to the research about Montmorency cherry juice concentrate and DOMS:
- https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/8/7/441/htm
- The findings suggest Montmorency cherry juice concentrate is efficacious in accelerating recovery following prolonged, repeat sprint activity, such as soccer and rugby, and lends further evidence that polyphenol-rich foods like Montmorency cherry juice concentrate are effective in accelerating recovery following various types of strenuous exercise.
- The dosing schedule was (30 mL twice per day, (8:00 a.m., 6:00 p.m.), 7 consecutive days (4 days pre- and on each trial day)). Supplements were prepared by mixing each dose with 100 mL of water prior to consumption. The cherry juice was a commercially available Montmorency cherry concentrate (CherryActive, Sunbury, UK).
- Changes in maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC; Panel (A)) and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS; Panel (B)) in response to Montmorency cherry juice concentrate (MC) or placebo (PLA) supplementation. * Group effect; $ Interaction effect (p < 0.05).
- If you frequently experience DOMS supplementation with Branched Chain Amino Acids or Omega 3 may help reduce it, see the following links to two relevant research paper abstracts:
- For a video that reviews the causes of muscle cramps see the following link:
- If you suffer from exercise induced muscle cramps you may find the following article of interest:
- For a video (that show preserved human body parts) that discusses foam rollers and the evidence about their use see the following link:
- What is too much and how to determine it (training loads and recovery)?
- To maximise health outcomes and / or performance and minimise risks, such as, injury, illness or fatigue an understanding of what is too much and how to determine what is too much is sensible to know. See the following link to an article that provides a good overview and explains the concept of training loads:
- After a reasonably strenuous exercise session of a reasonably long duration and you can expect your resting heart rate and respiration rate to show a sustained increase and your heart rate variability to show a sustained decrease (compared to your current normal values) and for them to return to normal levels within about 24 to 48 hours.
- For a wearable that focuses on measuring your general physical state and that can be used to gain insights into your "readiness" for exercise see: https://ouraring.com/
- For a scientific review of the capabilities of the Oura ring see the following link:
- Can I increase my risk of injury or illness through exercise?
- If you approach increasing your level of fitness gradually with common sense precautions (as I have detailed on this site) the benefits far outweigh the risks. However there are some areas of risk to be aware of:
- Research into risk of musculoskeletal injury among recreationally active adults says the risk of activity related injury is increased in the following groups:
- runners
- sport participants
- persons engaging in more than 1.25 hours per week of physical activity
- persons with moderate to high cardiorespiratory fitness levels
- See the following link to access the research paper:
- Extreme exercise
- People who engage in extreme exercise that’s unfamiliar to them such as in high-intensity workouts may put themselves at risk of rhabdomyolysis, a rare but dangerous condition. See the following link to an article that provides details:
- Long distance runners
- A systematic overview of published reports on the incidence and associated potential risk factors of lower extremity running injuries in long distance runners found the incidence of lower extremity running injuries ranged from 19.4% to 79.3%. The predominant site of these injuries was the knee. There was strong evidence that a long training distance per week in male runners and a history of previous injuries were risk factors for injuries, and that an increase in training distance per week was a protective factor for knee injuries.
- Only studies where subjects ran ⩾5 km per training or race, or both were included and the runners were recreational or competitive runners but did not belong to the elite group.
- See the following link to the research:
- For an article written by a senior orthopaedic surgeon about taking up running see the following link:
- For an article about running shoes and how barefoot running may be part of the solution to reduce running injuries see the following link:
- Exercise overstress
- Overstressing yourself at times of vulnerability can temporarily suppress your immune system and temporarily make you more vulnerable to illness. For a good article about how to be safe and ensure that your exercise boosts, rather than suppresses, your immune system see the following link:
- There is however some scientific debate about whether arduous exercise itself can can suppress immunity and increase infection risk or not. See the following link to the abstract and an onward link to a scientific paper that lays out the issues:
- Injury
- If you are unfortunate enough to sustain an exercise injury see the following link for an article that explains how to deal with it and optimise your recovery:
- Injury risk assessment utilising personal genetic data
- Summary of Findings from the Genetic Literature Review. Source:
- https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0122676
- This research suggests individual genetics has an influence over various injury predispositions and describes the process of identification of genetic risk and an approach to injury prevention. The data file from a personal genetic test (from a genetic test company such as 23andMe) should provide the information required to apply the research to a specific individual (see the Genetics section in the Weight tab for further on genetics).
- Painkillers
- For a video about different painkillers, how they work and risks associated with there use see the following link:
- If you are considering using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as Ibuprofen, to get through injuries or pain see the following article that provides details of the issues that you should be aware of:
- https://theconversation.com/running-ibuprofen-use-is-common-but-many-athletes-are-unaware-of-the-risks-141634
- For an article that provides some practical management guidelines for the use of NSAIDs, developed to help sports medicine physicians deal with frequent sports-related injuries see the following link:
- For a video about the general use of NSAIDs see the following link:
- For a video about ibuprofen (which shows preserved human body parts) see the following link:
- For a video about the impact of overdosing on Ibuprofen see the following link:
- Do you need to take any sports / dietary supplements?
- If you have a nutritionally balanced diet, then in general, no. Some dietary supplements (as with medications) can impact exercise capacity / performance so you may want to check the research to find out about any potential impacts. If you are looking for specific exercise outcomes then you may decide you may benefit from them. See the article linked below for a good overview and information about what works and what doesn't:
- https://theconversation.com/health-check-which-sports-supplements-actually-work-83093.
- For a videos about creatine and supplementing with it (with the first showing preserved human body parts) see the following links:
- https://youtu.be/86cD37xgtPE
- https://nutritionfacts.org/video/what-is-creatine-can-it-treat-sarcopenia/
- https://youtu.be/-mmpvk3VLkc
- https://youtu.be/PD8-CJ6OuAQ
- https://youtu.be/PD8-CJ6OuAQ?feature=shared
- For the position stand on creatine supplementation and exercise from the International Society of Sports Nutrition see the following link:
- For an article about ketone supplementation see the following link:
- See the following link to a video about sports supplement hazards based around a case study example:
- For a video about alkaline diets and sports performance see the following link:
- https://nutritionfacts.org/video/do-alkaline-diets-help-athletic-performance/
- To access the key research referenced in the video see the following link:
- Bath or shower?
- Follow the link to an article about cold therapy which discusses the risks but also suggests a cold but short shower may have benefits:
- The link to the following research suggests that taking a regular bath can have health benefits independent of exercise:
- For an article about exercise and heat treatment from which the following diagram was copied see the following link:
- A comparison between exercise and heat treatment. © Charles Steward
- Rest after exercise?
- See the following link to an article considers the pros and cons of resting after exercise:
- Feeling sick after exercise?
- See the following link to an article about reasons why you may feel sick after exercise and what you can do to prevent it.
- Benefits can be gained at any age but fitness has to be maintained by doing at least the minimum each week or the benefits will be lost.
- So it really needs to be part of your lifestyle.
- Sedentary aging cardiac effects can be reversed by becoming fit:
***** End of Page ***** Adverts by Google follow below. Adverts partially fund this non profit site (and Google as well too). *****