Myth

If you are not going to work out hard and often, exercise is a waste of time.

Fact: Any exercise is better than none. Regular walking or gardening, for as little as an hour a week, reduces the risk of heart disease.

Myth

Yoga is a completely gentle and safe discipline.

Fact: Some styles of yoga are quite rigorous, both physically and mentally. Qualified and careful instruction is necessary for a safe and effective workout.

Myth

If you exercise long and hard, you will get the results you want.

Fact: In reality genetics, food intake and technique play an important role in how people respond to different forms of exercise. Your development of strength, speed and endurance will be highly personal.

Myth

Stay away from strength training if you want to lose weight.

Fact: Cardiovascular exercise and strength training are both valuable for maintaining a healthy weight. Strength training helps maintain muscle mass and decreases body fat percentage.

Fact

Exercise protects post-menopausal women against diabetes

Studies found that women between the ages of 55 and 69 who exercised regularly were 31% less likely to develop diabetes than those who did not. And if you exercise moderately or vigorously more than 4 times a week, the news is even better – your risk of diabetes is half that of women who rarely or never exercise at these levels.

FACT

Small bouts of exercise reduce cholesterol levels

In test, people who exercised for 3 10-minute sessions a day showed greater improvements in blood cholesterol levels than those who exercised for half an hour in a single session.

Cholesterol-lowering Plan

Short-term goals:

Initiate a specific walking programme 3 times a week, 15 minutes each session.

Add an additional exercise session each week, building up to 15 minutes, 6 times a week.

Increase exercise time by 5 minutes each week.

Long-term goals:

Achieve an exercise calorie burn greater than 1000 calories per week.

Include aerobic exercise activities that use the whole body, such as brisk walking, cycling or swimming. Exercise at a moderate intensity (40-70% of your maximum heart rate) several days a week.

You can achieve the desired energy burn by breaking your exercise sessions down into blocks of 10-minutes.

FACT

Exercise alleviates depression

Research suggests that exercise generally improves mood, and regular, moderate exercise has been found to be as effective as medication and psychotherapy in combating depression. You don’t have to break a sweat to get mood-enhancing benefits from exercise – even a 20-minute walk in woodland and open spaces can reduce stress and change brainwave frequency to the more stress-reducing alpha waves.

FACT

Exercise improves glucose intolerance

Regular exercise improves the body’s insulin sensitivity. Insulin helps control our blood glucose levels, but as we get older, our cells become more resilient to blood glucose, so it is harder for us to keep our blood glucose levels stable. This increases our risk of late-onset diabetes (Type 2). Regular exercise and physical activity can improve blood glucose regulation and reduce the need for diabetic medication.

FACT

Regular aerobic exercise reduces blood pressure

Studies show that regular aerobic exercise reduces systolic and diastolic blood pressure by about 10mm Hg. However, if your resting blood pressure exceeds 200/105, you should not take part in an aerobic exercise session. If you do not know your blood pressure, check with your GP.

Use it or Lose it!

It is necessary to stress your body more than it is accustomed to. If a muscle is no longer stressed, it will ‘detrain’ and become weaker. Quite simply, you have to ‘Use it or Lose it!’ This has an impact on both our health and fitness. Our bodies are living, active, incredible things which, like a car, are designed to move. If we don’t move, things slow down, work less efficiently and eventually stop. To maintain our health we have to keep moving, and to maintain our fitness levels we need to use our bodies to the point of overload so that our physiological systems are continually challenged.

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