Fitness – the key to a productive and healthy life

Kamal Singh

The word ‘fitness’ is casually thrown around by almost everybody these days. From write-ups in the media to celebrities on TV, everyone seems to know what fitness is. People look at models and actors with defined abdominal muscles as being “fit” or even more bizarre, refer to eating a particular type of diet to being fit. But fitness has a very specific meaning and Coach Scott Abel (Physique Transformation Expert and Coach) defines it best. According to Coach Abel, “Fitness is the ability to meet the demands and vicissitudes (changes) of daily life, with relative ease, with some extra energy available for emergencies or unexpected situations.” Thus, fitness should help you get through daily activities with ease – therefore fitness for an office goer, a college student, a professional sports person and a homemaker would be very different in focus and application.

Fitness is a many splendored thing!
Fitness consists of four components – cardio vascular, strength, flexibility and body composition. All the components need to be developed for a person to be fully fit.

• Cardio-vascular fitness – the heart is the most important muscle in the body and this component targets the heart and lungs. In the current pandemic time, doing cardio is a great way to keep the lungs functioning properly. Cardio vascular fitness consists of two parts – aerobic and anaerobic. Slow jogging, cycling, swimming and fast paced walking are aerobic in nature. These should be done at a steady pace for 30-90 minutes. Steady paced cardio improves the functioning of the heart and lungs, lowers blood pressure and improves the body’s ability to utilize glucose circulating in the blood. This would be a great benefit for pre-diabetic and diabetic people who want to keep their blood sugar under control. Short distance runs – stair running, skipping, etc., can be anaerobic in nature if done with great deal of intensity and for short duration – 30 seconds or less. These short duration intervals help the body to utilize oxygen efficiently and are a great way to lose body fat.

• Strength – has been traditionally ignored in most fitness training. Doctors usually recommend cardio workouts like walking, cycling, etc for improving fitness. But look at the osteoporosis or weak bones epidemic that is sweeping across the world at an alarming pace. Till about two decades ago, mostly women in their late sixties started to show signs of weak bones. But now young women in their late twenties are developing this condition. The main reason is a sedentary existence. We know that the human body starts to lose muscle mass after crossing the age of 30. Less muscle mass leads to weaker bones. The way to tackle this is – increasing muscle mass and muscular strength by regularly doing strength training. Strength training not only strengthens bones but also prevents falls which are common amongst older folks. Improve posture, look better, be physically independent through strength training. What’s not to like?

• Flexibility – is the ability to move joints effectively through a complete range of motion. Flexibility training includes stretching exercises to lengthen the muscles. Yoga, Pilates or just plain old stretching is a great way to maintain or regain flexibility. A small caveat about flexibility and stretching – weak muscles tend to feel stiff and tight. Adding strength training can ease the stiffness. So getting an assessment from a trainer or physiotherapist is a good idea if feeling stiff and tight. In India, people tend to overly emphasize stretching but too much flexibility/joint laxity can lead to increased chances of musculo-skeletal injury.

• Body composition – maintaining lower body fat levels helps in lesser load on all the organs of the body. Excessive body fat correlates with higher incidence of metabolic disease like high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and breast cancer in women. This does not mean that people should be running after “6 pack abs”. An easy way to keep track of body fat is through the waist to height ratio. Research shows that a person’s waist should be less than half their height. So if height is 5 feet 6 inches, then the waist should be less than 33 inches. The good thing about this metric is that anybody with a measuring tape can keep a track of their body fat, without needing special training or doing complicated calculations.

Putting it all together
We lead extremely busy lives where taking care of our body seems to be the last thing on our daily agenda. But that perspective needs to change as being fit leads to an improved quality of life. A time needs to be set aside for a daily workout. Most people tell me that they cannot spare 45 minutes to an hour every day of the week. But that is “all or nothing” thinking. If you do not have 40 minutes at a stretch, then those 40 minutes can be broken into two smaller sessions in the morning and evening. Usually the best time for a cardio vascular sessions is the morning – the streets are empty, less polluted and your metabolism is revved up for the day. A 20-minute fast paced walk/jog/run four times a week is my usual recommendation. Evenings are the time to do strength training. Beginners do not need to join gyms – bodyweight training is good enough. Push ups, squats, lunges, sit ups can be done in your living room/bedroom. A trainer can be hired for a few sessions so that the correct way of exercising can be learned.

In the classroom: Here are some questions/discussion points: Why is exercise important on an everyday basis? How does it benefit both the body and mind? Is fitness different from health? What are 10 things that people can do to maintain fitness? What are the basic components of physical fitness?

Many paths lead to the summit
Doing a little every day adds to a lot in the long term. A good way to look at fitness is to specialize in one aspect. For some it could be hitting the road, logging tens of miles every week, others might enjoy the calm and serenity that yoga offers while a few might prefer lifting weights in a gym. Thus, most days of the week, one could focus on one’s favourite activity. But to create a balance, the remaining aspects could be micro dosed. So if you are a runner, add some weight training and stretching. Or if weight training in the gym is your thing, supplement the lifting with some form of cardio to work on the heart and lungs. Doing so will make you ready to face anything that life might throw at you.

Fitness Myths These myths have persisted despite all the information that is freely available now. Here are the most prominent ones: • Muscle turns to fat, once strength training is stopped. Muscle and fat are two different types of physiological tissues. Muscle might lose tone and reduce in size when training is stopped but muscle does not turn to fat. • Women will turn “manly” if they do weight training. Again something that is biologically impossible. Most women cannot develop big muscles because they lack sufficient amount of the male hormone, testosterone. The heavily muscular female bodybuilders usually have the genetics to develop that much muscle and like most competitive bodybuilders, also take steroids. So if you are a woman reading this, go ahead strength train without being scared that you might turn into a female Arnold Schwarzenegger! • All you need to do is go for long walks. Walking is excellent as a form of easy cardio vascular exercise. But violates one of the prime laws of fitness – progressive overload. Walking loses its benefits once you can walk for an hour or so. Intensity can only be increased by adding jogging or running. Also walking does not overload the muscles in the upper body. Strength training along with walking/jogging/biking is required for the best results. • Do crunches to reduce belly fat. Spot reduction is not possible. Crunches, sit-ups etc will tone the abdominal muscles but will not reduce belly fat. Body fat reduction happens through reducing food intake and upping activity levels through the day. • Eating too much protein leads to kidney damage. Macro nutrient Protein is the building block of life. Protein is required for building new cells and repairing old ones. Protein intake in India is abysmal. But the myth about eating too much protein leading to kidney damage is so strong that clients resist increasing protein in their daily diet. Study after study has proven that kidneys do not get damaged by eating more protein. So go ahead increase your protein intake and reap the benefits.

The author is a Strength and Conditioning Coach for the last 15 years. He has trained clients from all walks of life. He specializes in post- rehabilitation training and functional training with his motto being – Life is easy if you are strong. He can be reached at kamal.singh18@gmail.com.