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Before You Begin a Fitness Program
So you want to start exercing and be more fit? Great! But there are a few things you should do first.
One of them is to see a doctor first especially if you are overweight, older or haven't seen on in a while.
Also if you are under a lot stress, out of shape, don't exerise or eat well or have joint problems.
If you join a gym they are likely to ask you questions about your activity levels, diet, if you have
heart problems, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol or smoke.
Some places may test some aspects of your fitness first too. Things they may test are your heart rate,
blood pressure and body fat.
Heart rate is the number of times your heart beats in a minute. The more fit you are the less times per
minute your heart beats because it is more efficient at pumping your blood. Resting heart rate is a good measure
of your overall fitness level. Most fit people have a resting heart rate of between 60 and 90. Genetics as well
as caffeine, stress and some medications can influence this however.
Blood pressure is also important. If your blood pressure is high it means that your heart has to work harder
to pump blood through your body. Caffeine and stress can also cause it to go up.
Sometimes a submaximal test is done too. Usually to do this test they will have you do some sort of exercise
like riding a stationary bicycle or treadmill up to 75 - 85% of your maximum heart rate while monitoring your
blood pressure.
Body fat sometimes called body composition is sometimes test also. Men who have a body fat percent of over 20
or women over 30% are believed to be at a higher risk of having diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some
types of cancer. It is suspected that this may be due to not enough activity or eating right though rather than
the actual body fat. There are a number of ways to measure body fat, some more accurate then others.
- Calipers - This method involves using calipers to measure the amount of fat on a few parts of your body. These
include the back of your arms, shoulders and abdominal area. This method is not real accurate and can be influenced
by things such as the skill of the person performing the test, if you have exercised recently, etc.
- Bioelectrical impedance - This involves measuring a signal from an electrode on your foot to one on your hand while
you lie down. Water conducts electricity well and muscle is 70% water but fat is only 5-13% water. So the signal
moves faster through muscle tissue than through fat. A calculation can then be done to make an estimate of the
amount of fat you have. It doesn't work that well on people who are really thin or fat. The scales you can buy
for home that measure body fat use a similar method.
- Weighing underwater - This method is the most accurate but less convenient to do. You have to sit on a scale
underwater for about 5 seconds. Your weight is taken and some calculations done to estimate your percent body fat.
- Body Mass Index - also known as BMI. This method is not real accurate, but it really simple and fast. It can
be calculated as follows:
- divide your weight (in pounds) by 2.2
- divide your height (in inches) by 39.4
- Square or multiple the second answer by itself
- divide the first number by the third number
For example:
If you weigh 120 and are 5 feet, 5 inches tall (65 inches):
(120/2.2)/(65/39.4)^2 = 54 / (1.65)x(1.65) = 54 / 2.7 = 20
A BMI of over 25 is considered to make a person have a greater chance of developing diabetes, cancer, gallbladder
problems, high blood pressure and stroke.
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