Posts Tagged ‘Intensity’

Recovering from Exercise

It’s January, your News Year’s Resolutions have probably been set in stone for now…and you are ready to hit the gym to try and get rid of all the visible signs of over indulging during the festive season.

Before we get going allow me to go through the workout you would have been mentally preparing in your head over the past few weeks and then I will then I will be covering what you should be doing…

Your Mental Plan of Action

For a few weeks now you will have been mentally preparing your workout and setting the intensity levels that you will be working out to in January.

This is all great but too much focus on the intensity of your workout could be where you potentially go wrong and will also determine if you will be consistently training over the weeks and months to come.

You will already have painted a picture of going all out on the treadmill, cross trainer, rower, lifting life threatening amounts of weights etc… and sweating bucket loads during the process!…However, this is the opposite of what you want to do…and here’s why…

Your body may have been used to exercising on a consistent basis and overtime would have developed a high level of tolerance to exercise and the recovery process would have also been pretty efficient after intense workouts.

Even after a few weeks of not exercising the conditioning of your muscles will not be to the same tune as they were a few weeks ago.  “So what does this mean for your workout?”…it means we have to cut back on the intensity for a good few sessions.  By doing this you will reduce the amount of muscle soreness but more importantly it allows you to exercise again the following day with less soreness.

Muscle Soreness Can Affect Motivation Levels…

By exercising too hard straight away you will find your motivation to get back into the gym is overcome by muscle soreness and even if the will power is there to exercise the lack of muscle flexibility and soreness limits your performance levels whilst exercising.  This is also how injuries can be picked up. 

Recommended Plan of Action

For the first few weeks I would recommend you concentrate on consistency rather than intensity.  It is better to get into a routine of exercising 3 times per week rather than taking part in 1 hard training session and then spending the next 4 days to recover and then repeating the process.  There is very little benefit in this routine.  You will find as you exercise more frequently, your body is quickly getting back into it’s normal routine and your muscles tolerance levels to exercise is improving which in turn means your recovery process is also allot quicker. “Remember Health & Fitness is for life, it’s not going out of fashion so let’s start slowly and positively”…

There are additional steps you can take to help the recovery process and that is to feed your muscles with its natural properties which are water and protein. 

Always stay hydrated as this can help maximise your training effort…remember muscle tissue is made up by 70 to 80% of water and about 25% protein!
Additional resources can also be protein shakes, this is a great way to supply protein to your muscles straight after your workout!

Conclusion…

So there you have it, start off slowly, concentrate on exercise consistency rather than exercise intensity (to begin with), drink more water, consume more protein and one last thing that we haven’t touched on yet is to try and get 8 hours of sleep as inconsistent or heavily disturbed sleeping patterns can also reduce recovery times and can also cause weight gain!

Heart Attack, Recovering & Exercise

Recovering from a Heart Attack

If you are recovering from heart attack or know of some that is, then it is important to ensure all professional guidelines are followed and that exercise becomes a regular habit once your GP/Doctor has declared you fit to do so.

Exercise

Exercise is part of the recovery process and should be treated as seriously as the medication and nutritional advice that has been prescribed to you.

When an individual has suffered a heart attack there is unfortunately some permanent damage that the heart muscle sustains as a result, so it is important when exercising that you start of slowly and stay within the guidelines that have been set for you. 

Exercise should be limited and your activities should or will consist of the following:

- Walking
- Stretching
- Very Light Resistance Exercise (Not in all cases)

The above list may seem very little but you have to protect your heart in the early stages and only expose it to as much stimulation as your GP/Doctor will allow you to do. 

Your hospital may also run exercise classes for you to attend, ensure you attend every visit as these classes will help determine the correct level of intensity you need to be working at and your heart can handle.

As you start exercising independantly and on a more frequent basis, you can with the authority of your GP/Doctor start building up the intensity of your workout routines.

Exercise will not only strengthen your heart but will also help you to lose weight thus reducing pressure on your heart, it will assist in lowering your blood pressure and also help reduce cholesterol levels.

(always consult your Dr or GP prior to starting ANY new physical activity)

Nutrition

As part of the recovery process you will have received a list of foods that should be consumed to help you while you are on the road to recovery.  Do not take this list lightly, ensure that you are following any meal plans prescribed to you and are consuming foods from the list only to help promote good eating habits.

There will also be a list of foods and possibly drink that you need to stop consuming as they can hinder the recovery process and get you back to your previous eating patterns which you need to avoid at all costs.

Preventing Another Heart Attack

After suffering a heart attack it is vital to ensure that you are not putting on weight as this can cause more stress and unecessary pressure on the heart.

It is just as important that you do not NOT suffer another attack to prevent further damage to your heart.  The list below shows you what precautions you can take to prevent another attack:

- Becoming Overweight
- Not Exercising
- Smoking
- Reducing and keeping your cholesterol down
- Reducing your blood pressure

The information is purely for guidance and SHOULD NOT be a used as a solution and or a replacement for any program that has been prescribed to you by your GP or Doctor.

Deepak Bhangu
Head of Operations
Musclemadness