Week 9 –Activity exertion level
Growing up in Southern California and attending “neighborhood” schools I had the opportunity of walking to school every day. Since snow days are a foreign concept there I cannot concoct believable tales of walking uphill 5 miles both ways in 3 feet of snow when telling my kids of the woes I faced as a child. I can, however, tell them I walked almost every day, both ways, to school and so did most of the other kids. I also tell them it was pretty far, like 5 miles each way, but that last part was more how I felt it was rather than reality, which was more like… a mile.
I repeated this tale of super-human abilities on a recent trip to New York City where the kids kept complaining of how far we were walking around. I also pointed out that everyone was walking but NOT complaining about it. After a few days I had to admit that I would rather be running than walking, which got me thinking about perceived levels of exertion and how each of us have our own baseline.
It is often said that walking a mile burns the same amount of calories as running that same mile. While this is not entirely true due to many factors, the idea that increasing levels of exertion can have the same effect or an increased value over the same amount of distance is true, and can often have increased overall health benefits.
KIT Fx - Week 9: Slowly increase exertion to recommended levels
By now you should be at least close to the recommended 150 minutes of moderate activity per week. If not then continue to increase the time at that moderate intensity before proceeding to increasing the intensity.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a website that provides good guidelines and other information on activity exertion levels
http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/measuring/index.html
The talk test is a simple way to measure relative intensity. As a rule of thumb, if you're doing moderate-intensity activity you can talk, but not sing, during the activity. If you're doing vigorous-intensity activity, you will not be able to say more than a few words without pausing for a breath.
If you're not sure about becoming active or boosting your level of physical activity because you're afraid of getting hurt, the good news is that moderate-intensity aerobic activity, like brisk walking, is generally safe for most people.
Start slowly. Cardiac events, such as a heart attack, are rare during physical activity. But the risk does go up when you suddenly become much more active than usual. For example, you can put yourself at risk if you don't usually get much physical activity and then all of a sudden do vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, like shoveling snow. That's why it's important to start slowly and gradually increase your level of activity.
If you have a chronic health condition such as arthritis, diabetes, or heart disease, talk with your doctor to find out if your condition limits, in any way, your ability to be active. Then, work with your doctor to come up with a physical activity plan that matches your abilities. If your condition stops you from meeting the minimum Guidelines, try to do as much as you can. What's important is that you avoid being inactive. Even 60 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity is good for you.
The site also mentions that adults need a minimum of :
• 2 hours and 30 minutes (150 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., brisk walking) every week OR
• 1 hour and 15 minutes (75 minutes) of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., jogging or running) every week.
The site also suggests doubling these amounts for even greater health benefits.
Moderate-intensity aerobic activity means you're working hard enough to raise your heart rate and break a sweat. One way to tell is that you'll be able to talk, but not sing the words to your favorite song. Here are some examples of activities that require moderate effort: Walking fast, Doing water aerobics, Riding a bike on level ground or with few hills, Playing doubles tennis, Pushing a lawn mower
Build up over time
If you want to do more vigorous-level activities, slowly replace those that take moderate effort like brisk walking, with more vigorous activities like jogging.
Vigorous-intensity aerobic activity means you're breathing hard and fast, and your heart rate has gone up quite a bit. If you're working at this level, you won't be able to say more than a few words without pausing for a breath. Here are some examples of activities that require vigorous effort: Jogging or running, Swimming laps, Riding a bike fast or on hills, Playing singles tennis, Playing basketball
You can do moderate- or vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or a mix of the two each week. A rule of thumb is that 1 minute of vigorous-intensity activity is about the same as 2 minutes of moderate-intensity activity.
Beginning in week 3 I challenged you to increase the amount of activity you were normally doing. Now we have to take a good look at if we can now increase the intensity to get closer to that level of increased benefits. Remember that we want to make small changes so consider jogging a quarter of every mile you used to walk, or incorporating a few hills on your next bike ride.
I also want to mention that while the use of heart monitors is an accurate way of measuring intensity it is not needed – use your perceived level of exertion, which may even change over time as your level of fitness increases. Keep it simple and it just might stick.
maylene
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