Fast Fitness

Section 1:

Assessing Physical Damage and Accepting the Importance of Exercise

Lifespan and Physical Appearance

The average life span is 80 years, give or take a few years.  The truth is, a significant number of people look and feel 80 before their time. They have: 

û  sagging dry skin

û  unsightly posture

û  an uneven and unsteady walk

û  aching joints

If their outward appearance is bad, imagine what the inside machinery is like.  Most likely, it’s even worse: 

û  clogged blood vessels

û  heart problems

û  mounds of sugar and fat parked in or around vital organs

û  Conditions such as diabetes, nervous tension, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease that are silently brewing.

If fitness authorities had it their way, they’d create legislation to make exercise mandatory as soon as a baby leaves the cradle, not during the teenage years when obesity is likely to strike. 

But fitness shouldn’t be associated with any age.  You can start at 10 or at 30 – even at 50 or 60. Fitness should not be seen as the cure for an illness you already have, but as preventative maintenance.

Assessing Your Fitness Level

Brad King and Dr. Michael Schmidt in “Bio Age, Ten Steps to a Younger You” have devised a questionnaire for assessing physical damage to a body as a result of no exercise.  We will borrow some of their guidelines:

Start with the question, “How do I look?” Do any of these answers apply to you? 

Ø  Am I overweight? Do I look like an apple or pear?

Ø  Do I have a spare tire?

Ø  Has my skin become excessively dry, almost paper-thin?

Next, ask: “How do I feel?”

Ø  Do my joints hurt before or after any physical exertion?

Ø  Am I constantly worried and anxious?

Ø  Do I feel tired and sluggish most of the time?

Ø  Do I suffer from mood swings?

Last question, “How am I doing?”

Is walking and climbing stairs difficult?

Ø  Do I have problems concentrating?

Ø  Is running impossible for me now?

Ø  Am I unable to sit straight, preferring to slouch or stoop my shoulders?

You’ve completed your basic assessment.  Note, however, that other exercise or fitness gurus will have their own parameters or indices for assessing your body’s overall state. 

Turning You into a Fitness Buff!

After going through the assessment phase, you’re probably experiencing a “rude awakening”. 

Slowly but Surely…

In fact “slowly but surely” was probably what motivated Denise Austin to come up with her popular one-minute exercises. She had two types of people in mind when she designed the one-minute movements: 

Uninitiated

People on the go

It’s a quickie society we live in; we want everything quick, especially exercise.

Benefits of Exercise

If you make exercise part of your day, Denise Austin believes you’ll already experience some noticeable benefits.  These include:

ü  Waking up in the morning feeling refreshed

ü  Walking with a gait

ü  Having energy left at the end of the day

ü  Feeling more optimistic about recreation

ü  Sleeping more soundly at night

More Benefits of Exercise

The benefits above are general.  Let’s examine the more specific benefits of exercise on specific parts of the body, as described by Goldberg and Elliot:

ü  Exercise prevents heart disease

The average ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) is about 4.5.  If this ratio doubles or reaches 7, you double your chances of developing coronary heart disease.  You reduce that risk by as much as 50% if your ratio is 3 or lower.