Steve HowardThe New Year is full of good intentions. One of them is the rejection of a sedentary life. If you have not moved for a long time, which sport is the most recommended?
First of all, advisor to Javier Gonzalez, fitness expert and director of the JG Fitnnes Coaching space, “we need to understand that we cannot run before walking, as they say. Whenever we start practicing the exercises, it is best to do it individually or with a group of people who are in the same situation so that you keep up with your goals and stay motivated. We could start with brisk walking, swimming, cycling … a sport that is not overwhelming physically or emotionally. ”
Guillermo Rodriguez Fabian, sports physician at the Avanfi Institute, must first ask himself why it is now necessary to play sports. Several questions arise:
- You have spent many years not exercising and they have recommended that you exercise for your health. In this case, the first thing to do is to see which activity you enjoy the most. We can always find an activity that we like, for example, walking, dancing, tai chi sports or yoga, etc. The start should be very progressive, without one session we will have the famous laces. If we tell a patient who does not like sports that the first few days will be painful, we will achieve little. In these cases, good motivation is important, and for this, as a rule, playing sports and in company helps a lot.
- You played sports and quit years ago, but now you want to resume. To do this, you must start an activity that will allow you to start getting fit, such as walking and stretching and gentle strengthening. Don’t try to exercise at the same intensity as you did before; do progressive conditioning.
- On the contrary, you played sports and recently quit. A great recommendation is to start this exercise at 50% of the intensity you did before. We’ll get fit, but now we’re not going to do the same number of sessions or the same intensity as we do.
Depending on age
The second thing to keep in mind, says Rodriguez Fabian, is how old we are.
In older people, we mainly look for joint mobility and, in the background, strength. In this patient group, we will be doing moderate-intensity elasticity exercises and sports with little impact on the joint. These sports will include walking, aquarunnig, or sports with yoga, tai chi or pilates. The mental component.
For adults with work and family responsibilities, where there is little time for sports, we usually recommend sports activities that relieve the stress of everyday life. One of the best sports, due to its simplicity, is running. Overall, it has an excellent aerobic component. This means that it can be practiced by people with little physical fitness without much risk of injury. There are also sports activities in the gym, where you strive to perform intense CrossFit physical activity with a fundamentally anaerobic component in a short time (recommended only for people with adequate physical fitness). ).
What goal do we want to achieve?
The third is to see the target we are looking for, explains the sports doctor from Avanfi.
If fitness is your goal, you will have to do both aerobic walking and jogging, sports such as strength training, or sports like TRX. or CrossFit.
If you are looking to lose weight, we also combine aerobic sports with strength sports such as brisk walking, elliptical or group gym sessions.
All of these groups have one thing in common: in all of them, the first thing we will work on is adequate physical preparation to avoid injury. This preparation will be achieved with the onset of aerobic activity, that is, through exercise in which the heart rate rises slightly, stretching exercises to prepare the muscles for development, good contraction in the contraction-relaxation phase and, of course, adequate hydration and proper nutrition. p>
Sports that need to be left for better fitness
Until we have physical resistance, we must stay away from high intensity sports and kicks (CrossFit, running many kilometers …), warns Gonzalez.
In the beginning, as Rodriguez Fabian points out, aerobic exercise should always be avoided when our heart rate is low or when we are maintaining an activity in which we can breathe easily. This is a very good example of how you can carry on a conversation while playing sports. If we achieve this, we will certainly be working aerobically with an adequate heart rate.
We must avoid serious sports exposure. Starting in a few weeks will allow us to have adequate muscles to avoid large joint impacts.
We also need to be careful with sports when there are sudden turns or sudden braking movements on our paddle joints, as these will increase the likelihood of injury to both muscles and joints.
Frequency and goals that should not be abandoned
The start of the sports program “should not exceed three sessions per week, leaving a day of rest between each workout for a good recovery, which should be accompanied by good hydration and adequate nutrition,” recommends the Sports Medicine Specialist.
The fitness expert also stresses the importance of maintaining a 48 hour headroom, “the time it takes for muscle fibers to recover (which reduces the likelihood of injury). It is important to create a fitness calendar in which we do not overload our physical form, and change it in accordance with evolution. Three weekly 30-minute sessions (for example, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) are a good starting point. »
There is an important rule that sports should be fun, a way to relax from the stress that we bring in life. “We cannot make sport another additional stressor,” says Fabian Rodriguez.
It is true that for patients who have not been involved in sports for years and must start playing sports for some reason, the start will be difficult. But by looking for activities that can be beneficial to them, that they can tolerate comfortably and where they see adequate progress without much effort, they will be attractive enough not to quit the sport.
If we intend to exercise, says Gonzalez, the first thing to remember and repeat in our minds is that we will not only improve our appearance, but also improve our health (sports helps you feel good inside and outside). ). Let’s look at this as a super 2v1 trade. goals should be realistic, specific, tangible. Thus, little by little we will reach the goal without leaving.