Questions
This
page is dedicated to answering questions
that you may have about fitness
1) Can you explain the difference
between injury pain and normal pain?
2) How much should I warm up before working out?
4) Can weight training help my heart?
5) Can exercise help you avoid becoming senile?
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1.
A simple response would be, “How bad does it hurt?” That may sound a little
silly but it is somewhat of an indicator
of what is going on in our bodies. Please remember that some individuals have a
higher pain tolerance than others. This can lead to some problems if you are not
“in tune” with your body.
First let me explain normal discomfort that is associated with exercise. After
a weight training session, you may have some slight muscle soreness. This is
normal discomfort that does happen sometimes. This type of soreness should not
interfere with your daily activities. If your daily activities are being
affected by muscle soreness, then you are pushing yourself too fast and too
hard.
During your workouts, you will feel your muscles burn or hurt to a certain degree. This is normal. Just make sure that the level or burn or discomfort is tolerable. Generally, this will determine your level of soreness the following day or two. This soreness is referred to as a “delayed onset muscle soreness” or DOMS. (1)
Let’s now talk about injury or the pain associated with injury. Generally, there are two types of injuries associated with training, acute and accumulative. Accumulative damage or injury is repetitive overuse injury. The injured area will have a chronic or nagging pain. I have allot of clients who have been training for years flowing a workout regime consisting of 5 days per week and up 1-1 ½ hours per session. When they come to me they usually show signs of accumulative injuries. Usually it's something like a shoulder injury that doesn’t heal. By reducing the volume and frequency of their workouts some of the pain subsides depending on the severity of the injury. The injured area is more susceptible to acute injury. Acute injury is a particular injury that happens in a single instance.
An accumulative injury will show in an area that doesn’t seem to recover from a workout session. The area will continue to have a nagging dull ache. As you continue to workout, that dull ache will get just a little stronger. If you are not careful and do not treat your injury correctly it can become chronic or acute. An acute injury is one that can be associated with a “pop” or “pull” in the muscle. The pain associated with this type of injury is very sharp and noticeable. You should be careful to treat this type of injury appropriately As with any injury, if there is any doubt of the severity of the injury, please see a medical professional.
(1) Reference: NFTP’s Personal Trainer Magazine, Aug/Sept 96 Issue, Page 4, Article titled “Extreme Effort=Injury” published by National Federation of Professional Trainers (NFTP), 3445 Union Street, Lafeyette, IN 47905)
2. Warming up before training is extremely important. The warm up should be enough to increase your core body temperature or possible work up a very light sweat but not so much that you cause fatigue. My personal preference for my clients is 2-4 minutes at a good pace on an air resistance bike. A good pace is when a person is still able to hold a conversation while the breathing is increased. After this initial overall body warm-up, I generally will have my clients do abdominal work. If the bike wasn’t enough to raise the core body temperature the abdominal work will be. This is usually the first exercise in the weight training program. The rest of the warm up is based on an individuals’ experience level. If the individual is at the beginner level program, they will jump into the weight training exercises. If the individual is more advanced a little more warm up for a particular exercise may be necessary.
Let me give you an example. If a person is going to do 200 pounds in the bench press for their work set, they would benefit from the above mentioned warm-up. This person would need some additional warming up for the bench press. This person should take 135 pounds for 5 reps, rest for 1-2 minutes, then go to 185 pounds for one rep and rest again. Now he is ready for his 200-pound bench press.
Note that no additional warm up is necessary for the rest of the workout as the muscle groups being worked on this day - the chest, shoulders and triceps - are already warm for the bench press. Traditional weight training programs include a lot of warm-up sets for each exercise. I find this to be a waste of time as too many warm ups fatigue you for your real growth stimulating work sets.
As a final note on warm-ups, a good set of any exercise done in a controlled fashion has the first few reps of that set as a built in warm up. Proper warm-up can increase the effectiveness of your workout and reduces your chance of injury.
3. This is a common question for people to have. We would like to see results yesterday but it just doesn’t happen that way. The first term we must define is “What are results”? If “results” to you is to get you on the front page of a fitness magazine, I doubt that you will ever get your results. If, however, results are for to feel better then you should get some results within the first month of your exercise program. This may sound a little odd but for most of my sedentary clients they actually feel better at the completion of their very first workout. This has happened more than once.
The results that most people are looking for are a trimmer and more fit looking physique. This is attainable for people with the proper program. It does however take time. How much time is relative to each individual. Factors such as how hard one works out or how close attention do they pay to their diet figure in - Genetics also play a major role in the results that people get. Some people have more favorable genetics than others. My advice is to keep on working out and you will notice some changes in your body if you stay consistent.
4. Weight training can definitely help your heart because it does have an aerobic affect. I have used a pulse monitor on occasion and the information is interesting. After a short warm up, the pulse rate of an individual rises. When we the go to the weight training workout, moving from exercise to exercise without much rest between sets, the pulse rate says in the aerobic range throughout the workout. While the workout lasts 15 minutes, this is adequate for the guideline of aerobic activity. Please note that this is just the weight training part of an exercise program. My recommendation is to include working several times per week and watching your diet. These three things done in the proper amounts will benefit your heart optimally.
I would also like to note a scientific study (J. Strength Cond Res (4:383-388,2000) on the importance of fitness programs for heart patients. Scientists have learned that the quality of life can be enhanced by increasing strength. If your muscles are not strong, you will have problems doing every day activities, such as walking the stairs or getting up out of a chair. A study done by Dr. Kerry Bernard and colleagues from the River Cities Cardiology Clinic in Indiana found that an exercise program, including strength training, in heart failure patients increased their strength by 26 percent. These patients had a better quality of life without worsening their medical condition.
As always with any exercise or diet program, you should always consult your physician for safety.
5. An article in Consumer Health Reports (Vol 3/Num 4) points to research done at the University of Utah. A group of 28 sedentary 55-70 year old’s, all determined to be in poor health, worked out 3 times per week over a month period. The test subjects improved tremendously in response time, process of visual information, memory and mental flexibility. (2)
I think this points to exercise being not only physical but also mentally beneficial. Keep this in mind - your body functions as a unit. If you discipline yourself to exercise, you will benefit in other areas of your life because of that discipline.
(2) Reference: NFPT’s Personal Trainer Magazine Feb/March 2002 Page 1, published by NFPT
