Friday Reading Report: The fitness part of nutrition...

There are as many answers to the question “What is fitness?” as there are askers, and probably even more, since none of us is limited to a single answer.  Despite individual differences, I think most of us can agree with the definition provided by the American College of Sports Medicine:  “the ability to perform moderate to vigorous levels of physical activity without undue fatigue and the capability of maintaining this level of activity throughout life.”

My text goes on to discuss five areas of emphasis in fitness:

1.     Cardiorespiratory fitness

2.     Muscular strength (can exert force)

3.     Muscular endurance (can keep exerting force)

4.     Body composition

5.     Flexibility

Personally, I would list body composition last because unless it is a motivating factor for someone in particular, concentrating on the other items would be more useful.  Also, those other activities tend to influence body composition, so it is more of a consequence than a practice anyway.

Go play!

Spin to win!

I think of my spin bike as an insanity prevention machine.  (That is not its only use, of course, but it might be the most important.)  It has almost-magical powers.

I grumble and trudge my way on to it in the morning.  I begin to pedal slowly as I scroll through my playlists to find the music of the day.  As my legs warm up, so does my whole attitude.

By the end of my ride, I’m both calmer and more energetic.  My brain is working better.  The problems of the day seem much more manageable.  I may even have a fighting chance of remembering what I’m supposed to accomplish!

I am not the only one for whom spinning and other cardio exercises create positive changes.  We all get to wave hello to our endorphins as we pedal by (yes, I know the spin bike doesn’t actually GO anywhere, but it’s a metaphor…).  We’re ticking off lots of boxes on our cosmic to-do lists as well:  we’re reducing our risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and some forms of cancer, while improving our brain function and mood.

Go play!

It's also a virtue...

When we lift weights, we realize that we like some exercises better than others.  Some bodies naturally gravitate toward squats, others toward bench presses, and still others toward deadlifts or something else.  This is all good.  The world needs all of our different kinds of strength.

However, we still have to do the ones we don’t like as much.  Sometimes we don’t like an exercise because we feel like we’re not good at it.  News flash:  we’re not going to get better unless we work on it a bit.  Do it first, get it over with, and move along.  Other times, it seems like no matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to progress at a particular exercise (I’m looking at you, 50-pound dumbbell bench presses…).  Usually, the exercise in question either involves a smaller muscle group or some muscles or joints that have been compromised at some point.  In other words, all those big muscles we use to squat or deadlift tend to get stronger more quickly than, say, our deltoids in our shoulders that we use to do lateral raises.

Patience is also a muscle-like thing.  We exercise that, too.