Fitness isn’t about being some sort of sporting god(dess) – it’s about being able to cope with everyday activities whilst still being able to meet unexpected demands. You should be able to carry heavy shopping or run for a train without becoming breathless and exhausted!
Physically, fitness is a reflection of the efficiency of your heart, lungs and muscles. It splits into three distinct parts: strength, flexibility and endurance. To be fit, you need to do moderate exercise five times a week, or energetic activity three times a week (balancing all three of these aspects).
If you think that exercise isn’t for you, you should think again. The benefits you’ll get from doing even a small amount of exercise far outweigh the effort! For example, the death rate for unfit people is more than double the death rate for people of medium fitness. Your posture, mental wellbeing, physical health, physique, energy levels, ability to rest and alertness are all tied to physical fitness. What follows is basic information for people that don’t think of exercise as their sort of thing...
Exercise and mental wellbeing
You’re probably wondering how exercise will even have a bearing on how good you feel generally.
The science
It’s often touted that exercise gives you a “natural high”, but the science backs up common knowledge. It causes the brain to release serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and endorphins which help reduce feelings of anxiety, stress and mild to moderate depression. Exercise is also good because, unlike with medication, you will start to feel the effects right away.
Being more active aids sleep, which is good as sleep problems are commonly linked with less-than-great mental wellbeing. Regular exercise also reduces stress and tension, and helps clear the mind. It enables people to unwind and relax in the evenings rather than dwell on problems. It boosts energy levels, something those with depression commonly lack. Once you've forced yourself to go and do some exercise the first few times you'll soon find yourself feeling more energetic, even if you just go for short walks.
Lastly, by feeling (and gradually looking) fitter and healthier, exercise allows people to gain a more positive body image, as well as boosting their self confidence and self-esteem. This in turn means that you can begin to socialise with more ease.
The evidence
The mental health charity Mind carried out a survey in 2001 that found that 83% of people with mental health problems looked to exercise to help lift their mood or to reduce stress. Two-thirds said exercise helped to relieve the symptoms of depression and more than half said it helped to reduce stress and anxiety. Six out of 10 of the respondents said that physical exercise helped to improve their motivation, 50% said it boosted their self-esteem and 24% said it improved their social skills.
Researchers at Duke University in the USA studied people suffering from depression for four months and found that 60% of the participants who exercised for 30 minutes three times a week overcame their depression without using antidepressant medication. This is the same percentage rate as for those who only used medication in their treatment for depression.
Don't believe us? See the Mental Health Foundation's page on exercise and mental health, or flick through their PDF titled "How to look after your mental health using exercise" on the right.
General fitness
Resting heart rate
Take your heart rate in the morning, by taking your pulse for a minute and seeing how many beats there are (or do for half a minute, and double). The most reliable way is to tilt your head back slightly and place your index and middle fingers over the carotid artery on your neck. This is found just below the outer jaw line. You should never use your thumb to measure your heart rate as it has a pulse of its own which can cause you to double count. This will give you your resting heart rate.
The average resting heart rate is around 70-75 beats per minute; aerobically fit people’s rate will be lower (around 60 or below); a rate of 85 or above is dangerous and should be checked out by a doctor.
Recovery heart rate
Your recovery heart rate is a measurement of how well your heart recovers after exercise. It is measured one minute after exercise and is the rate at which your heart beats drop each minute. People who are very fit will see that their heart rate drops very quickly after exercise – this is a better fitness test than measuring your resting heart rate.
It is said that your heart should slow down by about 30 beats in the first minute. Your heart slowing down any more than this indicates you could be pretty out of shape. People who are very fit will see their heart slow down by 50-60 beats in the first minute.
Body fat distribution
You can either calculate your BMI (http://www.nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/healthyweightcalculator.aspx) or measure your waist-to-hip ratio. This can be done by standing in front of a mirror and measuring your waist with a tape measure, which for purposes of this test is the narrowest part of your midsection (this will usually be about two or three inches above your bellybutton). Divide that number by the circumference at your hipbone or at that point where your bum protrudes the most, whichever measurement is greater.
A male ratio of up to 0.95, or a female ratio of up to 0.8 means you’re OK – anything higher can be cause for concern.
NHS online fitness test
See the NHS' website for an easy-to-fill-out online fitness test.
Endurance
Your VO2 Max is the maximum amount of oxygen that can be removed from circulating blood and used by your working tissues and muscles during a certain amount of time i.e. the amount of oxygen per minute your body is able to use while exercising. The higher your V02 Max, the better your endurance.
If you become breathless from walking a mile, or very breathless after climbing three flights of stairs, then your endurance isn’t good.
Rockport Fitness Walking Test
- Warm up by walking and doing light stretching on a quarter-mile track. Then do a one-mile walk (four laps) as fast as possible, stopping if you feel dizzy or experience any chest pain. After completing the mile, keep walking but slow the pace.
- Immediately take your pulse for 10 seconds, counting the first beat a zero, then multiply by six. Record your pulse and the time it took you to complete the mile, and then cool down for five minutes.
Now, to estimate your VO2 Max:
- A = 0.388 multiplied by your age
- B = 0.077 multiplied by your weight (in pounds, remembering there are 14 pounds in a stone)
- C = 3.265 multiplied by your mile walk time (in minutes)
- D = 0156 multiplied by your recorded pulse
VO2 max = 139.168 minus A, B, C and D (measured in millilitres per kilogram per minute)
There are many other ways to test this (e.g. the "bleep test" – google for more information), and the BBC hosts its own calculator using a different method.
Aim
Top endurance athletes (e.g.: marathon runners) usually have a very high VO2 Max, usually measuring around 70. The average person has a VO2 Max of around 35-45. A low VO2 Max (25 or below) usually means you will be poor at endurance events.
Flexibility
Hips
Lie flat on your back. Have a workout partner hold your left leg down with one hand and passively raise your right leg with the other hand. Make sure there's no pain in your lower back, along your bum or deep inside the hamstring area, and do not bend your knee. Your leg should rise to 80 to 85 degrees for normal range of motion. Less than 80 degrees indicates tight hamstrings.
Keeping your lower back flat, grasp behind your left knee and pull your leg toward your chest. If your right leg stays flat to the floor, you have normal hip flexibility. If your right leg comes off the table, this indicates shortened hip flexors.
Shoulders
Test your left shoulder by standing with your right arm straight up, and then bend your elbow so your hand hangs behind your head. Keeping your upper arm stationary, rest your palm between your shoulder blades. Reach around behind you with your left arm so the palm is facing out and try to touch the fingers of both hands together. Reverse the procedure and repeat with the opposite shoulder. If your fingertips are more than two inches apart, you should work on it.
Strength
Press-ups (upper body strength)
Start with your hands shoulder-width apart, feet together, and your back and legs straight and off the floor. One press-up is completed when you lower yourself using solely your arms until they form a right angle, and then rise to the starting position with your arms fully extended. Rest only in the up position, and count the number of press-ups you can complete before reaching exhaustion.
16 or fewer press-ups isn’t great; the average is around 25, and 35 or above is very good.
Sit-ups (core strength)
Start by lying on a carpeted or cushioned floor with your knees bent at approximately right angles, with feet flat on the ground. Your hands should be resting on your thighs. One sit-up is completed by squeezing your stomach, pushing your back flat, raising high enough for your hands to slide along your thighs to touch the tops of your knees (don't pull with your neck or head, and keep your lower back on the floor) and returning to the starting position.
25 or fewer sit-ups in one minute isn’t great; the average is around 35, and 40 or above is good.
Squats (lower body strength)
Stand in front of a chair or bench with your feet at shoulder's width apart, facing away from it. Place your hands on your hips. Squat down and lightly touch the chair before standing back up. A good-sized chair is one that makes your knees at right angles when you are sitting. Keep doing this until you're tired.
25 or fewer squats isn’t great; the average is around 35, and 40 or above is good.
Changing fitness levels
A daily record of the type and amount of exercise you do will help you monitor your progess. As your fitness improves, you can increase the time/distance you exercise for by about 10% a week. If you get to a stage where you find the exercise too difficult, then ease off until you are better able to cope with it.
Don’t forget, when you’re getting into exercise for the first time in a while, the importance of warming up. If you don’t loosen up your muscles and instead force them to stretch and contract too quickly, you risk an injury. Also, don’t forget to cool down too – if you don’t, the cramp that could set in will put you off exercise for ages!
Don’t be alone
Doing it alone is never as fun as doing it with others (scientific fact). Whether it’s finding people to go swimming or to the gym with, a buddy to run with, or a partner to play squash or badminton against – it’s a lot easier to get into an exercise regime if you’ve got someone else encouraging you along. Also, if there’s another person with you, it’s harder to just quit and walk away!
Setting goals
Without goals, it's very easy to just give up when the going gets tough. Plan ahead, make sure you’re making the exercise just hard enough, but it’s important to be realistic: if you set impossible goals, you just won’t achieve them. The best sort of exercise is one that fits into your daily routine. Begin at a simple level, instead of pushing yourself flat out – however, you should push yourself hard enough that you get sweaty and breathless. Build up gently, and don’t push yourself too hard. See this BBC article for more info on setting good goals. Also, if you make goals – stick to them!
Focus on the benefits
Feeling better, sleeping better, looking better – the benefits are endless!
Note carefully, however: though exercise is a vital part of weight loss, deep-seated weight problems (and unhealthy relationships with food) can also be exacerbated by intense exercise regimes. It’s worth reiterating here, don’t go overboard with exercise – keep it at a steady pace, and don’t put your body under too much stress. It won’t thank you for it in the long run.