Breaking Through Exercise Barriers

What are the barriers keeping you from exercise? Are they legitimate, or are they self-created?  Think about what obstacles may be keeping you from exercising.  Dissect and get honest with yourself.  You might be surprised by what you find.

In the time I have been assisting clients with weight loss and exercise adherence, I have interviewed countless people.  After thorough investigation into what types of barriers are being struggled with, I have found that most barriers are self-created. Without question, the most popular barrier is the "lack of time".  In my opinion, this is not, and never will be a legitimate barrier to exercise.  In fact, I'd prefer to call it a straight-up excuse.  I haven't met a person yet that was not capable of carving out ten minutes of physical activity on a daily basis. 

The cumulative benefits and effects of exercise cannot be overlooked.  Individuals trying to carve out sixty minutes of exercise time are often those that end up not exercising at all.  Creating space for that large chunk of time can be too difficult.  Instead, I try to get my clients to recognize that there really is "time" to exercise, it just may not be sixty, consecutive minutes worth.  A simple ten minute bout every day adds up to over an hour every week. Less really can be more, because it is getting done!

Another common problem is lack of motivation.  One of the biggest accelerators with motivation is seeing results.  Before results come, however, it is important to find ways to kick start motivation.  A good kick start might mean implementing a simple reward for sticking to an exercise routine for a fixed period of time.  The reward could be an exercise outfit, a manicure, etc.  Find ways to talk yourself into getting it done versus ways to avoid it.  Motivation can also be helped along if the activity is enjoyable.  Be persistent in the search to find activities you enjoy doing.

Buried underneath layers of excuses and barriers, lies a core of workable strategies for every person.  Different personalities and lifestyles dictate different approaches, but desire and effort commonly converge amongst all, creating opportunity to break through any exercise barriers.

 

Why Aquatic Exercise?

Aquatic exercise opens up the exercise world to populations that otherwise might not be allowed to participate in exercise.  I, personally, love my landlubber workouts.  I, however, do not have any physical limitations dictating what type of exercise I can or can't perform. Thousands of others are not so fortunate.


Water exercise makes for a great workout, and at the same time, spares unnecessary stress on bones, joints and connective tissues.  Overweight individuals that have carried around excessive weight gain for years, may suffer from degenerative joint issues. Others may be one more step beyond having undergone hip or knee replacement surgery. 


The beauty of aquatic exercise is that water provides some resistance, but also some buoyancy.  Load/resistance can be added gradually to mitigate risk of injury to the lower extremities.  Buoyancy allows the exerciser to perform movements that defy gravity, and water, itself, provides a chance to increase the range-of-motion with many movements.  There is aerobic benefit to aquatic workouts and a wide variety of exercises can be geared towards shallow or deep water.  More exercise variety can be added via use of specialized equipment.  Such equipment might include aquabells (dumbbells for water), webbed gloves, kick boards, etc. 


As a professional participating in an aquatic workout, I notice the generalized resistance that water provides.  There is less muscle specificity with this type of workout than traditional resistance training.  I also notice a generalized, yet thorough fatigue once bearing my full body weight out of the water.  There is a certain delay in perceiving muscle fatigue in the water thanks to the gravity defying environment.  In other words, you do not realize your butt has been kicked until you journey out of the pool.

A well designed aquatic workout is thorough and will accomplish everything achievable in a typical gym environment.  Aquatic fitness classes can benefit seniors, arthritis sufferers, rehabilitation patients, overweight populations or those just seriously deconditioned. I firmly believe that there is some type of exercise enjoyable for everyone, and this is a great avenue for any exercise-hater to pursue.  Sadly, one can only fall in love with things through exposure to them and trying new things is often scary to creatures of habit.  Continue to "spread your fitness wings" by trying new things.  At minimum, help a newbie grow their fitness wings through consistent encouragement and by being a program of attraction for a healthy lifestyle. 

Physical Fitness Components

Physical fitness has four major components and industry experts are looking ahead into the possibility of a fifth that might include mind/body vitality.  I believe a quality fitness program will include focus on all of the components, not just one.  It may be relatively easy for an individual to achieve muscular strength or solid cardiovascular endurance, but those that work towards development of all four major components will become wickedly strong and healthy.  What are the four basic components?

Muscular strength
This is one component of muscular fitness. it is the maximal force that a muscle or muscle group can exert during a contraction. This strength is necessary for everyday functioning as we lift and carry items nearly every day.  The second component is muscular endurance, which is the ability of a muscle or muscle group to exert force against resistance over a sustained period. It represents the duration or number of repetitions that can be performed without fatigue.

Cardiovascular endurance
This is the maximal capacity of the heart, blood vessels and lungs to deliver oxygen and nutrients to working muscles so energy can be produced.  The higher one's cardio endurance, the more physical work can be performed before fatigue.

Flexibility
The ability to move joints though their normal full range of motion.  Good flexibility helps prevent musculoskeletal injuries, assists with good posture and provides functional movement.

Body composition
This refers to the body makeup and what portion of the body is lean body mass vs. body fat.  Lean body mass includes muscles, bones, nervous tissue, skin, blood and organs. These items positively contribute to a good metabolic rate and contribute to physical performance.  Body fat can be broken down further into essential fat and storage fat.  Essential body fat is thought to be necessary for maintenance of life and reproduction and is thought to be about 2 - 5% for men, 10 - 13% for women.  Storage fat has no real value and excess is associated with health issues including hypertension, type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease.

If you want to embrace the "total health package", then solid emphasis should be put on all of the physical fitness components.  Consultations and workouts I bring to my clients will include all.  I do not desire for my clients to get into good shape, I want them to get into great shape. The group fitness classes I teach also include these elements as I want every class participant to experience a complete workout and feel exhilarated throughout. 

Try not to settle into the rut of concentrating on one or two activities that develop only one or two components of fitness.  Instead, challenge yourself to develop further by taking your fitness to the next level. Widen your scope of efforts and experience better health.    

Burn More Calories

A quick word about T.E.A. (Thermal Effect of Activity). T.E.A. refers to your general activity level outside of "dedicated" exercise time. Where do the calories we consume go? Here’s a breakdown:

• Approximately 40% of the calories we consume can be burned through dedicated exercise.
• Another 30% are burned via digestion.
• Another 30 – 40% are burned via T.E.A. This is where many people fall short, and an area to concentrate on when attempting weight loss.

Tapping into the T.E.A. can really up your caloric expenditure. Ways to up one’s T.E.A. might mean taking stairs instead of an elevator, standing vs. sitting, making multiple trips to & from the car to carry in groceries, etc. Not that one has to do all of these things every day, but choosing a couple to implement will add up. Here are more practical suggestions I obtained from A.C.E. (American Council on Exercise):


Lifestyle Suggestions to Be More Active During the Day:

• Walk during your lunch hour.
• Take a family walk after dinner.
• Walk your dog.
• Get off the bus a stop early and walk.
• Wash the car by hand.
• Run or walk fast when doing errands.
• Pace the sidelines at your kids’ athletic games.
• Walk to a coworker’s desk instead of emailing or calling.
• Take a walk break instead of a coffee break.
• Play with your kids at least 30 minutes a day.
• Dance to music.
• Walk briskly in the mall.
• Take the long way to the water cooler, break room, etc.

Carving out just five minutes daily to be more physically active will provide more functional fitness/endurance and burn more calories. Do it every day for a week and you've racked up 35 more minutes of physical activity then you had before.