Walking and Jogging for Fitness PDF (2018)

GALILEO, University System of Georgia GALILEO Open Learning Materials Nursing and Health Sciences Open Textbooks Nursing and Health Sciences Spring 2018 Walking and Jogging for Fitness Scott Flynn Georgia Highlands College, [email protected] Lisa Jellum Geo...

GALILEO, University System of Georgia GALILEO Open Learning Materials Nursing and Health Sciences Open Textbooks Nursing and Health Sciences Spring 2018 Walking and Jogging for Fitness Scott Flynn Georgia Highlands College, [email protected] Lisa Jellum Georgia Highlands College, [email protected] Jonathan Howard Georgia Highlands College, [email protected] Althea Moser Georgia Highlands College, [email protected] David Mathis Georgia Highlands College, [email protected] See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/health-textbooks Recommended Citation Flynn, Scott; Jellum, Lisa; Howard, Jonathan; Moser, Althea; Mathis, David; Collins, Christin; Henderson, Sharryse; and Watjen, Connie, "Walking and Jogging for Fitness" (2018). Nursing and Health Sciences Open Textbooks. 3. https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/health-textbooks/3 This Open Textbook is brought to you for free and open access by the Nursing and Health Sciences at GALILEO Open Learning Materials. It has been accepted for inclusion in Nursing and Health Sciences Open Textbooks by an authorized administrator of GALILEO Open Learning Materials. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors Scott Flynn, Lisa Jellum, Jonathan Howard, Althea Moser, David Mathis, Christin Collins, Sharryse Henderson, and Connie Watjen This open textbook is available at GALILEO Open Learning Materials: https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/health-textbooks/3 Open Textbook Georgia Highlands College UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OF GEORGIA Scott Flynn, Lisa Jellum, Althea Moser, Jonathan Howard, Sharryse Henderson, Christin Collins, Amanda West, and David Mathis Walking and Jogging for Fitness Walking and Jogging for Fitness Scott Flynn, Lisa Jellum, Althea Moser, Jonathan Howard, Sharryse Henderson, Christin Collins, Amanda West, and David Mathis 1. Benefits of Walking and Jogging for Exercise 2. Getting Started 3. Adaptations to Stress 4. Technique: The Art of Walking and Jogging 5. Nutrition and Energy Requirements 6. Injuries and Injury Prevention Appendix: Flexibility Walking and Jogging for Fitness by Scott Flynn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Direct any permission requests to:[email protected] Chapter 1 The Benefits of Walking and Jogging as Exercise The History The benefits of physical activity and Anatomy of Melancholy, “Opposite to exercise exercise have been recognized for as long as is Idleness or want of exercise, the bane of body man has been around. Our first ancestors and minde…one of the seven deadly sinnes, and didn’t think they were exercising. For them, it sole cause of Melancholy.1 (1632) Heironymus was more like chasing their next meal to survive Mercuralis (from the 16th century) defined instead of chasing a ball to win a game or going exercise, a definition that has changed little for a leisurely stroll. Regardless, in order to since the 16th century, “exercise is the survive, they had to be actively engaged in deliberate and planned movement of the moderate levels of physical activity either human frame, accompanied by breathlessness, through hunting or gathering foods for their and undertaken for the sake of health or sustenance. In other words: no exercise, no fitness…”1 food; no food, death. How’s that for a health benefit? Beyond the physical health benefits, there are affective benefits associated with The Greek physician Herodicus in fourth group games and activities. Ancient Mayans century B.C. recognized the importance of organized the first team game called the Ball exercise. He practiced gymnastic medicine, a Game. It consisted of two teams trying to get a branch of Greek medicine that relied on ball through a hoop mounted about 23 feet on vigorous exercise as a treatment.1 Hippocrates a wall. The rules were to get the ball through also agreed, “if we could give every individual the hoop using certain parts of the body. In the right amount of nourishment and exercise, some cases the captain of the losing team gave not too little and not too much, we would have himself as a human sacrifice to the winning found the safest way to health.”1 The Jewish team, an act that was believed by the Mayans philosopher Rabbi Moses ben Maimon of the to be a vital part of prosperity. 2 12th century, a physician to the Sultan of Egypt, stated, ”Anyone who lives a sedentary life and American Indians are thought to be the founder does not exercise…even he eats good and takes of the modern game of lacrosse as well as other care of himself according to proper medical stick games. In general, Lacrosse (which principles-all his days will be painful ones and received its name from French settlers) was his strength will wane.”1 Robert Burton, a perceived as a cultural event. theologian and scholar also saw the benefits of an active lifestyle and stated in his book The  things like yard work, house cleaning, walking the dog, or taking the steps instead of the elevator. Physical activity does not have to be done all it once. It can be accumulated through various activities throughout the day. Although typing on a phone or laptop or playing video games does require skeletal muscle and a minimal amount of energy, the amount required isn’t sufficient to improve health. Despite the common knowledge that physical George Catlin [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons , activity is tremendously beneficial for health, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABall_players. rates of activity continue to be below what is jpg needed. According to the CDC, only 1 in 5 (21%) of American adults meet the recommended The game was sometimes used to settle physical activity guidelines from the Surgeon disputes between tribes, victory and choosing General. Less than 3 in 10 high school students teams was thought to be controlled get 60 minutes or more of physical activity per supernaturally, and games and equipment were day. Non-Hispanic whites (26%) are more active prepared ritualistically. 3 than their Hispanic (16%) and Black From Ancient History to Modern Times counterparts (18%) as is the case for males (54%) and females (46%). Those with more In retrospect, the perceived benefits of education and those whose household income exercise have changed very little since is higher than poverty level are more likely to Herodicus or the American Indians. Mounting be physically active. 4 research continues to support early thoughts that exercise is vital to human quality of life. Exercise, although often used interchangeably Culturally, sport plays a huge role in growth and with physical activity, is a sub-category of of development of youth and adults. Physically, physical activity. Exercise is a planned, there is indisputable evidence associated with structured and repetitive movement pattern the short and long-term benefits of regular intended to improve fitness. As a positive side- exercise to brain, heart, bone, muscular, and effect, it also significantly improves health as emotional health, and reductions in risk for well. Fitness improvements would be seen as chronic disease such as cancer, diabetes, and the heart’s ability to pump blood, increased obesity. muscle size and flexibility. For the most part, walking and jogging in this text is viewed in the Physical activity is defined as any movement context of exercise. carried out by skeletal muscle that requires energy and is focused on building health. Health The Role of Walking and Jogging improvements would be seen as improved Walking and jogging can play a major blood pressure, blood-lipid profile, and heart role in increasing these activity rates. Why? One health. Acceptable physical activity includes of the beauties of walking or jogging comes from their simplicity. For example, the basic given weekend, anywhere from 5 to 30 events requirements to begin a walking program are posted. Many of which carry low include: shoes, clothing, and a place to walk. For registration costs, short travel, and raise funds most, these items are readily available. In other for good causes. In addition to the old words, the excuse of cost and/or accessibility is fashioned 5k and 10k, many “new-age” events simply not a good one. have emerged with similar distances but that also include challenging obstacles and other If you’re wanting to be competitive and elements of fun such as color-runs or glow-in- not a just-for-fun kind of runner, there’s no the-dark runs. In other words, accessibility to problem with the availability of races. One of events is rarely an excuse. the fastest growing race distances, the half- marathon, continues to grow with 1.8 million Walking generally attracts a less finishers in 2012 for the 13.1 mile event. The competitive group although many clubs and most popular events, 5k’s, included 6.2 million organizations exist to support competitive race finishers. Marathoners dropped slightly from walking, a sport included in the summer 2011-2012 to 478 thousand finishers of the 26.2 Olympic games. Not all finishers of marathons mile events. The number of resources available are actually runners. Many are full-distance to runners has also increased with more and walkers. Regardless, most walkers are walking more online training programs, many of which for fitness or social enjoyment and not for are free. 5 competition so recommendations in this text primarily adhere to that non-competitive approach. Health Benefits Walking and jogging are considered aerobic exercise—a type of exercise that requires oxygen -- more frequently referred to as simply “cardio.” Both walking and jogging not only improve health but also increase fitness levels. The health benefits of aerobic exercise By unknown, from Jackson Mississippi, USA (Blues Race thru Belhaven) [CC BY-SA 2.0 have been well documented since Dr. Kenneth (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Cooper wrote the book Aerobics in the early Commons) 60’s. In addition to the growth of half People, in general, exercise for many marathons and marathons, 10k’s and 5k’s have reasons. Ironically, most reasons lack a specific become easy ways for many organizations to focus on the health benefits. While that’s not a raise funds for a particular cause. As a result, problem, per se, it’s still important to these local weekend events can be found by the remember health as the main objective. dozens in many areas of the country. For Nonetheless, the exact reasons vary between example, Rungeorgia.com advertises a race genders and ages but include: calendar for the entire state of Georgia. On any  Females Males Clearly, the more calories you burn 1. Weight Control Muscle tone during exercise the easier it will be easier to 2. Feel good after Increased energy prevent becoming overweight or obese. 3. Increased Cardiovascular benefits energy Walking and jogging, especially at high 4. Muscle tone Weight control intensities require significant energy demands 5. Cardiovascular Feel good after and have been shown to reduce body weight if benefits performed consistently over several weeks. Not 6. Keep flexibility Reduce stress only do you burn extra calories during the 7. Reduce stress Build strength exercise, but metabolic rate remains elevated 8. Time for self Enjoy exercise 9. Enjoy exercise Keep flexibility for up to 24 hours after exercise burning 10. Improve self Time for self additional calories. esteem Source: Fitness Products Council/IHRSA/American Sports Data, Exercise has not only been used as Inc., Reprinted in SGMA’s "Tracking the fitness movement" prevention for CVD and weight management reports. but also as a treatment strategy after diagnosis. Cardiovascular Health Benefits In addition to CVD and obesity, regular aerobic exercise may also help prevent: While the exact details vary for how much exercise is required and at what intensity is Diabetes (Type 2, gestational) most beneficial, little doubt exists as to whether High cholesterol or not exercise will significantly reduce risks of Cancer of the breasts, prostate cardiovascular disease. Fit individuals, male or and colon and rectum female, are much less likely to die from Arthritis coronary artery disease as well as cerebro- Delay the onset of Alzheimer’s vascular disease (stroke). Current research and Parkinson’s disease suggests “more is better,” in terms of Osteoperosis cumulative energy expenditure, with the most Kidney Disease pronounced change in risk seen with moderate Improves immune system levels of activity. Specific adaptations to the function cardiovascular system that occur as a result of exercise will be discussed in a later chapter. In addition to the preventive benefits, it can be used to treat: Obesity Heart disease Obesity has become an epidemic in the modern Asthma world with nearly 70% of all Americans being COPD considered overweight based on body mass Cystic fibrosis index measurements. Unfortunately, only about Hyperlipidemia 21% of adults 18 and older engaged in regular Multiple sclerosis physical activity according to the Center for Arthritis Disease Control. 6 Depression Anxiety disorder  Improves academic performance Clearly, Hippocrates was correct in his statement that regular exercise is “the safest way to health.” 1. Buckworth, Janet; Dishman, Rod K.; Exercise Psychology, 2002, Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL 2. Cartwright, Mark, The Ball Game of Mesoamerica, retrieved May 2017, http://www.ancient.eu/article/604/ 3. Wikipedia, History of Lacrosse, retrieved May 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_la crosse 4. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC Stats, retrieved April 2017 https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/data/ facts.htm 5. Running USA, 2016 State of the Sport-Road Running Trends, retrieved May 2017, http://www.runningusa.org/state-of-sport- us-trends-2015 6. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Overweight and Obesity, retrieved May 2017, https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/ Chapter 2 and aspirations intended to reach an endpoint in a short period of time. The idea of returning to teen level weight and/or fitness, while Getting Started With a alluring and well-intended, are simply unrealistic for most adults. The physical Walking/Jogging demands and time constraints associated with the adult life stage must be taken in to Program consideration in order to be successful. If not, goals remain dreams (at least until the next year). O Both walking and jogging are simple activities ften, the hardest thing to do in regards that promote health and fitness, as previously to beginning a new routine is simply discussed. Like any other lifestyle habit, optimal starting the new routine. Old habits, health and fitness do not occur over night. Time insufficient motivation, support from others, and more importantly, consistency, drive health etc. all play a role in whether or not you and fitness outcomes. So, as you begin your successfully begin a new exercise program. program focus on what will make you Success, in this case, is measured by your ability consistent. The term lifestyle implies “habits, to consistently participate in the program to attitudes,…standards…that together constitute reap the fitness benefits associated with the the mode of living” 1(dictionary) or behavior activity. that is imbedded into your daily and weekly This chapter will cover the basics of beginning a routine. You’re not simply trying to change walking or jogging program in order to give you physically, but rather modify your mental the best chance of being successful. perception to promote long term health. Think Lifestyle The steps below should guide you through this process. Before getting to the point of Beginning a walking or jogging program can be beginning your program, you should a daunting task. To illustrate the concept of understand the safety concerns associated with lifestyle, take a moment and consider your local exercise. gym. You may notice the attendance there in the month of January increases dramatically. Safety First Some estimates suggest as many as 80% have The physical challenges of beginning a new stopped coming by the second week of exercise program can place you at a greater risk February. However, as February and March of injury, illness or even death. Results from approach, attendance steadily declines various studies suggest vigorous activity eventually falling back to pre-January levels. increases the risk of acute cardiac heart attacks Why does this occur? Why aren’t these new and/or sudden cardiac death (ACSM pg. 10).2 customers able to continue the routine for the While that may seem contradictory to the entire year? One possible explanation: patrons previously suggested benefits of walking and are unsuccessful at viewing their routine as a jogging, the long term benefits of exercise lifestyle. The new year brings resolutions, goals Chapter 2-Getting Started With a Walking/Jogging Program 1 unequivocally outweigh the risks during 5. Impaired fasting glucose (diabetes)- exercise. In active young adults (younger than blood sugar should be within the 35), incidence of cardiac events are still rare, recommended ranges affecting 1 in 133,000 in men and 1 in 769,000 in women. In older individuals, 1 in 18,000 Atherosclerosis-the progressive condition cardiac events occur. 2 of fatty substances depositing on arterial walls, leading to the development of Of those rare cardiac incidents that do occur, plaque and hardening of arterial walls the presence of preexisting heart disease is the common thread, specifically atherosclerosis. 6. Obesity-Body mass index of >30, waist Atherosclerosis causes arteries to harden and circumference of >102 cm men, >88 cm become clogged with plaque which can break women, or waist to hip ratio of >0.95 apart, move to other parts of the body, and clog men, >0.86 women smaller blood vessels. In light of this, it is 7. Sedentary lifestyle-persons not meeting important to screen individuals for risk factors physical activity guidelines set by US associated with heart disease before they begin Surgeon General’s Report an exercise program. In addition to identifying your risk factors, you The American College of Sports Medicine should also complete a Physical Activity recommends a thorough pre-screening to Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q). The PAR-Q identify any risk of heart disease. The 7 major asks yes or no questions about symptoms risk factors looking to be identified are below. 3 associated with heart disease. Based on your risk factors, and your responses in the PAR-Q, 1. Family history-if a cardiac event has you are then placed into a risk category: low, occurred with your father or first- moderate, high. degree male relative before the age of 55, or mother or first-degree female Low risk persons are men younger than relative before 65, there could be a 45, women younger than 55 who genetic predisposition to heart disease. answer no to all of the PAR-Q questions 2. Cigarette smoking- currently smoke, or and have one or no risk factors. have quit in the past 6 months Although still a good idea, further 3. Hypertension-Blood pressure at or screening such as getting physician’s above 140 mm/HG systolic, 90 mm/Hg approval isn’t necessary. diastolic Moderate risk persons are men of or 4. Dyslipidemia-cholesterol levels that greater than 45, women 55 OR those exceed recommendations (130 mg/dL, who have two or more risk factors. HDL below 40 mg/dL, or total Because of the connection between cholesterol of greater than 200 mg/dL) cardiac disease, the seven risk factors, and risk during exercise, it is recommended you get physicians approval before beginning an exercise program. Chapter 2-Getting Started With a Walking/Jogging Program 2  High risk persons answer yes to one or Create a plan (what route will you choose?) more of the questions on the PAR-Q. Follow Through (start driving!) Physician’s approval is required before beginning a program. Assess Your Condition Once you have determined your ability to safely In order to adequately prepare for starting your perform the demands of walking and jogging, personal walking and jogging program, you will you are now ready to move to the next steps in need to take a hard look at your current level of the process of beginning your program. Other fitness. With multiple methods of assessing safety concerns, such as where you walk and your fitness, you should select the one that best jog, how to be safe during your workout, and applies to you. Understand, however, that each environmental conditions will be addressed at a walking/jogging assessment discussed here is later time. attempting to estimate a key physiological marker, your maximal oxygen consumption. As you look at the remaining steps, a simple Your maximal oxygen consumption, or VO2 max , analogy may help to better conceptualize the measures your body’s ability to take in and process. utilize oxygen which directly correlates to your overall health and fitness. Obtaining a good Imagine you are looking at a map because you estimate of your VO2 max will provide you a one- are traveling to a particular location and you’d time glance at your baseline fitness and health, like to determine the best route for your provide a baseline measurement and help you journey. To get there, you must first determine gauge the efficacy of your fitness program in your current location and then find the roads subsequent reassessments. that will take you to your desired location. You must also consider roads that will present the Some of the most common walking/jogging least amount of resistance, provide a assessments used to estimate your VO2 max reasonably direct route, and don’t present any include the 12 minute Walk, 1.5 mile Run-Walk safety hazards along the way. Of course, Test, and 1 mile walk test. Unfortunately, these planning the trip, while extremely important, field assessments, although practical and isn’t the final step. You must now actually drive inexpensive, only provide good estimations. For the route, monitor your car for fuel and/or a more accurate assessment, you would need to malfunction, etc, and be prepared to reroute perform a lab-based VO2max test using should obstacles arise. equipment that measures the volume of oxygen and carbon dioxide being moved in and out of Preparing yourself for a walking and jogging the lungs during exercise. While more accurate, program and ultimately, trying to adapt a the expense and availability make it impractical lifestyle approach to exercise, requires similar for most. Unlike the lab test, the field preparation. You will need to: assessments are basically cost free, user Assess your current fitness (where are you friendly and require very little expertise to on the map?) conduct or perform. In addition, the key point Set goals (what is your destination’s Maximal Oxygen Consumption (VO2max )-the location?) ability to take in and utilize oxygen Chapter 2-Getting Started With a Walking/Jogging Program 3 of the assessment is measuring differences success. With goals, you get to determine what rather than absolute values and the field tests success is, you get to determine the end point. can accurately meet that objective. Without goals, you have no way to measure whether or not you’ve succeeded or not. In You will find information, such as how to safely other words, you could easily exceed your goals perform the assessments, at the end of chapter and actually think you failed. 2. To complete this step, select one or two of those assessments, read and follow the The art of setting goals includes stating them in instructions, and record your results. a clearly defined and measurable way. You should consider exactly what you would like to In addition to walking and jogging assessments, accomplish, make sure you can measure it, and other measurements can be helpful in establish a time frame in which you will have measuring the success of your activities. Given achieved your goal. These are often termed the top reasons both males and females SMART goals exercise, weight management and musculature, measuring body fat and weight along with S-specific; be as specific as possible. anthropometric measurements will help M-measurable; if you can’t measure it, determine if these areas are being affected by you won’t know you’ve completed the your walking and jogging routine. goal. A-attainable; consider whether or not Set Goals you will have the resources to obtain Using an analogy of a map, you must determine your goal (time, cost, support, etc.) your current location in order to determine the R-realistic; while your goal should be best route to get to your destination. In the challenging, it shouldn’t exceed previous step, you essentially figured out “your reasonable expectations. current location” and now must determine T-time frame; set a deadline to “your destination” by setting up some goals. accomplish your goal. In his bestselling book, 7 Habits for Highly A well stated goal will contain all of the SMART Effective People, the author Stephen Covey ingredients. Take a look at the well stated suggests you should “begin with the end in example below: mind.” 4 While this may not seem directly  I will improve my 12 minute distance applicable to walking and jogging, the greater by 10% within 2 months of the first concept of lifestyle certainly comes in to play assessment. here. Setting goals, in any activity, is important because it will lead to a greater chance of Note, all the ingredients of a well stated goal are present. It is specific (improve 12-minute Anthropometric measurements distance by 10%), measurable (10% (anthropometry)-the scientific measurement improvement), attainable and realistic (the of the body. Done by using a simple tape degree of improvement is reasonable in that measure to determine the circumference of time frame), and time frame (a clear deadline of large muscle groups, the waist, and hips. 2 months). Chapter 2-Getting Started With a Walking/Jogging Program 4 Less effective goals would be stated like this: of fat for fuel and the number of calories burned. If you feel more interested in improving 1. I will run further next time I assess my your speed, you will need to dedicate more fitness. workout time to achieving those results. This 2. I want to jog faster. idea is associated with the training principle, 3. I will lose weight called specificity, which will be discussed more And a common one: extensively in a later chapter. 4. I will exercise 3 days a week at 60% Another key principle to be emphasized is to max heart rate for 45 minutes per rely on expert recommendations to safely and session for 2 months. effectively design your program. Organizations like the American College of Sports Medicine, At a closer glance, none of these examples Coopers Clinic, the Surgeon General and many contain all of the ingredients of a well stated more have extensively researched the optimal goal. How will you measure “faster?” “Further” frequency, intensity and duration for aerobic is not specific enough nor is “lose weight.” In exercise. As a result, recommendations have the last example, this is not a goal at all. It is a been widely distributed to help guide plan to achieve a goal that hasn’t been stated. participation in activities such as walking and jogging. Trained professionals such as personal In the end, setting up well stated goals will give trainers, coaches, and physicians have taken the you the best chance to convert good intentions recommendations and applied them to client’s in to a successful lifestyle. needs while modifying when necessary. To complete this step, you should write down 2- Thousands of books and articles have been 3 personal goals, stated in the SMART format, published to disseminate their ideas and how and put them in a place you will see them they can be applied to the general public. frequently. Because of the volume of information, much of Create a Plan the details of this step, creating a plan, have been entered in chapter 3 and 4. There, we will Now that you know exactly what it is you want discuss choosing proper equipment, the to achieve, begin generating a strategy that will adaptation to stress training principles, and the help you reach your goals. As you strategize, actual physiological adaptations that come from your goal in this step is to determine the aerobic exercise such as walking and jogging. frequency, the intensity, and duration of your After reading and understanding the material exercise sessions. While doing this, it is there, you will want to get your plan in writing. imperative to keep in mind a few key principles. At the end of chapter 3, you will find a form that will help you to complete this step. One obvious, but still key principle, is to use your goals as the foundation for your walking Follow Through and jogging program. If your goal is related to weight loss, this should drive the frequency, Once you’ve assessed your fitness and created duration, and intensity of your daily workouts your own plan, you’re over half way there to as these variables will influence your body’s use checking your goals off the to do list. Now is Chapter 2-Getting Started With a Walking/Jogging Program 5 when the rubber hits the road, as the old adage days per week of activity, and realistic goes. With the investment of a well thought out periods of time (20-30 min per session). and designed program comes the returns from  Low Intensity/low volume-As fitness good execution. The planning is really the hard improves, you will want to gradually part. Now that you know what to do and how to increase your efforts in terms of quantity do it, it’s a simple matter of doing it. and quality. You can do this with more time and frequency (called volume) or you can Unfortunately, the ability to stick with a increase your intensity. In beginning a program has proven difficult for most (cite program, don’t change both at the same statistics of starting an exercise program). time. In order to prevent getting derailed from your  Keep Track-results from a walking and program you should identify barriers that may jogging program often occur slowly, subtly, prevent you from consistently following and in a very anti-climatic way. As a result, through. One of the most common challenges participants become discouraged when the cited is time. Work schedules, school, child care, immediate changes don’t seem to be and the activities of daily living can leave you happening. Keeping track of your consistent with little time to pursue your walking and efforts, body composition, and fitness test jogging goals. Make a list of the items that results will give you encouragement and prevent you from regular exercise and then motivation to continue as the subtleties of analyze when you could squeeze in your the results will be more obvious. exercise time. This could be walking or jogging  Seek Support-Look for friends, family during your child’s athletic practice, or members, clubs, or even virtual support extending the daily walking of the dog another using apps and other online forums. 15-20 minutes. Support is imperative as it will provide you with motivation, encouragement and Regardless of how you fit your exercise in, people who share a common interest, all of consider how you can do so consistently. Below which are factors in your ability to are a few additional tips on successfully consistently engage in your fitness program. becoming consistent in your routine.  Vary your activities from time to time-Your overall goals are to be consistent, build your  Think long term, think lifestyle-The goal is to cardiovascular fitness, and reap the health make walking and jogging an activity you benefits associated with your routine. From enjoy and can enjoy throughout your life. time to time, to avoid boredom, mix up This won’t occur overnight and will take your activities. Instead of walking, play time do develop your ideal routine. Begin basketball or ride a bike. Go to different with this in mind and be patient as you locations such as hiking trails, parks or work through the challenges of making this another “new” location to keep things a consistent routine. fresh.  Start out Slowly-Once again, you’re in this  Have Fun-You will have to enjoy your for the long haul. No need to overdo it in activities if they’re going to stick as a the first week. Plan for low intensity, 2-3 lifestyle. While you can’t expect everyday to be a party, you shouldn’t dread doing your Chapter 2-Getting Started With a Walking/Jogging Program 6  walking and jogging routine. If you do, you coming traffic as opposed to going with the should consider varying your activities traffic and unaware of the approaching traffic more, or finding a new routine you find from behind. By wearing bright, reflective more enjoyable. material, a walker/jogger is more visible and  Eat Right and Exercise-Nothing can be more safer by going against traffic. frustrating than being consistent in your A second key principle is to recognize and to exercise but not seeing the results on the avoid the extremes. This can be applied in many weight-scale (a major reason for many ways. For example, areas of heavy traffic versus beginning a walking and jogging routine). Eating a balanced diet will accelerate your extremely isolated areas, heavy populated areas versus no one around, early morning results and allow you to feel more versus late at night, or times of extreme cold successful throughout your activities. More on eating properly can be found in Chapter versus extreme heat. These types of environmental conditions justify not using 5. headphones for better hearing, not Safety Habits walking/jogging alone, preparing for adequate hydration in the heat, and so on. Regardless, As activity rates among Americans improve, extreme conditions require extra vigilance on safety concerns become extremely important. your part. Unfortunately, the physical infrastructure of many American cities is simply not built to A third key principle is to simply use your brain. accommodate walkers and joggers without While this seems obvious, it unfortunately gets going to a local park or trail. Limited financial ignored too often. Always remember the resources and de-emphasis on health priorities purpose of your exercise is for enjoyment and for local and state governments make it tough the health benefits. If these objectives could be to build roads with sidewalks, walking trails compromised by going for a run at noon in 95- surrounding parks, bike lanes, etc. In addition, degree heat, or during morning rush hour in low time constraints and inconvenience make it light conditions, you should reconsider your challenging for participants to want to travel to plan. Before exercising in what could be a risky areas where these things are available. As a circumstance, you should ask yourself, ”Is there result, walkers and joggers use roads and a safer option available?” isolated trails/pathways inherently increasing the risk of being active. Last, be aware of the terrain and weather conditions. Walking or jogging on trails is a Whether on the road or off the beaten path, wonderful way to enjoy mother nature but there are a few critical concepts to safe walking exposed roots and rocks present a hazard for and jogging. The first key concept is visibility. staying upright. Wet, muddy, or icy conditions You want to be able to see what’s coming also create an additional variable to consider so ahead and you want those approaching to be you can complete your session without able to see you. This point can be illustrated by accident. going against traffic, although it may seem The below table outlines specific safety tips that counterintuitive, when walking or jogging on the road. This allows the walker to see the on- should help you stay safe in your activities. Chapter 2-Getting Started With a Walking/Jogging Program 7 From the University of Texas-San Antonio in low volume and will become more yellow in color. https://www.utsa.edu/utsapd/Crime_Preventio n/Crime_prevention%20pdf/Safety%20Tips%20 Another simple method involves weighing for%20Runners.pdf yourself before and after a workout (see lab). This is a great way to see first hand how much Environmental Conditions water weight is lost during an exercise session When exercising outdoors, you must consider primarily as a result of sweat. Your goal is to the elements and other factors that could place maintain your pre and post body weight by you at abnormal risk of injury or illness. drinking fluids during and after the workout to restore what was lost. When combined with Heat Related Illness urine-monitoring, a fairly accurate level of monitoring hydration can be achieved. Heat related illnesses such as heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke contributed to The best fluid for maintaining a hydrated state 7233 deaths in the United States between 1999 is simply drinking plenty of water throughout and 2009. In a 2013 report released by the the day. In previous years, recommendations Center for Disease control, stated that about for the amount of water to drink were a one 658 deaths from heat related illnesses occurred size fits all of about 48-64 oz. per day, per every year which account for more deaths than person. In an effort to individualize hydration, tornadoes, hurricanes, and lightning combined. experts now recommend fluid intake based on Of those deaths, most were male, older adults. 5 your size, gender, activity levels, and climate. Generally, half an ounce (fluid ounces) to 1 The number one risk factor associated with heat ounce per pound of body weight is related illness is hydration. It is essentially the recommended.6 For a 150 lb. individual, this starting point of all heat related illness. would mean 75-150 oz. of water per day! While Unfortunately, sweat loss can occur at a faster there is still considerable debate over the exact rate than you can replace with fluids during amounts, you should continually monitor your exercise, especially at high intensities. Even hydration through the techniques mentioned when trying to hydrate, ingestion of large previously as insufficient hydration leads to amounts of fluids during exercise can lead to poor performance, poor health and potentially stomach discomfort. What does this mean? serious illness. Hydration must begin before exercise and must become part of your daily routine. It should be noted that electrolyte “sport” drinks (Gatorade, Powerade, etc.) are often Several practical methods of monitoring your used to maintain hydration. While they can be hydration levels exists. One simple method, effective, these types of drinks were designed while not full proof, is to simply monitor the to replace electrolytes (potassium, sodium, color of your urine. In a hydrated state, chloride) that are lost in sweat during activity. urination will occur frequently (every 2-3 hours) In addition, they contain carbohydrates to assist and urine will have very little color. In a in maintaining energy during activities of long dehydrated state, urination occurs infrequently duration. If the activity planned is shorter than 60 minutes in duration, water is still the Chapter 2-Getting Started With a Walking/Jogging Program 8 recommended fluid. For activities beyond 60 Stay dry-Heat loss occurs 25x faster in water minutes, a sports drink should be used. than on dry land. As such, keeping shoes/socks dry, shirts from accumulating too much sweat, etc. will allow for more Cold Related Illnesses effective body temperature regulation. Dress appropriately-Because of the Much like hot environmental conditions, cold movement involved, the body will produce weather conditions can be equally as dangerous heat during the exercise session. Therefore, without taking proper precautions. However, the key point is to direct moisture (sweat) unlike the heat, you are trying to prevent too away from the skin. This is controlled most much heat from being lost. The three major effectively by layering your clothing. A base concerns related to cold-related illnesses are: layer of moisture wicking fabric should be hypothermia, frost-nip, and frost bite. used against the skin while additional layers should be breathable. This will channel As in the case with heat related illness, the moisture away from the skin and additional objective of preventing cold related illnesses is layers of clothing without becoming to maintain the proper body temperature of saturated in sweat. If exercising on a windy between 98.6 and 99.9 degrees Fahrenheit. If day, use clothing that protects from the body temperature falls below 98.6 F, multiple wind and is adjustable so you can manage symptoms may appear indicating the need to breathability. take action. Some of those symptoms include: Cover the extremeties-Those parts of the Shivering body furthest from the heart tend to get Numbness and stiffness of joints and coldest first (toes, fingers, ears). Take the appendages appropriate steps to cover those areas by Loss of dexterity and/or poor using gloves, good socks and the head. coordination Peeling or blistering of skin, especially to exposed areas References: Discoloration of the skin in the 1. Dictionary.com, retrieved April 29, 2017, extremeties “lifestyle,” When walking or jogging in the cold it is http://www.dictionary.com/browse/lifestyl important to take the necessary steps to avoid e?s=t problems that can arise from the environmental 2. American College of Sports Medicine, 7th conditions. Edition, ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, Philadelphia, PA, Hydration is key-cold air is usually drier air Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, p. 10 which leads to moisture loss through 3. American College of Sports Medicine, 7th breathing and evaporation. Staying Edition, ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise hydrated is key in maintaining blood flow Testing and Prescription, Philadelphia, PA, and regulating temperature. Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, p. 27 Chapter 2-Getting Started With a Walking/Jogging Program 9 4. Covey, Stephen R., retrieved April 2017, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Habit 2”, https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7h abits-habit2.php 5. Center for Disease Control, Retrieved April 2017, CDC: Quick Stats: Number of Heat- related Deaths, by Sex-National Vital Statistics System-United States, 1999-2010, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mm wrhtml/mm6136a6.htm 6. Mayo Clinic, retrieved April 2017, Water: How Much Should You Drink Each Day? http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy- lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in- depth/water/art-20044256 Chapter 2-Getting Started With a Walking/Jogging Program 10 Chapter 3 speed up to circulate more oxygen-rich blood, your lungs must work harder to bring in more oxygen and get rid of carbon Principles of Stress and dioxide, the endocrine system must release additional hormones and much more. This Adaptations to Exercise is easily detected by the sensation of D increased heart rate, faster breathing and eveloping aerobic fitness can be an maybe even sweating. These physiological exciting and invigorating task. If not changes, in response to exercise, illustrate done properly, however, it can also the concept of acute, or brief, adaptations. become very discouraging as your Specific acute adaptations as a result of perceived results seemingly don’t justify the walking and jogging: effort. To really understand if your training plan is working or not, you need to  Increased heart rate understand what to look for in terms of  Increased breathing rate and depth changes. In other words, you should be able of breathing to answer the simple question: How will my  Release of norepinephrine body change if I consistently perform a (noradrenaline), epinephrine walking/jogging routine? (adrenaline), cortisol, endorphins, When referring to change, exercise and inhibition of insulin. scientists generally use the term  Body temperature increase “adaptation.” The human body has an followed with temperature amazing capacity to physically adapt when regulation. exposed to challenging or stressful activities  Blood pressure increase such as exercise. Adaptation to stress can  Increase in cellular metabolism occur as short or long term changes (acute  Increase in nervous system and or chronic adaptation, respectively). Most skeletal muscle activity importantly, fitness is the result of chronic adaptations. In this chapter, we will discuss From the short list above, it’s evident the physical changes that occur as a result that walking and jogging requires significant of exposure to exercise, specifically walking physiological changes, when compared to and jogging, and how to use that knowledge the resting state of the body, to manage the to your advantage when creating a personal energy requirements of an activity. For fitness plan. many, especially those unfamiliar with exercise, this experience can be quite Acute Adaptation uncomfortable when either starting the exercise session or first beginning a routine. At rest, the human body functions at a The resulting fatigue and occasional minimal level to maintain the necessary soreness can last for hours to days. functions required to sustain life. When you However, it is important to are exposed to a stressful situation, such as understand that this response is normal. walking at a brisk pace or jogging, your While the acute adaptations occur during body must respond to meet the increased every exercise session, your body will adapt demands of the activity. Your heart must over time, altering the degree of these Chapter 3-Principles of Stress and Adaptations to Exercise 1 acute effects. For example, for individuals oxygen and nutrients in the blood. They who haven’t participated in vigorous also produce waste products as a result of exercise for several months but begin a new cellular metabolism which then enters the routine, they may experience significant blood circulation (see figure 3.1). soreness after the first few exercise At this point, a series of questions must sessions. But, beyond the first few sessions be answered to make this discussion the body will adapt. So long as they remain relevant. consistent in their efforts, they will likely not have to deal with soreness again. These What is accomplished by the cardio- adaptations, labeled chronic adaptation, respiratory system? don’t simply go away when the exercise Why do the cells need the oxygen session ends. They are long-term changes, and nutrients delivered in the though not permeant. blood? Chronic Adaptations The answer to both questions is simple: energy. Before digging into specific adaptions, it is The cardiorespiratory system must important to understand the physical work effectively in order to create an demands of exercise. By understanding environment in the cell in which energy can what needs to change, it will be easier to be produced. Energy, in it’s basic form of understand what actual changes occur and adenosine triphosphate (ATP), is created in how to change those areas when you create the cells and must be available for the body a training routine. to function. In other words, when you begin First, let’s take a look at the working walking or jogging, you must increase the parts of the body specific to walking and production of energy, or ATP, to meet the jogging. The cardiorespiratory system demands of the activity. Every activity, from consists primarily of the heart and lungs. rest to jogging a marathon, requires a The purpose of the heart is to pump certain amount of energy. In order to nutrients and oxygen rich blood to the improve your fitness, you must increase body’s cells and deliver waste product, such your capacity to generate more energy, i.e. as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), to the lungs. The adapt. This, of course, is driven by the lungs work in tandem with the heart to chronic adaptations which come as a result bring oxygen into the blood so it can then of consistent training. be pumped by the heart, and to get rid of As stated previously, in order to waste such as CO 2 by exhaling into the produce more energy, you must become external environment. more fit. For example, if you would like to Of course the arteries, veins, and increase your mile jogging time from 10 capillaries (along with the heart are minutes to 9 minutes, you will need to alter collectively part of the cardiovascular the way your body produces energy. Figure system) cannot go with out being 3.1 illustrates a simplified version of the mentioned. They serve as the highways for working components of the cardio- delivering blood to the body’s cells. As respiratory system. another important part of this puzzle, the muscle cells serve as the endpoint for the Chapter 3-Principles of Stress and Adaptations to Exercise 2  Pulmonary Adaptations The lungs function to bring oxygen into the cardiorespiratory system. As you inhale, your lungs (right and left sides) fill with oxygen. As a result, the increased pressure inside your lungs drives oxygen into the poorly oxygenated blood circulating past the lungs. While oxygen moves into the blood, CO 2 simultaneously moves out of the blood into the lungs and is removed when you exhale. In terms of adaptations, oxygen is key. Much like a manufacturer’s supply chain which requires more raw material to produce more product, the lungs must be able to handle more oxygen if more energy is to be produced. Interestingly enough, this is what happens with improved fitness. As a result of consistent training, two very important adaptations to respiration occur. First, the pulmonary ventilation capacity increases. This means the amount of air inhaled increases from about 100-120 L/min to about 130-150 L/min in previously untrained athletes. In large, well trained endurance athletes, this number can exceed 200 L/min!1 Secondly, the air inhaled and it’s ability to move from the lungs to the bloodstream also changes (called pulmonary diffusion). Although your lungs may fill up with oxygen after a good breath, the total amount of oxygen in your lungs does not go into the blood stream. There is a “residual” amount left over which may linger in the lungs or be exhaled. However, By Hikmet Gümüş - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, in trained individuals, a greater percentage https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28813430 of oxygen which initially fills the lungs moves into the blood stream.1 As you look at the illustration, think about Both of these adaptations are how these working components could be important because they enable more altered to enable more ATP production. oxygen to move into the blood, which can Chapter 3-Principles of Stress and Adaptations to Exercise 3 then be delivered to cells for ATP same individual might find that at the same production. pace, the heart rate is now at 140 beats per minute. This means the heart doesn’t have Cardiovascular Adaptations to work as hard to do the same amount of work. More oxygen in the arteries would be As resting heart rate decreases, the meaningless unless this oxygen can then be resting time between heart beats is delivered to the cells. The heart serves as a extended. During this resting time is when pump, to generate pressure in the arteries the four chambers of the heart fill with so blood can flow efficiently to the areas of blood. With more time between beats, the body in need of what is found in the more blood can enter the heart’s chambers blood. in preparation for the next beat. In As a result of training, the heart’s combination with the more forceful capacity to circulate blood increases. One contractions, the increased filling time example of how this might occur can be contributes to an increase in stroke seen in the size of the heart. Like other volume, or the amount of blood being muscles of the body, the heart muscle ejected from the heart per beat. increases with training. Specifically, the left As you can see, both heart rate and ventricle, one of the four chambers of the stroke volume contribute to the efficiency heart, increases in mass and thickness, a and capacity of the heart to circulate larger condition know as cardiac hypertrophy. amounts of blood. When combined into a With a larger heart muscle, the heart formula, the product of stroke volume and contracts more forcefully pumping more heart rate determine cardiac output (often blood per beat compared to the untrained labeled Q), a key indicator of cardiac health state. and fitness. Another example, which may be Q=stroke volume X heart rate related to cardiac hypertrophy, can be seen in the heart rate. It’s not uncommon to see At rest, in both trained and untrained resting heart rate decrease as a result of individuals, Q remains close to the same at endurance training. On average, the rate of about 5-6 L/min. The decreased resting the heart at rest or resting heart rate is heart rate essentially cancels out the around 70-75 beats per minute. While the increased stroke volume. However, during cause is not entirely known, some estimate exercise, Q is significantly higher in trained declines of 1 beat per minute, per week of individuals, reaching over 30 L/min as training. Highly trained endurance athletes opposed to 20 L/min in untrained may see their resting heart rate between 30 individuals. 2 and 40 beats per minute. Not only does this occur at rest, but also at a given The Cells submaximal work load. For example, if an untrained individual were to measure The endpoint for nutrition and oxygen his/her heart rate while jogging at 11 found in the blood is the cells. Cells need minutes per mile in an initial assessment oxygen and fuel to generate ATP. In order and found their heart rate to be 150 beats to produce more ATP, cells must increase per minute, with 6 weeks of training that Chapter 3-Principles of Stress and Adaptations to Exercise 4 their ability to process oxygen and other When thought of in the context of specific nutrients. adaptations, the heart, lungs and cells all The beginning of this, at the level of play a significant roll in this measurement. A the cell, is to remove the oxygen from the large VO 2max would indicate that the lungs blood. Just because it’s available in the are operating at high levels (taking in the blood, doesn’t do us any good unless we O 2 ), the heart is pumping efficiently, and can extract it and use it. Scientists can the cells are processing the additional measure the amount of oxygen in oxygen properly. arteries/veins before and after it is taken in So, while measuring lung capacity, by the cells, a measurement called the stroke volume and a-vO 2 difference is arteriole-venuole difference (a-vO 2 diff). important, a better predictor of The difference indicates the amount taken performance can be seen by measuring the up by the cell. Trained individuals have a VO 2max. Presumably, the greater the VO 2max , greater a-vO2 difference than their the better an athlete can perform. Luckily, untrained counterparts, implying cell in VO 2max is a very adaptable component of trained individuals can remove more aerobic fitness. By some accounts, it can oxygen into the cell than those who are increase by up to 50%, depending on the untrained. starting fitness level. In addition to the a-vO 2 difference, It can also be used as a strong the working components of the cell must predictor of health when trying to assess adapt to promote increased ATP cardiorespiratory fitness. The ACSM production. Using the previous analogy of a suggests three important areas can be manufacturing supply chain, once the raw measured in maximal oxygen consumption materials arrive to the manufacturing measurements: an indication of factory, the factory must then be able to cardiorespiratory health, an indication of process the new materials. So it is with activity levels, and a predictor of all-cause energy production. mortality. 3 The work horse of aerobic VO 2max is measured most accurately metabolism, and ATP production, occurs in in a laboratory in which the subject the mitochondria of the cell. In response to exercises until complete exhaustion while aerobic training, cells develop more and using a special mouthpiece attached to a larger mitochondria. Clearly, this creates a computer to analyze oxygen intake and CO 2 “bigger factory” for ATP production which output. in turn equals the ability to do more work. Other measurement techniques use prediction equations to estimate VO 2max. VO 2max While less accurate, these prediction equations provide a practical and simple So far, we have discussed specific way to assess cardiorespiratory fitness. For adaptations of the heart, lungs and cells. the purposes of the general public, the Collectively, these adaptations can be more important measurement is the measured by determining the VO 2max. If change between beginning and ending you’ll recall, VO 2max , or maximal oxygen fitness levels which these model can do consumption, is a measurement of the accurately enough. body’s ability to take in and utilize oxygen. Chapter 3-Principles of Stress and Adaptations to Exercise 5  The VO 2max measurement can be threshold. For example, a runner may reach expressed in multiple ways. Often, it is his/her LT when jogging a 7:30 min/mi measured in liters per minute (L/min), pace, and when the heart rate is at 156 indicating an absolute value of how much beats per minute. In order to improve oxygen has been taken in. Because adult fitness, this runner must adapt so that the males generally have larger lungs than new LT occurs at 7:00 min/mi pace and 163 females, an absolute measurement could beats per minute. In other words, the be interpreted as males being superior to runner can now buffer more lactic acid females in aerobic capacity. However, the delaying fatigue and improving mile time by measurement more accurately compares 30 seconds per mile. Over the course of a men and women when expressed as marathon, that’s a 13-minute milliliters per minute per kilogram of body improvement! weight (mL/kg/min). When expressed this This is, in fact, what happens with way, size is incorporated into the consistent aerobic training. When charted measurement giving a much clearer picture along with the heart rate, the LT shifts to of true aerobic capacity. A chart of various the right (see figure 3.2) as fitness sports and average VO 2max ratings can be improves. Well trained athletes may see found below. Also, a chart of ranges of their LT at 90% or more of their max heart VO 2max can be seen at the end of this rate! This essentially means an athlete can chapter. exercise at near maximum effort without getting fatigued as a result of lactic acid Lactate Threshold build up. Another area that significantly relates to fitness is the body’s ability to buffer lactic Section II acid build up in the blood. Lactic acid, often Principles of Adaptation to Stress incorrectly associated with muscle soreness, results from cellular metabolism. For many readers, the actual adaptations As cells process fuel (carbohydrates) in that occur as a result of consistent aerobic order to produce ATP, lactic acid is training are uninteresting and seemingly produced and released into the blood irrelevant to learning how to create a stream. At low levels, the body’s natural walking and jogging plan. However, because buffering capacity prevents lactic acid from these adaptations are key markers of building up and negatively impacting fitness, knowing what adaptations occur performance. However, during high should help guide you in how to target intensity endurance exercise, high levels of them in your plan. This section outlines the lactic acid is produced, overwhelming the principles of adaptation to stress, or the buffering capacity and fatigue ensues. That “how” part of organizing an exercise plan. tipping point, the point in which the buffering capacity is overwhelmed, is called Overload Principle the lactate threshold (LT). Considered by most to be the best Consider the old saying, “No pain, no gain.” predictor of performance, the goal in What does this really mean? Is it really improving fitness is to improve the lactate Chapter 3-Principles of Stress and Adaptations to Exercise 6 saying that exercise must be painful to get Each variable can be used independently or anything from it? Absolutely not. If that in combination with other variables to were the case, it would make exercise a lot impose new stress and stimulate less enjoyable. Maybe a better way to relay adaptation. Such is the case for frequency the same message would be to say and time. improvements are driven by stress. Physical Frequency relates to how often stress, such as walking at a brisk pace or exercises are performed over a period of jogging, places increased stress on the time. In most cases, the number of walking regulatory systems that manage increased or jogging sessions would be determined heart rate and blood pressure, increased over the course of a week. A beginner, may energy production, increased breathing, determine that 2-3 exercise sessions a week and even sweating for temperature are sufficient enough to stimulate regulation. The subsequent adaptations improvements in VO2max. On the other that occur, make it so that the same stress hand, a seasoned veteran may find that 2-3 previously experienced feels less stressful. days isn’t enough to really stress the As a result, more stress must be applied to system. Per overload principle, as fitness the system in order to stimulate improves so must the stress to continue to improvements, a principle known as the improve and avoid plateau. Expert overload principle. recommendations suggest for optimal For example, a beginning weight health and improvement you should plan to lifter performs squats with 10 repetitions at walk or jog “most” days of the week (4-5 150 lbs. After 2 weeks of lifting this weight, days a week). the lifter notices the 150 lbs. feels easier The duration of exercise, or time, also during the lift and afterward there is less contributes to the amount of stress fatigue. So, 20 lbs. are added and the lifter experienced during a workout. Certainly, a continues with the newly established stress 30-minute brisk walk is less stressful on the of 170 lbs. The lifter will continue to get body than a 4-hour marathon. Experts stronger until he reaches his maximum recommend 30-90 minutes per exercise capacity or the stress stays the same at session to adequately stimulate adaptation. which point his strength will simply plateau. In the beginning phases of developing a This same principle can not only be applied plan, you should aim for the lower range of to gaining muscular strength, but also the recommendations with the intent to flexibility, muscular endurance and gradually increase the duration of your cardiorespiratory endurance. sessions as your fitness progresses. Although independent, frequency and FITT time are often combined into the blanket term, volume. The idea is that volume more In exercise, the amount of stress placed on accurately reflects the amount of stress the body can be controlled by four experienced. For example, when attempting variables: Frequency, Intensity, time to create a walking and jogging plan, you (duration), and type, better known as FITT. may organize 2 weeks like this: Frequency and Time Week 1-three days a week at 30 minutes per session Chapter 3-Principles of Stress and Adaptations to Exercise 7  Week 2-four days a week at 45 performance in a 10k, you will need to minutes per session spend most of your training time jogging, as you would do in the actual 10k. In other At first glance, this might appear to be a words, train the way you want to adapt. good progression of frequency and time. This concept, called the principle of However, when calculated in terms of specificity, should be taken in to volume, you see the aggressive nature of consideration when creating a training plan. the progression. In week 1, three days at 30 In this discussion of type and the minutes per session equals 90 minutes of principle of specificity, a few additional total exercise. In week two, this amount items should be considered. Stress, as it was doubled with four days at 45 minutes relates to exercise, is very specific. There equaling 180 minutes of total exercise. are multiple types of stress. The three main Doing too much, too soon, will almost stressors are: metabolic stress, force stress, certainly lead to burn out, severe fatigue, and environmental stress. Keep in mind, the and injury. body will adapt based on the type of stress Scientists, such as Hunter Allen, being placed on it. have developed many ways to monitor the Metabolic stress results from proper amount of weekly volume by way of exercise sessions when the energy systems stress calculations. The concept takes in to of the body are taxed. For example, account the time, the intensity of effort, sprinting short distances requires near and the distance and creates a training maximum intensity and requires energy stress score (TSS). The TSS can then be used (ATP) to be produced primarily through to estimate possibility of over stressing the anaerobic pathways (pathways not body or fine tuning the amount of stress requiring oxygen to produce ATP). and rest so optimal fitness can be achieved. Anaerobic energy production can only be supported for a very limited time (10 Type seconds to 2 minutes). However, distance running at steady paces require aerobic Simply put, the type of exercise you energy production, which can last for hours. perform should reflect your goals. In As a result, the training strategy for the walking and jogging, the objective of the distance runner must be different than the exercise is to stimulate the training plan of a sprinter so the energy cardiorespiratory system. Other activities systems will adequately adapt. that accomplish the same objective include Likewise, force stress accounts for swimming, biking, dancing, cross country the amount of force required during an skiing, aerobic classes, and much more. So, activity. In weight lifting, significant force these activities can be used to build lung production is required to lift heavy loads. capacity and improve cellular and heart The type of muscles being developed, fast- function. twitch muscle fibers, must be recruited to However, the more specific the support the activity. In walking and jogging, exercise the better. While vigorous ball the forces being absorbed come from the room dancing will certainly help develop body weight combined with forward the cardiorespiratory system, it will unlikely momentum. Slow twitch fibers which are improve your 10k time. To improve your unable to generate as much force as the Chapter 3-Principles of Stress and Adaptations to Exercise 8 fast twicth fibers, are the type of muscle oxygen demands increase and so does heart fibers primarily recruited in this activity. rate. See figure 3.3. Because the force requirements differ, the Because of this relationship, heart training strategies must also vary to rate can be used to help in the design of develop the right kind of musculature. your walking and jogging program. This is Environmental stress, such as accomplished by creating heart rate zones. exercising in the heat, places a tremendous Heart rate zones represent an intensity amount of stress on the thermoregulatory range, a low end heart rate and a high end, to the heat, sweating increases as does in which you could carry out your walking or plasma volume, making it much easier to jogging session. keep the body at normal temperatures The first step in determining your during exercise. The only way to adapt is target heart rate (THR), is to determine through heat exposure which can take days your maximum heart rate (MHR), both to weeks to properly adapt. measured in beats per minute (bpm). In summary, being specific in your Generally, MHR is estimated to be your age training, or training the way you want to subtracted from 220 beats per minute. In adapt, is paramount. So, when you create other words, your heart rate should your training plan, base your training on theoretically stop increasing once it reaches your goals. the calculated maximum. While helpful, it’s not uncommon to see variances in the Intensity laboratory tested maximum heart rate versus the calculated method (see Max Intensity, the degree or difficulty at which Heart Rate below). Other studies have also the exercise is carried out, is the most determined that more accurate prediction important variable of FITT. More than any equations exist that is consistently more of the others, intensity drives adaptation. accurate such as 207-.7 x age. 3 However, Because of it’s importance, it’s imperative for the sake of what’s most commonly used, to quantify your intensity as opposed to we will use 220-age. estimating it as hard, easy, etc. Not only will The next step in calculating THR is to this help you understand your effort level calculate a percentage of your max. This is during the exercise session, but it will also done using two different methods. Keep in help you design your session to mind, finding the THR is the objective in accommodate your goals. both methods even though slightly different