Home » Health » Get fit faster, but don’t get hurt | exercise

Get fit faster, but don’t get hurt | exercise

Our culture is obsessed with the aesthetic results of fitness, but the true richness of regular training lies in the practical benefits: a stronger, better-functioning body and a clearer mind. The science has shown that the exercise Physical fitness can prolong our lives, lift our spirits, and prevent cognitive decline more reliably than anything else we can do.

Despite recent discoveries of how essential exercise is to our well-being, most of us move less than ever. Only 20 percent of Americans do the recommended 150 minutes of strength training and cardiovascular activity per week for optimal health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There are several reasons why we don’t move as much as before. Modern conveniences have eliminated the need for many physical activities that our ancestors were forced to do. Now, even if we want to exercise, it becomes something else that we have to cram into our already busy day.

Maybe that’s why CrossFit, boot camp, and other intense exercise styles have become so popular in the past decade. Selling points promise everything we want to hear: rapid fat loss, more energy, elevated mood, improved lung capacity, and a stronger heart in less time, plus research supporting all of these claims.

However, to make these claims come true, you have to be able to put pressure on yourself — and know when to take it easy.

A new workout

The technique used for this type of training is called high intensity interval training (HIIT). HIIT can be applied to any form of heart pumping exercise — just add more intensity. Imagine calisthenics in fast forward.

Unlike traditional cardiovascular exercises – in which exercisers seek a steady but moderate pace for half an hour or more – HIIT requires you to do everything and then relax for a moment, alternating short bursts of intense exertion with short periods of rest. .

In terms of fitness goals, alternating work and rest really pays off. Studies show that HIIT compromises more muscle fibers and burns more calories in less time compared to conventional workouts. It also keeps your metabolism racing for 24 hours after you finish exercising.

In theory, the more intense your HIIT routine, the sooner you will see results. But this only works if your body is up to the challenge. Doing it too hard, or too often, can easily result in a kick.

Kai marshall is a personal trainer and strength coach in Fort Worth, Texas who specializes in HIIT. He says high-intensity exercise can be good for everyone, as long as they respect the limits of their bodies.

“You want to exercise hard, but you don’t want to get past the point where you’re going to get hurt,” Marshall said.

The intensity added by HIIT brings with it an increased risk of injury; Marshall says the most aggressive is CrossFit. This advanced form of HIIT has earned a reputation for quick results, but for those new to exercise, it can do more harm than good.

“This is not for people who have never exercised before and have difficulty learning the movements,” said Marshall. “It takes a minimum of five years to learn these movements perfectly.”

Doing it properly is important when doing any exercise, but it’s especially crucial with HIIT. Repeated straining of the joints from misalignment at high speed can end up damaging your body.

Dr. Armin Tehrany, Honorary Surgeon of the New York Police Department and founder of Manhattan Orthopedic CareYou have seen a significant number of knee and shoulder injuries due to HIIT. Most sprains, meniscus tears, cartilage damage, and other orthopedic injuries that fall under your care are typically the result of CrossFit.

“This involves many intense routines that require rotation under pressure,” Tehrany said. “This has the potential to cause dislocation and tears.”

And not just for beginners. Tehrany says that many of her patients with a long history of exercise may not notice the degenerative process as it unfolds over months or years. A sudden increase in intensity in a weak or compromised area would become the drop that spilled the cup.

As long as people can get caught up in the quick gains of a HIIT routine, Tehrany urges them to remember the basics.

“It is important to balance the musculature around the joint with proper stretching, strengthening, and prevention programs,” he said.

Take it to the limit

The benefits of physical exercise are created through a biological principle called hormesis, which holds that a small, controlled dose of stress can condition your body to better handle life’s unpredictable stress.

Strength training and aerobic exercise propel your body to a level beyond your normal activity. The heart, muscles and the entire cardiovascular system improve with increasing demand.

By using smaller but more intense doses of stress, HIIT accelerates the rate of improvement.

“The biggest advantage is the time-saving aspect,” said Marshall. “A good HIIT class lasts 30 minutes. It is the same as running for an hour and a half for most people. You go in, you go out. Heart rate goes up. Upload the endorphins ”.

However, the body has yet to be stable and flexible enough to withstand the intensity that is thrown. And that can take time and patience.

The physical therapist Dra. Because of Wu, owner of ActiveCare Physical Therapy in New York and Mumbai, says it’s hard for the body to jump into high-intensity exercise if it’s been a long time since you’ve exercised.

“Intense exercise can challenge your endurance as well as your cardiovascular fitness,” said Wu. “If your body is not ready, it cannot carry enough oxygen to the tissues, and that means your muscles and tendons will work at a disadvantage. They will tire quickly, which means they can suffer injuries from overuse while still pushing to pass a class. ”

Muscle contractions should increase when performing a high intensity program, and this in turn increases lactic acid accumulation and muscle pain. A little pain is good — your body wins when the comfort point passes. However, if you don’t give your aching body ample chance to recover, your muscles won’t be able to contract well the next time you exercise, increasing the potential for stress and injury.

Wu mentioned a patient who went crazy with abdominal exercises – leg raises, planks, and other belly-breaking routines. The next day, he couldn’t sit down because his abs were tense and swollen.

“Actually, the abdominal tissue was torn by the number of repetitions and consecutive exercises,” Wu said.

Intuitively we seek to undo our sedentary sins by pressing in the other direction. HIIT can help speed up this process, but the search for a torn body in record time can cloud our sense of balance. HIIT advocates often judge the quality of their workouts by how “destroyed” they feel the next day, but in some cases they may actually be destroying their bodies.

Rhabdomyolysis, the rapid breakdown of muscles due to overuse, was once considered a rare condition, but a 2016 report in the American Journal of Medicine He classified the increase in rhabdomyolysis due to excessive enthusiasm for HIIT as a “public health concern”.

“When I found out about this at school, they said, ‘You will never really see this,’ and then the CrossFit got really big,” said Marshall.

Muscles improve with tension — small tears in muscle tissue caused by resistance and repetition make it grow stronger again when we rest. In rhabdomyolysis, the tissue never has a chance to recover. As work-overloaded muscle fibers deteriorate, they are released into the bloodstream and overwhelm the kidneys with a massive amount of dead protein. This condition of muscle fusion can lead to kidney failure or even death.

Tehrany says feeling sore the next day is normal, especially for beginners. However, if the pain does not go away in a day or two, you have to pay close attention.

“If it’s acute pain, or a feeling of instability that seems to be changing, that’s definitely a cause for concern,” Tehrany said. “That is something that must be verified immediately.”

Professional advice

With so many factors to consider to perform a HIIT routine properly, health experts urge those taking an intensive regimen to seek the guidance of a personal trainer or a small class geared according to their skill level.

Marshall prefers to teach no more than 10 students, so he can closely monitor how each one performs the exercise and make sure no one passes out.

“In the big classes, the coach doesn’t have time to make sure everyone does it perfectly,” he said.

Although it is better to leave CrossFit for the most advanced, HIIT can be modified for anyone, regardless of the way it is. Slower, simplified HIIT routines can be a great opportunity for beginners to get started, because breaks are part of the scheme.

“High intensity is really relative to the person who is exercising. For someone who has never exercised before, stair climbing can be like high-intensity exercise for them, “said Marshall.

One factor that Marshall adjusts as his students progress is the relationship between work and rest. Rookies rest as much as necessary between intervals to catch their breath. Later, they advance to a 1: 1 rest ratio — 30 seconds of movement followed by 30 seconds of rest.

“When you start to advance to a [proporción] 2 to 1 — working for a minute and then resting for 30 seconds — is when your heart rate starts to rise, “Marshall said.

Although Marshall is a huge HIIT fan, he admits it is not for everyone. When it comes to making exercise a lifelong habit, he encourages people to find an activity that they really enjoy.

“If you really hate high-intensity interval training, you have to find something else. Never stick with something you don’t like doing, “she said.


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