Rethinking how to get fit

Michael Mosley, the UK journalist, has presented a great programme called “The Truth about Getting Fit’ and has debunked the myths about exercise.

But before we talk about potential quicker ways to get fit, lets look at two easy tests to see how fit we are.  The first involves crossing your arms over your chest and sitting up and down on a chair as quickly as you can 10x and measuring how long it takes. Men under 35 should do this in <10 seconds, women under 35 in <12 sec, men between 35-55 in <13 sec, women 35-55 in <15 sec, and men >55 in 18 secs and women >55 in 19 sec. This exercise tests two of your main muscles, your quads and your gluteals. I was so pleased that each time I have done this it has taken me 9 sec and I am 55!

The next exercise is to test your aerobic fitness. This is not about speed or numbers of steps. It should be done at a slow/moderate pace. Step up and down on a step (any step) for 3 minutes and measure your heart rate – the lower your heart rate, the more fit you are. Men under 35 should be <105 beats per minute, women under 35 should be 110, men 35-55 should be <110 bpm and women 35-55 should be <115 bpm.  Men over 55 should be <115 and women over 55 should be <120 bpm. I managed a heart rate of 102 bpm.

I am sure you all know the health benefits of exercise. The World Health Organisation recommends that adults should do at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity throughout the week which can be increased to 300 minutes of moderate activity for additional health benefits.

So now lets look at the most efficient ways to exercise. We need to improve our cardiovascular/lung function but also increase our strength by building muscle.

Let’s first look at improving our heart and lungs. Chances are that many of you are trying to obtain your 10,000 steps a day. Interestingly, this golden figure came out of Japan as a business slogan for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. A company came up with a device called Manpo-Kei. In Japanese, “man” means 10,000, “po” means steps and “kei” means meter. So it was, literally, a 10,000 steps meter.

A scientific paper written in 2004 by Tudor-Locke and Bassett addressed the issue of 10,000 steps and said “Preliminary evidence suggests that a goal of 10000 steps/day may not be sustainable for some groups, including older adults and those living with chronic diseases.” There is a recent review on the evidence behind 10,000 step walking. They concluded that 10,000 steps per day at greater than 100 steps/minute could be an appropriate level to achieve the current physical activity recommendations.

So there is no doubt that doing 10,000 steps a day is good for your health, but to get the benefits of exercising, it is key to increase your heart rate and get out of breath. So are we making the best use of our time? Doing 10,000 steps can take a lot of time and may not be as effective to our health as doing moderate intensity exercise for a much shorter time.

Public Health England has produced a programme and app called Active 10. This programme has been produced as evidence suggests that it is more efficient to do 3 x 10 minutes of brisk walking per day instead of aiming for 10,000 steps. One of the reasons Active 10 will work is because when we exercise, it is essential to increase our heart rate and get out of breathe, which may not be achieved if 10,000 steps are done too slowly.

Michael looked at the myths around running which has numerous benefits for our health. But does it really have a negative effect on our knees? Michael says no – the evidence supports that running is good for our health and that runners have less arthritis that those who do not run. But we do not need to run for too long or too fast, especially at the start. The documentary also looked at the so called ‘Runners High’. I have written about this as I often experience a transient high in step classes. Michael reported on research that has shown that endocannabinoids are released during exercise. This review says the runners high is not as simple as endorphin release as we first thought “Exercise induces changes in mental status, particularly analgesia, sedation, anxiolysis, and a sense of wellbeing. The mechanisms underlying these changes remain unknown. Recent findings show that exercise increases serum concentrations of endocannabinoids, suggesting a possible explanation for a number of these change.”

In the BBC documentary, Michael also looked “High-intensity interval training (HIIT) which is a form of interval training, a cardiovascular exercise strategy alternating short periods of intense anaerobic exercise with less intense recovery periods.”  Research has shown that HIIT regimens produced significant reductions in the fat mass of the whole-body as it triggers changes deep in the muscle, especially around glycogen storage and release from the muscles. 

There are various HIIT workouts which usually consist of a warm up period, then several repetitions of high-intensity exercise with a short rest or lower intensity period in between. Examples are the 7 minute workout which uses high intensity exercises for 30 seconds over a 7 minute period. On the BBC documentary they used a 5 minute workout with a gentle warm up, 1 minute of start jumps, 1 minute of squats, 1 minute of running on the spot, 1 minute of squats and 1 minute of star jumps with a short rest period in between. And do not forget to stretch!

Now let’s look at building muscle which is essential for our mobility and health. We lose 1% of our muscle per year past 35 years but we can reverse this with the right exercise. In the documentary they did an experiment looking at the use of weights – low versus high weights which they used until they fatigued. At the end of the experiment, there was no difference whether low or high weights had been used. High weights were used for less time but had the same result as low weights used for longer. So it is up to you which you prefer.

In the BBC documentary they also examined cognitive function and how exercise can be good for our brain. Good news for me is that they showed dancing can increase cognitive performance, probably because the brain has to remember and apply the dance routine.

But to keep exercising we need motivation. I have written about the virtual exercise buddy, but ideally it is great if we can find friends to exercise with, or at least to follow each others activities.

Will you continue aiming for 10,000 steps or is it time to rethink your exercise regime? I am going to continue doing my classes and running, but I am going to add in the 7 minute workout at least 3 times a week.

Read More:

Global women – the health benefits of exercise

Global women – the importance of a healthy heart rate

Global women – do you stretch?

Global women – the virtual exercise buddy

Global women – have you ever experienced an exercise high

Joyce Harper is a qualified aerobics instructor and ambassador for This Girl Can Essex.