Physical Education & Fit Living

Exercising in the heat can put you at risk for heat-related illnesses. Heat illness occurs when the body cannot sufficiently cool itself. In extreme temperatures or high humidity, your body’s normal cooling system (sweating) may not be enough.

Heat Cramps are muscle pain or spasms in the arms, legs, or abdomen, often caused by a low salt level.

Heat Exhaustion may involve fatigue, dizziness, headache, and nausea. It is generally caused by prolonged heat exposure, dehydration, and loss of salt.

Heat cramps and heat exhaustion are considered milder heat-related illnesses. To treat:

• Stop activity and rest, preferably in a cool or air-conditioned place.
• Drink clear juices or sports drinks to replenish electrolytes.
• Take a cool bath or shower.
• Seek medical treatment if symptoms worsen or last longer than one hour.

It’s summertime and exercising in the heat may be unavoidable. When exercising in the heat, it’s important to take proper precautions to prevent heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Below are some tips and hints for exercising in the heat.

• Stay hydrated! Be sure to drink plenty of fluids before, during, and after a workout.
• If exercising longer than an hour, or sweating excessively, consider re-hydrating with a sports drink that will also replenish lost electrolytes.
• Wear light weight, light colored clothing.
• Wear sunscreen. Even on overcast days you can get sunburned.
• Slow down. On hot days you may need to reduce your intensity in order to compensate for the heat.
• If necessary, find an alternative, such as changing your activity or exercising indoors.

The FITT principles are an exercise prescription to help participants understand how long and how hard they should exercise.

FITT is acronym that stands for Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type. FITT can be applied to exercise in general or specific components of exercise. For example, below are some general FITT guidelines for weekly exercise.

Frequency: Daily moderate exercise is ideal, but try to exercise a minimum of 3-5 days per week.

Intensity: Moderate to vigorous intensity exercise is recommended for adults.

Time: 30-60 minutes per day.

Type: To maintain a well-balanced fitness level, perform a variety of exercises included cardio, strength, and flexibility training.

Walking is a good physical activity and something that is easy and convenient for most people. But, how far should you walk? How many steps should you take?

If walking is your exercise of choice, it is recommended that you get a minimum of 30 minutes per day–although 60 minutes would be ideal.

If you’d like to track your total steps taken, you may wish to use a pedometer. Try wearing the pedometer for the entire day, not just when exercising. See how many steps you take throughout the day.

If you have been previously inactive, a good goal would be 5,000 steps. For others, experts recommend at least 10,000 steps per day.

An exercise log can be an important tool in helping you plan and maintain your exercise program.

A fitness log is a great way to track your progress. You can easily look back and see how you have progressed over time. In addition, it can help you plan and prepare for future workouts, as well as identify patterns of what seems to work well for you and when you have the most success.

On an exercise log, you should minimally include information about the type of workout, length, and intensity. But you can also include additional information such as the following:

• Food & hydration
• The route you took
• Distance
• Shoes or clothes worn
• Approximate calories burned
• Weight
• Weather
• Attitude
• Illness or injury
• Personal bests
• Thoughts and feelings about your workout

Snacking is often looked on negatively, but it is not a bad thing. In fact, snacking can actually help you better control your appetite and weight.

When you allow yourself to become too hungry in between meals, you often overeat at your next meal. Eating small, healthy snacks between meals can keep you from getting overly hunger.

If you have a hard time making it from lunch to dinner, plan in an afternoon snack. A good example of a snack might be a low-fat yogurt, dried or fresh fruit, nuts, trail mix, or a granola bar.

Is there such a thing as too much exercise? Yes!

Repeatedly performing the same exercises too often or training at high intensities with few rest days can lead to over training.

While some people think the more the merrier, excessive exercise can actually lead to decreased performance and muscle injury rather than increased strength and stamina. Other symptoms include exhaustion, prolonged recovery times, poor coordination, headaches, disturbed sleep patterns, agitation, and depression.

We know that exercise makes our bodies stronger, but our minds?

That’s right! Research has shown that exercise can improve cognitive function. This includes increased learning, improved memory, faster reaction times, and improved ability to establish schedules and switch between tasks, or multitask.

Not only does exercise improve brain function, but it has also been shown to combat against cognitive decline, or aging of the brain.

The Principle of Specificity maintains that if you want to see specific results, you should perform exercises that are specific to those results.

For example, if you want to increase your bicep strength, you should perform bicep exercises. If you want to run a 5K race, you should train by running. If you want to improve in a specific sport, you should perform exercises that are specific to that sport.

This principle, though simple, is important to keep in mind if there are specific results you want to see from your workouts.

The Principle of Individuality maintains that no two individuals will benefit from exercise exactly the same way physically or psychologically. Differences in genetics, age, experience, body size, and health status can all affect the outcomes of a workout.

Keeping this in mind can be important when training with a buddy or a group. Don’t fret if you don’t see the same results at the same time as others.