|
Fitness Topics
(As appeared in the Spa, 2004 issue of Healthwise magazine.)
With the arrival of warmer weather comes an increased drive to be outdoors. For exercise buffs — and for sedentary couch potatoes — now is an ideal time to incorporate frequent outdoor exercise as part of a more active lifestyle. In order to succeed with your fitness goals, select an activity that's likely to hold your interest. Five outdoor activities that are fun and will help you shape up are: power walking, roller blading, bicycling, frisbee-throwing, and handball.
POWER WALKING
It's low-impact, it burns calories and it offers numerous benefits for fitness, heart health and mood. It's also a great way to explore your environs while relaxing the mind and spirit. A New England Journal of Medicine study concluded that 5 hours or more of brisk walking each week cuts the risk of heart attack by more than 40%. It's so simple, you can even do it during your lunch break or on your way to and from work. For a 120-pound person walking at 4.5 miles per hour, 5 calories per minute (cpm) will be burned. A 170-pound person will burn 7 cpm.
ROLLER BLADING
Requiring more skills than walking, roller blading requires practice. But as your skills improve, this activity will become more enjoyable. Gliding through parks and along rivers on your own 2 feet feels more like fun than exercise. It not only helps with burning calories (at a leisurely rate - 6.4 cpm for a 120-pound person and 9 cpm for a 170-pounder), it also helps tone muscles of the outer thighs and butt.
BICYCLING
It's truly exhilarating to cruise at moderate speeds as the breeze brushes against your face and through your hair. Although not as much of a calorie burner as the other activities (at 10 mph, you'll burn 5.6 cpm if you're 120 pounds and 8 cpm if you're 170 pounds), this is a fun way to stay in shape and to keep your butt and the fronts of your thighs toned.
FRISBEE-THROWING
Playing frisbee is a deceptively challenging and surprisingly effective form of exercise. Involving a variety of movements (flinging, throwing, bending, jumping and running) along with good hand/eye coordination, frisbee-throwing burns many calories, while providing a well-rounded aerobic workout. For more vigorous fun, you and your partner should throw the frisbee 5 to 10 feet away from your target. A 120-pound person will burn 5.4 cpm, while a 170 pounder will burn 7.7 cpm.
HANDBALL
Handball offers an intense challenge, since all 4 limbs are equally recruited — demanding symmetrical effort from the major muscles. Without a racquet, more power is required - placing greater demands on muscles. There is great satisfaction in being in complete control of the ball with your own 2 hands — not to mention the "high" you feel when hitting killers. All that's needed are a good pair of tennis shoes and a handball — and perhaps a pair of handball gloves. Handball burns 7.9 cpm for a 120-pound adult and 11.2 cpm for a 170-pound adult.
Cautionary note: Playing a sport or walking several days per week does not suffice in keeping you at your fittest, shapeliest condition. Strength training needs to be performed at least 2 times per week for maintenance (3+ times per week for progress). This helps you maintain/increase strength and muscular endurance as well as safeguard yourself from potential injuries associated with increased physical activity. While outdoor activities may be vigorous enough to replace aerobic exercise, they do not provide sufficient muscular stimulation. So go out and have fun burning calories — and don't forget your strength training routines.
< Back to Fitness Topics
|
