<h1>Mistakes in Exercising</h1>

I think I must have exercised all of my life, except for a few misguided, beer tsunamis in university (men's residence. I think you understand). For the first several years I ran, competing against myself, trying for a new PB, but there is a limit for PB's and I reached it quite quickly. I then turned to racewalking and became a provincial champion at age 41, setting a new record in the sport only to have it soundly defeated by a 21 year old the following year. Both running and race walking were good to me, I lost weight and remained healthy.

If only 1996 could have been avoided. That year, my legs were stricken with a terrible pain. I could not be diagnosed. I believe now it was the first tinges of PD even though I was not diagnosed until 14 years later. Now I could neither run nor race walk so I turned to swimming.

At first, I struggled to make 25 meters but by the end (when it got too expensive), I had reached one mile. One mile! Holy crap that is a long swim!

Throughout my somewhat amateur career, I made mistakes that limited my becoming very good. As Marlon Brando says to Rod Steiger in ON THE WATERFRONT, "I coulda been a contender. I could have been someone". Well maybe never a contender, but I could have been a lot better if I hadn't made the following mistakes

1. Warm up - like me you avoid it. The most I did were 3 OR 4 Stretches and that was on a good day. Had I warmed up, I might still be a champion race walker or a distance swimmer. My muscles remained too tight for any real glory. I forget how long it took to swim one mile, but I could have gone further with a warmup. So don't skip the warm up. I confess that these days, I find a warmup a little tedious, hence my many injuries. I stretch and that helps. I stupidly still avoid a warmup, save for those few stretches.

2. No stretching- if you are a person who avoids stretching, you are not taking advantage of a necessary part of your workout. You must at least be semi-flexible to compete. When I stretch, I do static stretching which I understand is not all that good for you but I am too old to change. Active stretching is now the chose du jour. Read about it on the net. It sounds interesting (search Aaron Mattes & Active isolated stretching)

3. You try to do too much, too soon. You think the longer and more frequent use of the treadmill, the sooner you will lose weight. I say work on muscle groups every second day interspersed with the treadmill. The object of exercise is to strengthen the muscle by first breaking it down and then having it recover even stronger. That process takes at least 24 hours. Overdoing it will cause injury and at some point will lead to burn out. It is only necessary to do 2.5 hours per week and give yourself break from exercise. The treadmill is great but I only ever use it every second day to allow my legs to"heal" stronger. Alternate days, I work on the upper body and take 1-2 days off for complete recovery.

4. You Avoid Strength Training. I don't want to be a muscleman/lady and strength training is hard. But you need it, A regular strength training program helps you reduce body fat and burn calories more efficiently, which can result in healthy weight loss. Strength training helps preserve and enhance your muscle mass and bone mass, regardless of your age. Sounds good, but what a pain. I was determined not to lift weights and looked for an answer to the question,"How can I strength train without heavy barbells and after much reading, I found that you can accomplish the same thing with rubber resistance bands. I now use a combination of light weights (10,12,&15 lbs) and resistance bands. Here are the benefits of strength training as set out by the CDC

   2011 opinion poll reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), less than 20 percent of women contacted said they accomplished the CDC’s recommendations for 2 1/2 hours of aerobic exercise and two periods of strength training weekly. Yet the benefits speak for themselves. Inactive adults experience a 3 to 8 percent loss of muscle mass per decade. Resistance training may increase resting metabolism by about 7 percent and help minimize muscle loss.

   
   
5. You think distance running is the best for your heart. I certainly thought so but not true. Short bursts of intensity with short periods of rest are more beneficial for weight loss, general health and overall fitness.

PS CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR - I am only offering my advice as a former runner and multiple events coach

addendum. I just was on the treadmill for half an hour averaging 3.1mph. Hardly in the same boat as my usual 4.5mph. What me worry? You have to give yourself permission to take it easy when you are not in the mood for speed. Besides, I probably lost more weight at the slow speed. Heart rate never exceeded 126.