Incorporating Muscle Fitness Into Your Weekly Schedule
Lots of people have reserved a small area in their basements or attics for Muscle fitness full of home fitness equipment. Nothing fancy, but maybe a mat and an inexpensive set of weights. I tell them not to aim for a world record. I tell them to try a weight that is ridiculously easy to lift and then see how many times they can do it.
Strength and endurance are acquired through easy, repetitive efforts at frequent intervals. Strength and stamina are the two important S’s of fitness.
Speed and skill should be reserved for the serious competitor. Exercising at irregular and infrequent intervals is asking for trouble. Trainers and coaches agree that training every day or every other day for a relatively short period is much more beneficial than a one-off workout once a week.
How many people lead a sedentary life during the week and then go overboard on the weekends! A classic example is the bank president who warms up his leather swivel chair Monday through Friday and then plays three games of tennis with his high school son under a scorching sun on Sunday.
Weekend athletes don’t need to worry when they will die, they will die in a weekend. Three or four workouts a week of about thirty minutes each can put a person in excellent shape. Because weekends provide additional time, they may include two sessions. But one or two workouts should be reserved for the middle of the week.
The question is how to find the time.
It is better to allow convenient programming. The people who often need the most recreation and exercise are those who are “too busy” to find time. Immediately one wonders how much they really want to exercise. Active people are usually efficient. “If you want a job done, pick the busiest person you know” is a family saying that honors this ability. Given a genuine desire, the hardest-pressed patients I’ve ever met can invariably spare thirty to sixty minutes to themselves. This period must be reserved in advance and become part of the routine of the day.
Otherwise, free time may never come because things never seem to loosen up.
Two blocks of time that have fit well into my own schedule are before breakfast and from 5:30 to 6:30 pm, unless medical emergencies are involved. In fact, Rash would be my secretary if she’d schedule elective appointments at a time I’ve reserved for myself.
Remember that the time spent on recreation includes not only the exercise period, but also changing clothes, showering, and traveling. For these reasons I have long since given up golf and skiing, and now enjoy sports that begin and end at my back door.
Take golf, for example, which is a sport that I love. Here is a game that combines relaxation, camaraderie, and skill. After making several phone calls to his associates to arrange a convenient date and time, our man puts on his golf gear at 8:00 am, picks up his equipment, and heads to the course. The time (conservatively) is 8:30 a.m. Three hours later, if there are no donkeys ahead of him and if his penny-pinching partner can be plucked out of that clump of gorse where his stray ball is buried forever, he ends up with a nice eighteen. . holes. The time now (very conservatively) is 11:30 am
Your bag will most likely make the circuit in a luggage rack or over a caddy’s shoulder. Hopefully, he didn’t resort to using an electric cart to completely eliminate his last chance to exercise. After the usual scorecard post-mortem, the nineteenth hole, the drive home, and the shower, once again, the father and husband are ready for Sunday dinner (current time 1:00 p.m.). ). Elapsed time five hours. However, two hours a week of properly planned recreation and exercise could put you in great shape!
Because active people have limited time and often must use odd hours, it can be a fruitless waste to select sports that require multiple participants. Hours have been wasted trying to rally men for a hockey or basketball game. And baseball is impossible!
It is all the better if a sport can be practiced during the day or at night. Not only certain outdoor activities qualify, but the entire range of indoor sports as well. Most urban areas have a variety of YMCAs, gyms, tracks, arenas, swimming pools, and gun shops.