| For
decades, people have been donning sweaters after heavy exercise.
The name sweater, in fact, has obvious origins. The sweater began
as a means of keeping the body warm and covered once it had become
hot and sweaty.
Unless exposure to inclement weather is a problem, or the individual
has particular reasons for putting on a sweater at the end of
a hot workout, the sweater myth is just that. Under normal temperature,
weather, and other conditions, the sweater simply prolongs the
body’s hot state. That helps not at all.
Some stiffness
can, of course, result from exercise. But wearing a sweater
is not the way to prevent that. Stiff ness usually has its sources
in the body’s condition—or lack of it.
The advice
that counsels moderation in launching a fitness program or in
starting new phases of it has a sound basis in physiology. The
purpose is to avoid excessive fatigue. Muscular fatigue is defined
as stimulation of a muscle or group of muscles beyond their
ability to recover. A second type of fatigue affects the entire
body. Known as physical fatigue, this form can be regarded as
normal after physical exercise if it does not suggest undue
stress.
Keep in
mind that a flexible plan may call for adjustments under different
circumstances. It may indicate sometimes that it is best to
terminate the day’s activities. On other occasions, it may require
elimination of some exercises and continuation with others.
? Your knee
begins to bother you. You drop the exercises calling for knee
exertion and retain those that don’t.
? You get
a “stitch” in your side. Because it hurts continually, you decide
to downplay those exercises—for that day—that produce or exacerbate
the discomfort.
? While running
in place, you find yourself troubled by shin splints, those
pains along the sides of the shin bones. You stop running and
turn to something else.
Flexibility
can exist alongside dedication to a program. As common sense
dictates, the individual should sometimes slow down or blow
the whistle completely on some exercises. Even Napoleon retreated
now and then.
Another
important principle should be noted: the individual will build
and take to a fitness program most readily if he believes it
will do him some good. And if he has faith and confidence in
it, he is likely to stay with the program over the long run.
Three stages
of fitness have been identified. The individual who stays with
an intelligently devised program moves through beginning, intermediate,
and advanced stages. These have been termed by some authorities
the low, medium, and excellent stages or phases. Some experts
add a fourth level: the elite stage at which a person finds
himself able to take part in highly competitive and demanding
athletic activities. |
