How to Safely be Physically Active
by Lorelei Kubiak, MS, ACE
Personal Trainer, ACSM Health Fitness Instructor,NSCA
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, USAW Club
Coach, JumpStretch, Inc. Certified
As a personal trainer and high school strength and conditioning coach , I am
often asked questions about how to train safely and efficiently. Many people
today are aware of the importance of being physically active but are not sure
of how to get started. I congratulate them for their interest in the topic.
Physical activity has been investigated by many educational institutions world
wide and has been found to have a protective effect for many of the chronic
diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes, Heart Disease, Cancer and Obesity.
These are the 5 basic steps I recommend to follow when designing a safe and
efficient training program:
1. Warm-up: It is crucial to allow the body to warm-up by walking on a
treadmill or track, cycling, jumping rope, stair climbing or using an ellipitical
machine for 5 plus minutes or however long it takes to start a slight sweat.
This allows the muscles and connective tissues to become more pliable and
ready to exercise. Static stretching relaxes the muscles and is best utilized at
the end of the work-out.
2. Strength Training: The use of strength training machinery, free weights or
tubing/elastic bands creates an external load on the muscles, bones and
connective tissue. This stimulus creates an adaptive response to those
tissues to meet the demands of the external load and become stronger.
Metabolic rates increase and bone density improves. A certified Personal
Trainer is qualified to design a balanced and safe program.
3. Cardio or Heart-Lung Training: Since Heart Disease is still the number one
killer of men and women in the USA, rhythmical non-stop movements of
various duration can reduce the risk factors of Heart Disease such as
hypertension, cholesterol and obesity. Again, a certified Personal Trainer or
Exercise Physiologist can create a safe program to meet your individual needs.
4. Flexibility: Static or Static/Dynamic Stretching after a strength or cardio
session will allow the muscles and connective tissues to return to resting
state and to avoid injury. Subsequent workouts will be much more
comfortable if this step is not omitted.
5. Sound Nutrition: Eating well and making good food choices along with
portion control will allow the body to recover quickly from exercise and to be
refueled for the next workout. An hour workout can be negated by 5 minutes
of poor choices in the kitchen.
Being consistent about physical activity while following these 5 steps can lead
to enjoyable and rewarding experiences and improvement to quality of life.
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