Fitness 101

People often tell me that they want to work out and improve their cardio, but they hate to run.  I am often baffled by this statement and reply, “Well, why don’t you try something else?”  They often seem confused by my answer and ask what else they can do to enhance their cardiorespiratory fitness.

Certainly running, jogging, biking, and swimming have been around for many years and all of them provide the necessary repetitive large-muscle movements and continuous oxygen use that defines aerobic activity and enhances the performance of the heart and lungs.  What many people don’t realize though is how many fun and creative new forms of cardiovascular exercises are now available in 2009.  We have come a long way since running, biking, and swimming were your only choices.

There are so many new and interesting forms of exercise available today that I bet I can name at least one for each letter of the alphabet.  Let’s give it a whirl.

Aerobic step – These are aerobic exercise classes that involve routines (usually along with upbeat music) of stepping on special platforms. 

Bellydancing – Believe it or not, this form of dancing has become a popular group exercise class in some gyms and it works on your core (abs) as well as your cardio.

Cardiokickboxing – The cardiovascular benefits of martial arts are well known and utilized in a simplified format of kicking, punching, and blocking done to music.

Dancing – Dancing is a great form of cardio and can be done in traditional dance classes or in a group exercise setting as an aerobic dance class.

Elliptical machine – This is a cardio machine that involves gliding foot movements and long handles that work the upper body.  It is a great low-impact alternative to the treadmill.

Forza – Think cardiokickboxing with wooden swords.  If that seems too obscure, how about Field hockey, an outdoor variant of ice hockey.

Gymnastics – Tumbling, jumping, rolling:  what better way is there to have fun and work out?  Kids and adults both can enjoy taking these classes.

Handball or hockey – Either one of these sports will get your heart beating faster.

Interval training – This isn’t so much a particular mode of exercise than a training method.  Start at a low intensity (running, biking, etc) and then go for a couple of minutes at high intensity.  Continue to work alternating periods of high and low intensity intervals for a period of 30-60 minutes and you will have the benefit of pushing those higher limits of your target heart rate without the downside of early fatigue.

Jump rope – This piece of equipment is not just for boxers and little girls anymore.  Grab a speed rope, a rope with weighted handles, or even a digital jump rope and try some fun tricks (double jumps, crossovers, single leg hops).

Kung fu, karate, kickboxing – These traditional martial arts involve extensive use of the arms, legs and entire body that will boost your cardio and give you a new skill.

Lacrosse – This physically demanding team sport is guaranteed to push your cardio to new limits.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) – This combination of boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, and groundfighting has become very popular and has inspired many innovative new training methods. 

Nia – An eclectic mix of yoga, dance, tai chi, and martial arts with a focus on breathing techniques and body awareness.

Orienteering – A family of sports that involves using navigational skills to race against the clock to reach specific points on a map, typically hiking or biking through unfamiliar terrain.

Parkour – Often known as “free running”, this urban sport involves efficient manipulation of the body over, under, and around obstacles using a variety of jumping and climbing movements.

Quidditch (Muggle version) – I know you didn’t think I could find one for Q, but here it is.  Fans of the popular Harry Potter series have loosely adapted the wizarding sport into a fun version for muggles (non-wizards) that utilizes a creative mixture of hula hoops, tennis rackets, volleyballs, and nerf balls. 

Recess classes – Recess isn’t just for kids anymore.  Some gyms have group exercise classes that throw together some old favorites from childhood (dodgeball, floor hockey, obstacle courses, tag, jump rope, and a variety of games) to trick adults into having some fun while they exercise.

Spinning – Imagine biking in an aerobics class.  That is spinning.  The participants adjust the difficulty of the stationary bikes using a braking mechanism to simulate biking through hills and valleys while the instructor gives commands to stand, sit, or vary the speed and resistance.

Trampolining – Whether you are just bouncing or flipping continuously on a trampoline in your yard or doing a hard-core aerobic jumping workout at a large trampoline facility the size of a football field (there is one in Las Vegas that UFC star Randy Coutre frequents), you will quickly see the benefits of this bouncy form of cardio training.

Ultimate Frisbee – Kind of like touch football and Frisbee combined; this sport is fun and one of the most demanding cardio workouts I’ve run into.

Volleyball – This classic team sport involving a ball and a net can be played indoors, or for a real cardio challenge, played outdoors in the sand.

X-treme sports – I know I cheated on this one, but come on.  Extreme sports loosely refers to adventurous, somewhat dangerous activities that usually includes skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, skiing, snowboarding, and rock climbing to name a few.

Yoga (flow) – A form of exercise and physical/mental discipline that has been around for hundreds of years, yoga involves a system of postures that emphasize flexibility, posture, balance, body awareness, relaxation, and proper breathing patterns.  Flow yoga (Vinyasa yoga) involves continuously moving (or flowing) from one posture to another.

Zumba – A dynamic fitness program involving aerobic dance moves to a Latin rhythm.  A very popular way to dance your way to cardio fitness!

Although this list is by no means complete, I think you get my point.  Cardio is much, much more than just running.  So have fun exploring the many options that are available and maybe you will come up with your own new exercise alphabet!

- Darin Smith, PE/PFT Instructor, Highline Community College

Human beings are capable of accomplishing great feats, but often we first have to overcome some sort of obstacle or barrier to get there.  Sometimes these barriers may be self-imposed limits on what we think we are capable of.  Unfortunately, the power of expectations can have very negative effects on a person’s performance or beliefs regarding their abilities.  These psychological barriers are all too common in both sports and exercise.

Too often when someone is thinking about starting an exercise program they might make statements like “I am too out of shape/overweight/old to start working out”, “If I work out, I’ll hurt myself”,  “I’m not an athletic person and I don’t belong in a gym”, or “Weight training techniques are too hard for me to learn”.  If a person says these things often enough, that person begins to believe that these limitations are real.  At that point it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A self-fulfilling prophecy is what occurs when the expectations of some outcome (positive or negative) actually helps cause that outcome to happen.  This is considered a negative event when it sets up a psychological barrier for a person that leads them to expect failure and, in turn, causes them to fail.  In short, if you believe you are going to fail, you probably already have.

An interesting example of someone who overcame a negative self-fulfilling prophecy is a man named Roger Bannister.  For a long time it was assumed by most people that it was not possible for a human to run a mile in less than 4 minutes.  Many runners came close at 4:03, 4:02, and 4:01, but most runners accepted that a 4 minute mile was physiologically impossible.  Then in 1954, Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute mile.  What is most interesting about this feat is that the year after he broke the record, more than a dozen other runners broke the 4 minute mile.  Since then the time has dropped by 17 seconds and a 4 minute mile is now considered a standard for all professional middle distance runners. 

So what happened?  Did all these runners suddenly get faster?  Did their training techniques rapidly advance in the year after Bannister broke the record?  More likely what happened was that the psychological barrier of the 4 minute mile was removed when Bannister showed that it was possible.  Runners finally believed it could be done and stopped placing a self-imposed limit on what they could do.

A personal example of this phenomenon occurred when I was running a plyometrics (jump training) program for a girl’s softball team. They had a group called the “5 club” where people who could jump up and down on a series of 4 boxes of increasing size 5 times in 30 seconds would be listed.  Most people in the group had managed to make it 5 times through this rabbit hop drill in 30 seconds, but only 1 girl was fast enough for the “6 club”.  The coach and many of the athletes figured that more than 5 times through was not possible for almost everyone on the team.  Late in the semester I gave them the challenge that if 1 person made the route 6 times through I’d get rid of the exercise for the rest of practice.  They were suddenly motivated to push themselves harder and 3 people did it.  I offered this same bargain during the next practice and 3 more people made it.  By the end of the semester, everyone in the class made it into the “6 club”.

One final example that comes to mind is the self-fulfilling prophecy of age and physical activity.  While the aging process does have a deteriorating effect on your physical and mental abilities through the life span, many older adults allow their abilities to degrade faster through negative expectations that result in negative self-fulfilling prophecies.  You might hear some older adults explain their condition by saying “I am too old to exercise”, “I am supposed to get fat and lose muscle as I age”, or “I can’t maintain my muscles as I get older”.  Exercise (cardio and weight training) are very effective in older adults and can help them maintain their physical abilities for quite a long time.  However, many older adults believe in those expectations I just stated and stop being active, which causes them to get weaker.  Then as they get weaker and their muscles atrophy from disuse, they assume it is a result of the aging process which further perpetuates the self-fulfilling prophecy that “old people get weak with age and shouldn’t bother with exercise”.

The lesson here is that belief and expectations can be powerful forces for good or bad.  If you lack confidence and are unsure of yourself, you can easily talk yourself out of exercising and can even impose imaginary limits on yourself that hold you back from your full potential.  However if you have confidence, believe in your abilities, and are willing to try, you can create a positive self-fulfilling prophecy with statements like “I will stick with my exercise program”, “I will lose those 20 pounds”, and “I will get my heart in better shape”.

- Darin Smith, PE/PFT Instructor, Highline Community College