Know what you are doing

I had the last of my 12 sessions with the NKF patients last weekend. I will conduct a fitness assessment this weekend before getting in new patients for the next programme.

In the last session, I went through the safety aspects of exercise for the patients again as I did in my first session. For example, as many of the patients are hypertensive, I reminded them not to do strenuous exercise and not to hold their breath (valsalva maneuver) while exercising. It is imperative that patients with chronic diseases know what they are doing and what they cannot / should not do. For instance, hypertensive patients would have their blood pressure shot up if they hold their breath for sometime. This may lead to a stroke!

I always feel that educating my clients/patients is a very important part of my profession. This does not apply only to patients but also to the general public / athletes. I have come across athletes who do not stretch properly or do not know what muscles they are stretching. Also many of them have neglected stretching due to time constraints. This may have led to many tight hamstrings, calf muscles, ITB which could be the causes of injuries. Improved flexibility may also lead to better performance, although this is not guaranteed. But it would reduce the risk of injuries.

Similarly, for the general public, education about sports / fitness is very important. Many people have done crunches in order to reduce the abdominal fat. They do not recognise that crunches is a strength training exercise, not a cardiovascular exercise. Strength training exercises work primarily the muscles, not the fat. So crunches build your ab muscles. If your ab muscles are covered by a layer (or many layers) of fat, how could you show your ab muscles? You have to watch your diet, jog/swim/cycle/walk more to reduce this fat so you can get rid of your tummy. The formula is easy, take in less calories, expend more calories.

Many friends have also asked me about the various diet. The truth is that all diets work! This is because diet works on reducing calories. In the short term, you created a calorie deficit and lost weight. However, dieting is normally not sustainable as diets usually meant a shortage in certain food content, such as vitamins/minerals. This may lead to other problems as the diet is not balanced. ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) recommends a combination of both diet and exercise for effective weight management.

Thus, if you want to achieve your objective, you must know what you are doing and what you should not be doing. This concept is frequently applied in working life, but this applies to exercise too!