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Sport and Recreation > Health and fitness > Exercise advice
Exercise Advice
We provide excellent opportunities to participate in a more active lifestyle, whether it’s to try a new activity, participate in a structured exercise class, or simply hire a facility to use with your friends, Sport and Recreation aims to provide opportunities for all abilities to participate in sport and physical activity.
Our team of experienced staff are on hand to give you exercise advice, whether it be dropping into the Health and Fitness Advice Centre or asking a question at the end of an exercise class. Also, feel free to stop them in the corridor and ask them a question, they are happy to help!
- Getting started - why exercise?
- Some basic facts
- The different types of exercise
- Flexibility
- How do you put it all together?
Getting Started - Why Exercise?
Modern lifestyles have changed dramatically. Advances in modern technology have greatly reduced the amount of time we have for physical activity and as a direct result of this we have seen a vast increase in a number of diseases including cancer and heart disease. We all know that physical activity should be an integral part of our daily lifestyles but this is easer for some than for others. The benefits to physical exercise are numerous and include:
- reduced risk of heart disease
- decreased blood pressure and cholesterol levels
- better sense of wellbeing
- reduced stress levels
- stronger heart and lungs
- improved respiration
- increased circulation
- reduced risk of osteoporosis
If you are uncertain you to get started you can book an induction at reception or alternatively talk to one of our qualified staff at our Health and Exercise Advice Centre. It really couldn't be easier!
Some Basic Facts
It is important that prior to exercise that you warm up and stretch your muscles and after exercise you cool down to reduce your heart rate back down to its pre-exercise level. This should only take 3-5 minutes for both but it is very important that you incorporate this into your exercise routine. Warming up will increase the flow of blood to your muscles and help prevent against injury. Cooling down will allow the heart rate to drop gradually thus avoiding dizziness and fainting. Stretching is also very important as it greatly aids improved flexibility. We have stretch areas located on level 3 of the Stevenson Building and level 2 of our Muscle Conditioning Gym. A stretch area is also available at Garscube Sports Complex in our Justin Langham Fitness Suite.
The frequency and duration of your exercise regime is also of high importance. To improve your cardiovascular fitness you should exercise a minimum of 3 times per week for not less than 20 minutes at a time. This excludes your warm up and cool down sessions.
The Different Types of Exercise
Cardiovascular Training - What is it?
Any kind of exercise that is rhythmic in nature, continuous, and uses large muscle groups under low to moderate tension over an extended period time e.g., running, cycling, swimming, rowing, etc
Exercise of this type will raise your heart rate relative to the intensity of your workout. On a scale to 0 to 10, where '0' is the equivalent of lying in your bed and '10' the equivalent of being so exhausted that you have to stop the activity, you will get the most benefit from a session by exercising between '6' and '8'. This should feel slightly uncomfortable but not too uncomfortable that you can't maintain it for a prolonged period of time to get the benefits. When you are exercising at this level you should feel out of breath, sweaty and unable to talk in full sentences.
Muscle strength and Endurance training
This can be done by exercising with a resistance e.g., free weights, machine weights, body weight, cables, etc. We require strength and endurance to perform tasks like lifting boxes, moving furniture around, carrying our children, active hobbies, and most sports.
Some definitions:
strength: this is the maximum amount of force that can be generated by a group of muscles against a resistance in one contraction. You would generally lift heavy resistances for few repetitions (1 to 12 reps) to improve your strength.
endurance: the ability of a muscle to exert sub-maximal forces against a resistance over an extended period of time. In general lift medium resistances for high repetitions (15 to 25 reps)
overload: you need to challenge your muscles to stimulate muscular fitness gains. Select a resistance that will feel difficult to complete a full range of movement on your last rep. As you adapt to a workload the next step is to increase the resistance in order to progress. With the exception of warm up, sets always aim to achieve overload.
reps: a single repetition, otherwise known as a 'rep', is the successful completion of an exercise through a full range of movement.
sets: a group of repetitions of a particular exercise e.g, 1 set of 10 reps, or 2 sets of 8 reps
Flexibility
What is it?
Flexibility is the range of motion possible around a specific joint or a series of joints, and is probably the most underrated component of physical fitness.
Why would you want to do it?
The ability to move to joint through a range of movement is important for daily activities in general as well as exercising and sports performance. Your posture can also be badly affected if your flexibility is poor. Tight muscles will reduce the quality and speed of your movements.
How do you put it all together?
A typical 1 hour workout:
- 30 mins cardio training, 5 min warm up, 20 min main workout, 5 min cool down
- 20 mins strength and resistance training
- 10 mins stretching
You can use this table as a guideline for the various types of exercise:
| Frequency | Intensity | Time | Type | |
| cardiovascular training | 3 to 5 times weekly | 6 to 8 on repetitions | 20 to 60 mins | large rhythmical movements eg cross trainer, running |
| strength and endurance training | 2 to 3 times weekly | to overload on each set | 20 to 45 mins | 1 set of 8 to 12 reps on a series of exercises to cover the whole body |
| flexibility | daily | mild tension | 10 to 30 mins | 30 to 60 secs each stretch covering the whole body |
Still confused or want to take it to the next stage?
We have an exercise advice centre on Level 3 of the Stevenson Building, this is staffed by fully qualified fitness professionals. We have a huge range of knowledge and experience to share with you, so don't hesitate to come along....we will be delighted to sit and chat you through any concerns or queries or simply point you in the right direction.
