"Where do I start?" Industry Guidelines for Physical Activity and Exercise

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It can feel overwhelming to take your first steps toward better health by becoming more physically active and adding regular exercise to your routine. In all honesty, it's sometimes overwhelming for those of us who are continuing along that path as well. When it comes to healthy lifestyle behaviors, we have to see it as a lifelong pursuit with no endpoint. What we do have to look forward to is the day when healthy behaviors become second nature - the new normal way of life. For that behavioral change to become a sustainable reality, we need to acquire the skills and the will to continually practice and refine them. Building behavioral change is similar to developing skills, especially physical and motor skills. There's going to be some error in the learning process, and we have to be OK with that from the beginning. Every journey has its ups and downs, and every skill takes a lot of trial and error to develop. Thus, we need to start the journey with an understanding of the grace and discipline spectrum.

The "all or nothing" mindset and hard-nosed discipline are what most of us approach exercise with. Even those who really don't enjoy exercise are often more inclined to "Go hard or go home" and "Get it done and over with." No one wants to waste their time, so we typically forget to give ourselves some slack and the grace not to be perfect. Striking the balance between grace and discipline is ultimately what will lead to that automatic, lifelong behavior that will enhance the duration and quality of the lives we lead from every perspective.

So, where do we start? Exercising, dieting, meditation, sleeping habits, and the many other healthy lifestyle behaviors that can improve our quality of life - what's best to start with?! Can we build them all at once? Certainly, it takes an individual approach to prioritizing what aspect of our well-being needs to be addressed most urgently. For most, exercise can be one of the easiest habits to initiate once we've given ourselves the time to build the skillsets of appropriately dosing the modes of exercise and the self-awareness of our physical fitness and health. We've frequently heard research emphasize the importance of physical activity for cognition, mood, and emotional and mental well-being. Simply finding the very will to want to behave differently, in whatever capacity, can be enhanced by moving our bodies. An internet sensationalist and popular neuroscientist professor says, "It is tough to control the mind with the mind..." and "When your mind is not where you want it to be, look to the body." The direct effects of living a more active life and taking on the occasional physical challenge will help advance other healthy states of body and mind and promote our various pursuits of wellness and happiness.

Myokines are neurotransmitters released by our muscles during physical activity, signaling other chemical messengers to help rebuild our brains and bodies. In more recent research, we're able to isolate and identify the compounds' various effects as well as break down the types of activities that promote their production. Different activities and intensities of exercise will elicit the release of different levels and types of these myokines. From what we can tell, it is important to include as much variety in our movement routine as possible, though there does have to be the [dare I say] frequent elements of challenge and effort.

Developing an individually-specific exercise prescription usually involves a detailed process of risk stratification, signed consent, medical clearances, and pre- and post-physical screenings. Using open-ended questions and what's known as motivational interviewing will help us decipher ideas of what a person will want out of their lifestyle and what they'll need from their exercise routine to achieve that. Asking about the history of activity and exercise, and associated likes and dislikes, will help identify what is enjoyable for them, which is an undeniably vital factor in improving the chances that a person will stick with it. Through proper screening, we can identify what the person needs from the health and human performance objectives. For some, these are fairly easy to self-assess from a wider, more subjective lens. Are you fairly active with a healthy body weight, but still have hypertension? Perhaps prioritizing new exercise and nutritional habits together would be best. Have you been told you have osteopenia or osteoporosis? Well, weight-bearing exercise and resistance training need to be moved to the top of your exercise priorities. Have you been including resistance training and eating better, but you still cannot seem to lose weight? Maybe some stress management techniques or sleep studies might be appropriate.

There are many paths to creating a healthier lifestyle, and in most cases, the path we take will need to be adjusted to account for uncontrollable obstacles. What matters most is that we make pivots rather than stops, and that we continue to address those things we can control!

Below are the base recommendations for the various modes of exercise we need to engage in as the "apparently healthy adult" population. Included are the nitty-gritty details of how much and how often we want to incorporate aerobic, resistance, and flexibility exercises into our weekly routines. Contact me for help strategizing or building your action plan!

General ACSM Guidelines on Physical Activity and Public Health·        

• Moderate intensity aerobic (endurance) physical activity for a minimum of 30 minutes on 5 days / week, OR

• vigorous intensity aerobic activity for a minimum of 20 minutes on 3 days / week, OR

• a combination of moderate and vigorous intensity activity to meet the above recommendations, AND

• perform activities that maintain or increase muscular strength and endurance on a minimum of two days per week.

Specific ACSM Guidelines for Aerobic, Resistance, and Flexibility Training

Read up on more of the intricate details surrounding appropriate, progressive resistance training programs... the biggest "bang for your buck" in fitness! Become More Familiar with Resistance Training, "Weight-bearing" Exercise