Chances are if you look good you’ll feel good – at the very least you will feel better about yourself.

But don’t forget you are an individual with your own ideal shape (not anybody else’s idea of an ideal shape!)

The other things you may want for yourself will follow.

Concentrating on too many issues at once will just put too much stress on you and the whole thing will become hard, if not impossible. Imagine goals of trying to lose 24lbs whilst running a 10k 5 minutes quicker whilst being able to lift heavier weights for more reps etc etc.

No – work out what you want to look like, what is realistic. Make sure you keep this in mind. Enjoy the journey, enjoy the result. Feel good about it, you deserve it.

Take the pressure off. You WILL look and feel good. AND you will be healthier.

That’s Easy Fitness

Both for men and women, keeping muscles in shape is important – as I point out in my post Why muscles?

But there is one reason why many people steer away from any exercise that forcefully contract the muscles (particularly weights). And that is a fear of getting too big.

Now, really big muscles are absolutely fine if bodybuilding is your business, hobby, way of life – or you just happen to like the look. But for many, this is a bit of a turn off.

Let’s get one thing clear – you won’t build muscles of Herculean proportions (Hypertrophy) – especially if you are a female.

In order to do that you need to be:-
a) Genetically disposed and/or take enhancing substances
b) Do a phenomenal amount of weight training.

So do not use this as an excuse not to exercise!

I prefer the idea of shapely (what a lovely word!) and flexible muscles and in order to achieve this you really should be contracting and stretching your muscles adequately and frequently.

I just do my Easy Fitness muscle control and stretching exercises. But, man or woman, there is nothing wrong with weights and the like if you want.

Great post on fatmanunleashed.com entitled Let’s Start with the Man (or Woman) in the Mirror about the importance of self image with regard to weight loss.

Now, I don’t know about you, but for me THE MIRROR LIES! With my Easy Fitness muscle control exercises I check with the mirror periodically to see if I am performing them correctly.

I usually think I look reasonably ok. Then I see a photograph of myself – OUCH!

I swear that I look at least ten years younger in the mirror than I do in the photograph. How can that be?

No, I’ll tell you what. The mirror is right – it’s the photo that’s lying. My self image is restored!

I am sure that swimming is a really great form of exercise. And, equally, I have no doubt that the resistance of pushing water around is good for the muscles, but, for most, I have reservations about its’ effectiveness as a cardiovascular exercise.

Now I am not talking about the dedicated swimmer, who probably belongs to a club anyway, but to average people who just want to use swimming to improve their fitness.

One of the problems in many pools may be getting enough space so that you can exercise at your pace for sufficient time, but the main one seems to be a question of proficiency.

Looking at a couple of friends of mine who are using swimming to try to keep their weight down, I have observed that they are no more out of breath at the end of their session than they were at the beginning. Frankly, they just can’t swim well enough to be able to swim hard enough to get any cardiovascular benefit (probably along with 90% plus of the rest in the pool). Their stroke is so inefficient that if they up their effort, their muscles would give up exhausted before they could get their heart rate up for any significant period of time.

Now I haven’t suggested that they stop swimming – they get so much enjoyment out of it. But what I would say (if they were not too close to me as friends) is that, if cardiovascular exercise and/or weight loss is part of their aim, then they should include some running as part of their fitness campaign. Or, at least some long, fairly fast walking – or some cardiovascular gym activity.

I’ve had fairly bad knees for a long time – cartilage damage from too much football (soccer) when I was young.

A long time ago when I was still playing, a couple of days after a match, I went to my doctor with an extremely swollen and painful knee. He told me to quit football, there was nothing that could be done. My club sent me to a sports physio. When I told her what the doctor said, she said “NONSENSE” (a different word really, but unprintable).

Over a few visits she treated the swelling/inflammation and got that down, but the main thing was she put me on the exercises to further strengthen my quadriceps. She explained that keeping these muscles very strong served to keep the bones apart – rather important on impact whilst running etc. especially with cartilage damage.

Six weeks later I was playing football again and continued for many years until the knees really could take no more. I pretty much gave up all forms of exercise.

Many years later I had put on too much weight and the bits of exercise I was doing then had no effect. So, I decided that I would try some running to see if that would help. My knees were always stiff and sore then, so, remembering my old physio, I strengthened up my quads again and started very gently jogging 2 or 3 times a week for a few minutes.

The knees were fairly ok with this – I think because just running is a straight line activity, whereas all the swerving and changes of direction entailed in playing football were what stopped me before.

A few years on and I am still running. Yes, I do get some knee pain, but it is manageable.

The exercises I did originally entailed sitting on a high bench, chair, desk or something, with a weight on my dangling foot (these days you could use ankle weights or some machine if you choose), then doing 2 sets of around 20 reps of raising the lower leg until the leg was straight. I did this twice a day.

These days I am just careful to more gently exercise the quads every couple of days or so.

If you have knee problems while exercising, please note that everything in this blog is my personal observation of my own condition. I’m not a doctor or health professional of any sort, so please DO see your doctor, but even more importantly, a qualified sports physio.

Having got that out of the way, here are my observations about my experience.

I find that for me, fast walking seems to do more damage than running. I know that the impact is higher when running but I think that the walking action – where the leg is straighter on impact – has a more detrimental effect in my case. Also, I know that many experts say that running on softer surfaces are better, but I find that if they are uneven (and they often are!) they are worse.

I am very careful of the exercises that I select to strengthen the quads. I suggest that things like squats or lunges are out – anything that bends your legs under stress at more than a 90 degree angle. And avoid stretching of muscles/ligaments etc with a straight leg too.
So, to sum up
a) See a sports physio.
b) Strengthen your quads and keep up with the exercises even after you have started running/walking again
c) Be careful about bending your legs too far under stress. And be careful about stretching with straight legs
d) Avoid fast walking or running on uneven surfaces

You may well have seen this theme on many other sites and I am going to reinforce it here.

Just doing the same routine forever will not work. Not only will you get bored, so will your muscles! The exercises will lose their effect.

There are two main ways round this. One is to change your exercise routine to something totally different for a while (after about 6 weeks maximum I suggest).

The other is to modify your exercises periodically. By this I mean largely do the same exercise but adjust the angle that you are exercising the muscle. Maybe interchange a lower number of repetitions at high intensity for a higher number at a lower intensity.

If you are doing abdominal exercises like crunches, you can adjust the position of your legs, which will ever so slightly change the emphasis on your abs.

If you have been holding static muscle contractions, introduce a little movement or stretch whilst you are holding the contraction.

Be inventive (But careful! and CONCENTRATE). Your state of mind and your muscles will benefit.

This, of course, does not apply to cardio exercise. For example, do not try to alter your running, walking or rowing style or, not only will you look daft, you will be likely to damage yourself.

There is a “Golden Mean” or “Golden Ratio” for pretty much everything – architecture, music, art, the human form – on and on. Just do a search on either of these terms and you will see what I mean.

Seemingly starting from Confucianism and much referred to in philosophy, the “Golden Mean” is an optimum mid-point between extremes.

Apply this to your exercise and keep fit activity and you will not get bored, you won’t over or under exercise, you won’t over or under rest, you will clear a space in you mind allowing you to feel how much or how little you should be doing.

This sits nicely with the principle of Easy Fitness, but goes further than that. It applies to just about everything in your life.

Take it easy. Do what you like doing, but don’t do it to excess.

ENJOY!

Known as Sarcopenia – see Wikipedia for the full details.

I realise that with my balance being aimed at core and torso exercises and the emphasis on shape, I may have slightly neglected a point associated with muscle mass, in that the biggest muscles are around the top half of the legs and the hips.

Now, it makes sense that the most effect on metabolism and overall muscle mass will come from a concentration on these muscles (quadriceps, gluteus and hamstrings). Not forgetting this will be of benefit to all, but essential to the elderly not wanting to lose too much muscle and gain too much fat.

The reason that I have played down this region is because I run a bit and walk quite a lot, so have felt that further exercise in this area is not a priority (my knee trouble here does not help – anything like a lunge is really a no-no!).

One more thing for the elderly (of which I am one, although don’t like to accept that I am anywhere near my peak yet!) is that too much/too long repetitive cardio stuff like running will also tend to decrease muscle mass.

I won’t stop running, but fortunately, with my principles of easy fitness in mind, I don’t intend to spend too long at it .

I often hear fitness experts on running say that there is more stress on the joints when running on hard surfaces like roads, pavements and paths etc.

Now, I like to run a bit, and my knees are not too good at all (cartilage damage from too much football when I was young, one knee then made worse by a car accident did that), but my experience is different.

I find that the softer surfaces, like grass/fields, earthen pathways etc. tend to be more uneven and this has more of a detrimental effect on my knees than the harder, more even surfaces!

It would be good to hear from runners, sports doctors and physios on this. I’d love to have comments on this, or use the form on our contact page if you prefer – thanks!

Those of you following this site will have noticed the emphasis placed on listening to you body, really being aware of your body and feeling the effect that your exercises are having on your muscles etc.

I was made aware some time ago that this, for some people, is far from easy!

A colleague of mine at the time was telling me that when he was younger he had elocution lessons to correct a speech impediment.

The first thing the teacher said to him (after saying hallo, presumably) was “put the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth”. For most people this is easy, but for my colleague this meant nothing, as he had no idea of the position of his tongue in his mouth.

He then went on to say that he couldn’t catch a ball – all ball sports were out, had difficulty working out right and left, could not tell what position his limbs were in with his eyes shut!

Well, he was a very intelligent man, he became a major light in the computer software industry for a while AND became a high class competitive cyclist (not too much eye hand coordination required here I guess).

So what am I trying to say by using this rather extreme example? Well, there are ways round any problem. If you cannot feel your way, then look at what you are doing whilst trying to feel. Select the sense or senses you need to be able to achieve your aims, become aware of them and concentrate.

You may not be able to do everything, but who can? You will still be able to achieve one helluva lot!

This goes for a lot of things, not just my views on Easy Fitness.