Training from scratch: where to start if you haven’t played sports since high school?

doctor of preventive and integrative medicine

“Physical activity is one of the best ways to stay healthy. But how do you find the right type of exercise for your goals?”

Everyone needs sports, even those who do not plan to become a record-breaker and champion. A sedentary lifestyle is harmful to the body, affecting literally every cell in our body.

Why do we need sports?

Physical activity helps fight insulin resistance, improves glucose metabolism, increases the sensitivity of receptors to insulin, burns fat, balancing the ratio of muscle and fat mass in the body, helps reduce blood pressure, trains blood vessels, which benefits the cardiovascular system.

Keeping it healthy is essential, as strokes and heart attacks are the most common cause of death in the world. In addition, exercise has an antidepressant effect.

Insulin resistance (IR) is a decrease in the sensitivity of peripheral tissues to insulin, regardless of whether it is produced by the body (endogenous insulin) or comes from outside (exogenous insulin).

Sport – unlike medication – is truly a panacea. Thanks to him you can live a long, happy and quality life, but only if the activity is chosen competently, and the body is prepared for it.

What should be done before starting any training?

It is necessary to introduce sports into your life gradually. If you have never done sports or it was a long time ago, for example, in physical education at school, it is better to start with walking, for example, half an hour walks at a relaxed pace.

Before starting sports it makes sense to undergo a checkup – take basic tests to assess the level of iron, hemoglobin, protein, B vitamins, magnesium. All should be sufficient. The presence of deficiencies indicates that the body is not ready for training.

If hemoglobin is reduced, then a person may face hypoxia, in which sport is contraindicated, as any exercise will cause excessive strain on the heart, lungs, brain. If the protein content is low, the body will destroy its own muscle tissues during sports, thus trying to compensate for the lack of protein. This happens very often – people, unaware of protein deficiency in the body, go to the gym for years, trying to build muscle mass, but do not see any results.

Unpreparedness of the body for sports will lead to the fact that the adaptation mechanisms will be depleted. The result will not be recovery, but exhaustion of the body.

What kind of sport and who is suitable for?

Indeed, sports should be chosen depending on the desired result. If we are talking about weight loss, then cardio exercises – running, dancing, Zumba, step aerobics, functional training – are best suited here.

You should not bring your heart rate to high values. The standard cardio zone is 120-140 beats per minute, but in general this indicator is determined individually and depends on age.

Suitable cardio load can be found even with joint problems – it can even be physical therapy with a carefully designed training program. Strength training can hinder weight loss, as it promotes the growth of muscle mass and, consequently, the gain of kilograms.

If the goal is to gain muscle mass, then strength training is suitable. Cardio exercises will not contribute to weight gain. With such exercises spend a lot of calories, and with them go and kilograms.

Muscles grow only when they are injured, and every strength training session causes such an injury. Strength training and breaks between repetitions will provide the result. In addition, it is very important during the period of mass gain to eat enough protein – from 2 g per kilogram of weight.

For general recovery, running is best suited. This is the most adequate load, but it is very important to keep an eye on the knees, having picked up good sneakers and mastered the correct running technique. It is necessary to watch the surface, because you need to run differently on the track, on asphalt and on the ground.

Excessive strength training can hinder your overall health. An organism that is weakened, has experienced deficiencies and is recovering will not benefit from any intense exercise.

Those who want to become more flexible, yoga, Pilates, stretching, where the exercises are aimed at stretching. It will not be superfluous to work through muscle clamps, old injuries with a chiropractor or other specialist. He will help to choose the right load and sport so that training does not aggravate the situation, and went for the good.

The training program should have been designed to relieve the spine of spinal problems and not to cause retraumatization.

Regardless of what activity you prefer, remember the art of small steps – the more, the more regular exercise, the better the results will be.

Can sports do any harm?

You should be cautious about physical activity if you have chronic diseases of the skeleton and joints, uncompensated scoliosis, muscle clamps that you ignore. In this case, it is better to consult a specialist and together with him carefully select the appropriate load and activity.

Sports can be harmful if the body is not ready for the selected loads – instead of the desired recovery, deterioration may occur. The person will start to get sick, immunity will decrease, and well-being will become unimportant.