With summer right around the corner, there’s no better time then right now to come in and take advantage and benefit form the access each student at ECC has to the gym.
It’s possible for anybody can benefit from exercise, Professor Thomas Hazell, P.E. 1abcd coach, said.
“The American College of Sports Medicine, for a number of years, looked at exercise benefits in terms of if they can get you to get off the couch just to turn the channel of the TV instead of using your changer, that was a positive step in the right direction, so any type of activity is beneficial, it’s not that you have to sit there and put on exercise clothes and sweat and pay a membership,” Hazell said.
Some basic and everyday exercises that can help are; washing your own car, cutting the grass, walking the dog, on the weekends walking grandma around the block; just the aspect of getting out and doing something is beneficial, Hazel said.
“Getting started and only doing a little bit is always better than doing nothing at all,” Debbie Conover, RN, MSN, Coordinator of Student Health Services, said.
First off, any type of exercise that a patient enjoys doing is suggested, Melanie Bronstein, RN, NP, of Student Health Services, said.
Something that should be taken into consideration is, “number one being their limitations, whether it’s transportation or any kind of physical limitations,” Bronstein said. In order to figure out what might work for an individual, ask questions like; do they want to be outside when they exercise, can they afford a gym; if they are a student they can work out here; if they can’t drive a car, walking is also a great exercise, Bronstein said.
“In my classes we break it up into three, four, or five different areas; we do some warm-up, which are flexibility type exercises, followed by the minimum of 20 minutes of some sort of activity to get your heart rate up; cardiovascular or aerobic activity, then we follow that with about 30 minutes of what we call a ‘circuit work-out’, which is primarily based around muscle strength and endurance types of activity; more endurance than strength,” Hazell said.
“That’s a very strict exercise type of program but I try to encourage students that if they play basketball or go play flag football or volleyball that they try to work those components in it, so even if your playing a pick-up game of basketball maybe during the break you’ll go do some push-ups and sit-ups and stretch out a little bit so that even though you got the cardio in the game your doing some strength activity also so it makes it for a complete exercise program, ” Hazell said.
There are also a lot of options on TV, discussing exercise programs, which can be found for free at the library, Linda Goldman, RN, of the Student Health Services, said.
“I know a great Web site that has good exercise recommendations, its sparkpeople.com; it’s free, they have little mini videos that you can watch, they have recommendations for cardio and also strength training,” Goldman said.
The Web site basically starts you out kind of slow and then you can move up form there, Goldman said
As far as exercise is mentally concerned, it makes you sharper and actually gives you an emotional outlet when you exercise, Hazell said.
“You hear about runners high, not that everybody gets that but there is an emotional component to it, getting out and doing something different than you normally
do,” Hazell said.
As far as exercise is physically concerned, it helps with: cardiovascular fitness, strength, flexibility and a healthy body composition, Hazel said.
“Some of the benefits of exercising for all age groups are obviously weight reduction, benefits to the heart or cardiovascular, it affects your well being, your mental health because people who exercise tend to be less depressed and have a more positive outlook, enjoy life, boosting your metabolism, it also can be a great social outlet; it is easier to exercise with other people than it is to do it by yourself,” Bronstein said.
Exercise is rather an adjunct to a healthy lifestyle, Bronstein said.
“A diet of high fiber is recommended with five fruits and veggies a day and no more than 30 percent fat with seven to eight hours of sleep and six to eight glasses of water a day,” Goldman said.
And if someone is trying to maintain his or her weight or lose weight that person should eat six times a day, Hazell said.
On campus we have a great exercise science lab put on by Dr. Stor, Hazell said.
“Even if it’s a tennis class or even a bowling, they all have some component to them and that’s the best way to get started, find an activity you like doing and use that as a stepping stone to getting into other activities that will maybe help your fitness,” Hazell said.
