Exercise is a
topic that arouses passions, either positive or negative.
For enthusiastic
exercisers, it is the highlight of their life. “I found a beautiful trail near
my house, and I go there to walk and run a few times a week,” said Dovid. “I
wouldn’t miss it for anything. It clears my head and makes me feel great. I am
always surprised that there is no one else on the trail.”
Then there are people
like my friend Sara, who says, “The
only exercise I do is jumping to conclusions.” For these non-exercisers,
it is uncomfortable to even talk about exercise, something they know they should
be doing but don’t.
Is It a Fad?
It is common knowledge today that exercising is good for a
person, but is it a fad, something we just started to worry about in the modern
era?
No, even the Rambam, who lived in the 1100s, wrote in his sefer Mishna Torah that exercising or
working hard and not eating too much makes a person strong and healthy. The
importance of exercise has been known for centuries! But in previous generations,
everyday life took more effort than it does today. People, especially in the
working class, moved and used their muscles naturally in the course of the day.
Just compare pushing two buttons to start the washing machine
and drier to shlepping water from the
river, warming it up over the fire, scrubbing clothes by hand, wringing them
out, and hanging them on the line. How about riding in a car vs. walking?
Digging up the ground to plant your food vs. curbside delivery? Filling a tub
with water from the well to take a bath vs. turning on the faucet? Today we
have to give more thought to getting the exercise we need because we can get
along by barely moving at all.
Stamina, Strength, Flexibility
Amy Schwartz, senior director of Park Heights JCC Fitness,
explained: “Exercise makes you feel better and have more energy; it can even
add years to your life. Everyone needs exercise, from young children through
old age. Regular exercise can prevent and manage health problems like high
blood pressure, type-2 diabetes, and many types of cancer. It can also help
cognitive function.
“Exercise delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues and
helps your cardiovascular system work more efficiently,” says Amy. “When your
heart and lung health improve, you have more energy to tackle activities of
daily living. Regular physical activity can help you fall asleep faster, get
better sleep and deepen your sleep. It even stimulates various brain chemicals
that may leave you feeling happier, more relaxed and less anxious.”
Avi, a man in his 50s, said, “I am very careful to exercise
because of the stroke I had a few years ago. A stroke is caused by a lack of
blood flow to the brain, and exercise increases blood flow. Before I had the stroke,
exercise was a luxury I did when I feel like it. Now, though, I make sure to go
on the treadmill five times a week.”
Chana Basha Rauch, a Baltimore exercise instructor for middle
aged women, says, “Being physically active – whether it is chores around the
house, taking on projects, or anything else that keeps you moving – is not only
the healthiest form of exercise, it is the goal of exercise. In order to be
physical active and remain so as we age, we need stamina, strength, and
flexibility, which come from a good exercise program.”
Children Need Exercise, Too
Although one tends to think of formal exercise programs as an
adult activity – because children are naturally active – that may not be true
in our times. Often, the screens that are so easily accessible are more
attractive to our children than running around outside. The result: children
today get less exercise than they should.
Gayil
Yudkowsky, a personal trainer, explains, “It's important for children to
be active, but it’s not necessarily important for them to ‘work out.’ However, this might be different for each kid depending on
age, health, and other factors. Either way, all kids should be
encouraged to be active whether through sports or fun activities.”
There are exercise classes for children in such programs as
Bas Melech Performing Arts, where my grandchildren take classes. When I asked
Shoshana, an avid gymnastics participant, if she exercises, she told me that
she goes on her trampoline in the backyard almost every day to practice the
gymnastic moves she learned in her gymnastics class. She assured me that her
goal is not to be a gymnast; she just does it for fun.
A Walk around the Block and Beyond
I walk every day, and while that is an excellent starting
point, I learned that exercise comprises more than that. There are endurance (aerobic)
exercises, strength training, flexibility, and balance exercises. All are
important for overall fitness.
Aerobic exercise includes walking, jogging, tennis, swimming,
dancing, and biking. The goal of aerobic exercise is to get the heart rate up.
Strength training involves stressing specific muscles with weights or your own
body weight (as in push-ups) in order to build strength.
A personal trainer like Gayil Yudkowsky can guide a person to
include all the necessary exercises in the work-out. Each muscle group needs a
different kind of exercise and a different amount of weight. Gayil tells me
about a very effective kind of exercise called HIIT, high intensity interval
training. “That is a mixture of exercises that get your heart rate up and
strengthening muscles at the same time,” she explains. “A HIIT workout increases
your metabolism long after the workout is over.”
An exercise program can be customized to the age and stage of
life of the participant. For example, after giving birth, some women develop a
problem called diastasis recti, the separation of the rectus abdominis, a pair
of muscles that run vertically down the front of the abdomen. If left untreated,
it can lead to back pain and digestive disorders later in life. Gayil can help
a young woman figure out if she has that problem and help her work on improving
though exercise.
Chana Basha adds, “An exercise instructor can develop a
personalized program for you that takes into account your own person fitness
level and the time you have available. A class for a 25-year-old might not be
good for a person in their 60s.”
Flexibility exercises, such as yoga and stretching, allow for
more freedom of movement for other exercises and for everyday activities,” says
Amy Schwartz. “And balance exercises help prevent falls. These exercises are
especially important for older adults to help them stay independent.”
Getting Motivated
In the course of writing this article I
asked many people if they exercise, and most people admit that they don’t. They
may have started an exercise program in the past but lost their motivation and
just stopped. It is almost impossible to be
consistent unless it is something that brings you satisfaction. The only way to keep up the habit of exercising, my
experts told me, is to find an activity you enjoy.
Chana Basha advises, “I love walking with a friend and our
dogs. We talk and walk, and before you know it, we’re done. Think about what
you have done in the past that you enjoyed. Can you adapt it so that it works
for you now?”
One of the main reasons people exercise is to lose weight.
But, as Gayil explains, “Exercise is not really about
losing weight. It is about being healthy. Eighty percent of losing weight is
about food. In fact, exercising might make the numbers on the scale go up a
little as you gain muscle. On the other hand, exercising helps you look better
as you become more toned and in better shape.”
Losing weight does not seem to be enough of a motivation
to exercise consistently. As a friend Rosie says,
“My only motivation to exercise is to lose
weight. When I am into it, I walk on the treadmill religiously for about 45
minutes a day. The minute I lose a few pounds, I drop the exercising and gain
weight. Eventually, I get all motivated and start again. I know you are
supposed to exercise for health reasons but that’s never enough motivation for
me. When I go on the treadmill I am huffing and puffing like a locomotive
and I make sure never be too far away from a shower when I finish. When I
am not into it my treadmill makes a very useful clothes hanger.”
Another friend says, “I was very good about exercising
for about six months. I jogged in my house for about 20 minutes every day but
then I got Corona. I never got my motivation back.”
Racing for Fun and Profit
Many organizations use the power of competition to
encourage exercise while at the same time raising funds. For participants, the
fun is in exercise as a social event as well as competing to see how much money
they can raise for a worthy cause.
Some events are more elaborate than others. My
granddaughter Miriam asked me to sponsor her in Bais Yaakov high school’s
walk-a-thon on Lag B’omer to raise money for Simchas Esther. Then there are
bigger events, such as the Bikur Cholim bike race and the JCN race. My son-in-law,
Yair Friedman, is an avid JJCN runner. “I did the 5K run for three years and
thought it was great,” he says. “Better than going to a dinner!”
Yair explained how he trained for the 5K. “I
started practicing about six months before the race. I used the treadmill two
or three times a week for about half an hour. When I felt I was ready, I started
to increase the speed and time, aiming to do 5K on the treadmill in about 40
minutes. When I was ready, I tried to do 5K in 30 minutes on the
treadmill. Interestingly, that does not mean I could do it on the street
for the actual 5K.
I then started jogging in the street or track
when the weather was good. B”H, each
year I participated, I was able to do the 5K in around 35 minutes. It felt
really good to be in shape, to be part of the JCN community, and to raise money
for people in need in such a healthy way.”
Technology: Good or Bad?
Technology is not only about staring at a screen and not
moving. Paradoxically, some people use technology to encourage themselves to
move. Rikki, my niece in Detroit, recently
downloaded an app on her phone called “From Couch to 5K.” The goal is to take
anyone, even a completely non-experienced runner and train them to run a 5K from
start to finish. “The app provides a guide on what
you should be doing to increase your running abilities,” Rikki tells me. “For
example, on day one you do a five-minute warm-up walk and then eight intervals
of running for 1 minute, walking for 1.5 minutes. On day five, you do intervals
of running for 1.5 minutes and walking for 1 minute. Obviously, the app cannot
do the running for you. For all the app producers are concerned, you could
still be sitting on your couch pretending that you’re running. But it helps me
exercise by pushing me to reach a goal.”
My friend Aliza uses “Map My Walk/Map My Run”
to measure her walk/run stats (distance and speed, etc). The app calculates how
many steps she takes and how many calories she is burning as she walks. It is
fun to go for a walk with her and to know exactly how far you have walked.
There are also many exercise classes
online. Some, such as pilatesinapencilskirt.com, and AloMoves.com,
require a subscription, but you can find many free classes as well.
One of my sons makes his walk on the treadmill
more interesting by using a program that makes him feel like he is any place in
the world while he is walking. It is run by Googlemaps and a GPS. He enters the
country and the street he wants to walk on and feels like he is walking in that
country.
According to my son, the newest exercise idea
is stationary bike classes called Peloton. All the participants start their
class at the same time on their stationary bikes in their own homes and compete
with each other.
When it comes to the quest for fitness, technology
can help or hinder.
Everyone knows that they should be exercising
to maintain their health and be active throughout their life. Wouldn’t it be
great if we could all answer the question, “Do you or don’t you?” with the
words, “Yes, I do!”
