Virtual Medical Centre

Preparing For Exercise

• The importance of exercise
• Medical advice before exercise
• Choosing an exercise program
• Optimising sporting performance
  • Hydration for exercise
  • Nutrition for exercise
    • Types of food before exercise
    • How much food should you eat before exercise?
  • Alcohol and exercise
  • Warming up before exercise
  • Pre-exercise stretching
  • Dressing for exercise
    • Protective equipment for exercise
    • Clothing for exercise
    • Footwear for exercise

The importance of exercise

A regular exercise regime is essential for a healthy and happy lifestyle. Physical activity helps maintain a healthy weight range, improves body strength and fitness, and has positive psychological effects. People who exercise regularly generally live happier lives and are less stressed than those who do not.

Whether you are just beginning a healthy exercise regime or you are already at your peak fitness, there are some important steps that we all need to follow before, during and after exercising to protect ourselves from sports related injuries and other physical distress.

Medical advice before exercise

If you have been inactive for over 6 months, it is wise to seek advice form a medical professional before you jump onto the track and start running marathons! Especially if you have, or have had, any cardiovascular (heart), muscular or weight problems. A doctor, physiotherapist or sports trainer will be able to assess your current fitness level and help you set achievable goals.

For more information on medical advice before exercise, see Advising Patients About Aerobic Exercise.

Choosing an exercise program

Before you start exercising, you should have a general idea of what you want to gain from your exercise regime. You may be exercising to improve your fitness or body image, or you could be moving to a new city and want to make new friends, or all of the former! Whatever your goals and aims, there is a range of different sports that will help you achieve them.

Below is a list of different sports that you may like to consider when developing your fitness program. Remember, though, this is only a very small sample of sports. For a complete guide to the sports available in your area, see your local newspaper, recreation centre or gym!

Aims of exercise

The best way to improve fitness and body image is to cross-train. Cross-training is a mixture of all different types of exercise. It stops you from getting bored with the one program, and also prevents you from putting too much strain on the same set of muscles, bones and joints. Being a good runner will not necessarily make you a good swimmer or cyclist without training. Cross-training will improve your overall fitness.

Many gyms provide personal trainers for members to assess your current fitness levels and body composition. They will also sit down with you and discuss what your aims are in terms of fitness and weight loss or muscle toning. The trainers will be able to design a programme for you that will enable you to achieve your goals in a reasonable amount of time.

Optimising sporting performance

Once you have had a medical assessment and have choosen an appropriate exercise program, there are a number of steps you can take to optimise your sporting performance. By taking note of the following pointers on food, drink and rest, you will be more likely to achieve your sporting goals, stay motivated and prevent injury.

Hydration

It is very easy to become dehydrated during exercise, and therefore it is very important to drink enough fluids before and after physical activity. Dehydration can decrease blood pressure and heart rate, which can make you feel quite unwell. Dehydration also increases the risk of developing exercise-related health conditions, such as cold stress and heat illness.

When we sweat during exercise, we lose electrolytes. Electrolytes play a very important part in modulating water balance within your body. If your electrolyte levels are low, your exercise performance will be impaired and you will be more susceptible to exercise-related injury and heat illness.

You must ingest an adequate amount of fluids before and after exercise to minimise dehydration and replace electrolytes. About half a litre of water ingested in the two hours before exercise will help you stay hydrated, although the ideal amount of fluids depends on the expected duration and intensity of your workout. If you exercise for prolonged periods (e.g. long distance runs or cycles, footy games), you must drink during exercise as well.

The following fluids are most effective at replenishing and hydrating you:

• Water: Essential for maintaining your body's water balance and replacing the water lost through sweating.
• Milk: Milk has been shown to provide sufficient hydration for athletes and recreational exercisers. Milk also helps to build lean muscle and speed up recovery.
• Sport drinks: Useful for intense exercise. The average sport drink contains 250 kilojoules of carbohydrate per serve (mainly in the form of sugars) and is not necessary for a low intensity walk. The purpose of sport drinks is to replenish blood glucose, glycogen and electrolytes that are depleted during intense exercise. If these carbohydrates are not used up during the exercise, taking sport drinks will lead to weight gain.

For more information, see the Dairy Australia fact sheet on sports nutrition.

Nutrition

To obtain the maximum benefit from exercise, your muscles need energy to sustain the workout. Without energy, muscles fatigue quickly, and your workout will be shorter and less intense Energy is also needed to maintain, grow and repair tissue after exercise. A healthy balanced diet is needed to maximise the energy available – you will only receive the most benefit from exercise with the right amounts and types of food.

Types of food for before exercise

The ideal time to eat is 1–3 hours before exercising. This gives your digestive system enough time to break down the food so it can be used for energy. Also, hormone levels are altered after eating, which can affect sporting ability. Hormone levels are usually balanced one hour after eating.

The type of food that should be consumed before exercise is low release food, or food with a low glycaemic index (GI). Low GI food releases its energy slowly, providing you with energy for the duration of the exercise. Foods which are low GI include:

• Apples
• Nuts, legumes and beans
• Wholemeal bread

On a day to day basis, the major food groups required for getting the most out of exercise is dairy, meat, breads and cereals, and fruits and vegetables. It is also important to include some salt in your diet to replace sodium lost through sweat. However, be careful not to overload on salt. The maximum amount of salt that should be ingested is 2300 mg/day for adults, and even less for children or people with high blood pressure.

How much food should you eat before exercising?

You do not need to eat extra food just because you are exercising. The amount of kilojoules of energy that are used during exercise should equal the amount consumed when eating in order to maintain your current weight.

Remember that not eating enough will lead to muscle and bone damage. Restricting your energy intake when exercising may appear to provide a quick weight loss solution, but it will decrease your metabolic rate so that, when you do eat, your body will not use up the energy from the food as readily. Therefore, excessively restricting your energy intake will not help you to keep the weight off in the long term. Also, without the energy provided by food, you will become fatigued. Fatigue leads to poor technique and a higher risk of injury.

Alcohol and exercise

Alcohol is very commonly associated with sport due to the celebratory nature of sporting and team achievement. However, alcohol has a negative effect on sporting performance, rate of injury, activity of skeletal muscles, and psychomotor skills. When drinking the night before an event, psychomotor skills are most noticably affected. Drinking after exercise impairs the body’s capacity to recover. A once-off celebration is not going to affect overall performance in future events, but it will have a short term affect on activities carried out in the preceding days.

Warming up before exercise

Warming up is extremely important. It prepares the muscles and heart for the exercise. Warming up, as the name suggests, warms up your muscles, decreasing the risk of damage during the exercise. A warm up is a short (5–10 minutes), low intensity exercise that should be done just before the main exercise. The warm up does not have to be the same sport as the main exercise. For example, if you are going for a swim, your warm up may consist of a 5 minute jog or jump rope.

When competing, the warm up is also used to mentally prepare the athlete for the race or game.

Pre-exercise stretching

The aim of stretching before exercise is to increase the range of the muscle and improve its performance during the activity. Stretching before sporting activities should be relatively simple and quick (no more than 10 seconds spent on each stretch). It is very important to remember that no stretching should be done before the muscles are warmed up. If muscles are not warm before they are stretched, there is an increased risk of tearing them.

For more information on types of stretches, see Exercise Stretches.

Dressing for exercise

Choose the appropriate footwear, clothes and protective equipment for your exercise to maximise sporting ability and reduce the risk of injury.

Protective equipment

Many sports require the use of protective equipment, designed to protect certain "at risk" areas of the body while still allowing optimum sporting performance. Protective equipment is essential and, if not used properly, can lead to serious sporting injuries.

The following sporting equipment is recommended for these specific sporting activities:

• Helmets: Bike riding, ice hockey, skateboarding
• Mouth guard: Hockey
• Shin and groin guards: Cricket, hockey
• Gloves: Cricket, golf
• Wrist guards: Rollerblading
• Shoulder padding: Rugby
• Eye protection: Squash, lacrosse

Clothing

The clothing you wear must be breathable to allow proper air circulation and prevent overheating during exercise. Most often, sports retailers will stock cotton. The clothing will also need to be fitted in order to prevent chafing. Clothing should not retrict movement and should allow maximum flexibility. The clothing should also cater for the specific environment that the client is exercising in (e.g. wetsuit for cold water, sleeved top for tennis in the sun, etc).

Footwear

Some sports require specialist footwear. Regardless of the type of shoe needed, it must be suited to your foot shape. Most sport suppliers will have trained staff who can assess your foot and leg shape. For example, if you have flat feet, you will need shoes with high arches. The sports trainer may also ask you to go for a mini jog down the length of the store to assess your running mechanics (what happens to your legs and feet when you run). For example, your knees may turn inward. From this information, they can suggest the best pair of trainers for you. As a basic rule, sport footwear should be replaced once a year.

There are special shoes for many sports, including:

• Netball: These shoes have a thicker base that protrudes the outline of the shoe slightly, providing maximum grip on the court. This also reduces the risk of knee injury from the quick stops required during the sport.
• Dancing: Dancing shoes are often the key component for the activity – what is tap dancing without the taps? There are two types of ballet shoes. For beginners, a basic pump (also used for jazz ballet) is sufficient. The pump is a light shoe with minimal padding. As ballet dancers progress, they require proper ballet shoes called "points", which have a heavy wooden toe to provide a base for tiptoe work.
• Running: There are many different aspects of a running shoe that must be considered when purchasing, such as the amount of flexibility in the shoe, the strength and firmness of the base, the support it provides the ankle, and so on. Serious runners may require spikes on the base of the shoe for extra grip.
• Football: Football shoes are similar to running shoes, but with extra flexibility for quick sudden movements and kicking.
• Cross-training: If you do not play one specific sport, the best option is a cross-trainer. These encompass elements from many different trainers.

These are just a few common examples of sport and shoe types. Every sport will have is own unique footwear. Speak to your coach or sports trainer for advice on what shoes you should be wearing.