People who don't exercise often should pay attention to what when they first start exercising

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is about to open, and everyone's passion for sports has been ignited.

People who do not exercise regularly can remember four sentences when they first start exercising: It is important to exercise reasonably and suit yourself; be careful not to overload your body when doing sudden exercise; start correctly and progress step by step; and muscle soreness can only be effectively relieved if it is relieved correctly.

Get moving, are you ready?

Exercise can enhance cardiopulmonary function, activate the immune system, and improve mental state. It is an activity that has many benefits to the body. However, when sedentary people are ready to start exercising, many people are confused about how to successfully get through the initial discomfort period and make exercise a habit.

When friends are worried about their bloated bodies or complain about their lack of physical strength, if the thought of "it's time to exercise" flashes in your mind, you can give yourself a thumbs up. Calm down and choose a suitable sport for yourself, smoothly and smoothly go through the initial transition state, love it and stick to it, and you will find that a healthy, positive and optimistic new lifestyle is coming to you with open arms.

It is important to exercise properly and suit yourself

Making exercise a habit is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, and habits are behaviors that need to be developed gradually over a long period of time.

First, before you start exercising, you might as well take some time to seriously consider which sport you choose as your hobby. Interest is the best teacher. Choosing a sport you like will undoubtedly satisfy your hobby while strengthening your body. Hobbies make persistence easier, and persistence makes hobbies more professional.

Second, when choosing sports, you should consider your health status and underlying diseases. People of different ages should choose sports that match their cardiopulmonary fitness. The elderly should not choose sports with strong explosive power, and diabetic patients are more suitable for sports with moderate intensity and high aerobic metabolism.

Third, choosing the right sport should be based on one’s own environment and surrounding facilities. It should be easy to obtain sports venues and equipment to facilitate sustainable development. The lack of objective environment and facilities will bring resistance to the persistence of exercise habits.

Do a surprise exercise, be careful not to overload your body

Many sports enthusiasts show great enthusiasm at the beginning of sports, not only with high intensity but also for long periods of time. Little do they know that a sudden large amount of exercise will put the originally calm body to a huge test. Locally, the glycogen reserves of the muscles cannot adapt to the sudden increase in exercise load in a short period of time, and the accumulation of lactic acid produced by a large amount of anaerobic glycolysis affects the performance of the exercise. The existing number and length of muscle fibers, the toughness of the tendons and the structure of the bones are also difficult to quickly cope with the sudden increase in strength or speed requirements. Moreover, overloaded exercise exceeds the tolerance threshold of muscles, tendons and bones, which can cause muscle and tendon strain or stress fractures, especially when there is no sufficient warm-up before exercise. The huge exercise intensity may even lead to various sports injuries.

Start correctly and improve step by step

Correctly starting exercise can effectively activate the body's potential and gradually adapt the body to the intensity of exercise. Following the objective laws of human biology and physical exercise will gradually improve one's own exercise level.

First, you should warm up thoroughly before each exercise. The purpose of warming up is to gradually get the body's nervous system, respiratory system, circulatory system, and motor system into a state of exercise. Sports require the nervous system and motor system to work together in a highly tacit manner to achieve faster speed and greater strength.

Maintaining this state of motion requires the cooperation of the respiratory system and the circulatory system to ensure adequate supply of oxygen and nutrients and timely discharge of metabolic waste. The gradual process allows the above systems of the body to gradually "smoothly" achieve a consistent pace, which can reduce the discomfort or disease caused by the mismatch of organ functions during exercise and ultimately achieve the best state of motion.

Second, sports training follows the principle of "super recovery", strengthening a small step on the basis of each exercise. In the subsequent recovery process, the body will improve the corresponding physiological functions to adapt to the stronger exercise level.

Muscle soreness, correct relief is effective

Many sports enthusiasts have experienced muscle soreness the day after exercise. This is a common phenomenon known as delayed onset muscle soreness. Delayed onset muscle soreness often occurs a period of time after starting a new sport or a sudden increase in exercise intensity. Delayed onset muscle soreness can lead to reduced range of motion of joints, reduced muscle contraction force, and tenderness. Most delayed onset muscle soreness generally occurs 12 to 24 hours after exercise, reaches a peak in 24 to 48 hours, and can be relieved and disappear on its own in 3 to 7 days.

There is no effective way to treat delayed onset muscle soreness, and the way to avoid its negative effects is to prevent it from happening. This includes adequate warm-up before exercise, reasonable assessment of the acceptable exercise intensity, relaxation after exercise, and the development of a gradual and persistent exercise plan.

Movement is beneficial, persistence is the key.

More movement is better, but moderation is appropriate.

Author: Beijing Jishuitan Hospital

Zhang Hailong, deputy chief physician of the Department of Sports Medicine

Review | Experts from the National Health Science Expert Database

Zhao Bin, chief physician at Beijing Jishuitan Hospital

Planning｜Tan Jia

Editor: Liu Yang

Source: Healthy China