MEDICAL MATTERS

Does it matter what happens

outside the gym?

Personal Trainer Dr John Searle looks at this issue’s topic hen I began working as a personal

W

trainer I was puzzled why some clients were not getting the results I expected. After a while I realised

that I was concentrating almost entirely on what they were doing in the gym. When I began to ask them about that I discovered that there had been little or no change in their lifestyles. They were sitting for long periods of time, using lifts and escalators and making no changes to how they got about. It may seem intrusive to ask about these things, and other lifestyle habits, but it is essential if clients are to develop a life-long healthy lifestyle. Furthermore, there is good evidence that exercise programmes are less effective in reducing disease risk when a person is sedentary outside the gym.

It is also important to teach clients that the levels of physical activity recommended in 2011 by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the Chief Medical Officers of the Four UK Nations are the basic levels needed for health. To a point, the greater the intensity of aerobic activity the greater the benefits.

I often get asked how much people should walk and how fast. My reply is that they need to walk for at least 30 minutes a day at 100 paces a minute even if they go to the gym. The ACSM guidelines estimate that this pace rate approximates to moderate intensity aerobic activity. Recently I tried this out on myself. Given my age, 65% of my maximum heart rate is 98 beats per minute. In order to achieve this I had actually to walk at 115 paces a minute, which enabled me to cover 3.1km in 30 minutes. Wherever I walk I now try to maintain this pace rate.

In April, the distinguished public health doctor, Lester Breslow, died aged 97. Way back in 1965 he published the results of a study of 6928 adults in Alameda County in California. He showed that length of life was dependent on seven life habits. The fewer of these an adult practised the shorter their life expectancy was. The seven habits were: l moderate consumption of alcohol l no tobacco smoking l regular exercise l seven to eight hours sleep a night l maintenance of a normal body weight l regular consumption of breakfast.

This is a helpful check-list for clients and can lead to discussions about life-style. Being fit and healthy is not just about going to the gym. It is a way of life.

26 The REPs Journal 2012;25(September):26