Back in the day I was a complete cardio bunny. I just loved getting hot and sweaty and that was about as far as my workouts went. Then my back had a paddy. I was jumping around a lot (more than required to be honest) but without the muscular strength to be able to support that. It was painful and it was frustrating, but it was time to listen to my body.
These days you don’t have to go far to hear someone preaching about the benefits of a well rounded training program that includes cardio, resistance and mobility… it’s everywhere, and especially targeted at women. The reason for this is we go through substantial changes in our muscle mass as we age and as we move through the menopause. The decrease in muscle mass we experience contributes to a number of changes in our health and quality of life including decreased metabolism, decreased bone density etc. But it’s easy to avoid by resistance training.
Cardio is good for our cardiovascular health. It helps us to live longer because our heart and lungs are healthier and more efficient.
Resistance training improves the quality of life we have whilst we age. It helps us maintain our muscle mass so we are still strong enough to do the things we were doing before. One way to think of it is cardio = longevity of life, resistance = quality of life.
Both of these things might contribute toward your daily activity levels (which we mostly measure by steps because it’s the only way most of us can) and that should be around 6500-7500 steps a day for general health. More might be recommended for someone looking to change their physique.
So how do we balance all that - a simple way is by doing your cardio in a way that you find fun, so it feels less of a task, for me that’s dance fitness. I love it, it boosts my endorphins, reduces my stress and I am a happier person because of it. We need to raise our pulse rate moderately for 150 minutes per week, or vigorously for 75 minutes. We should do muscle strengthening work at least twice per week. This can be any work against a load and things like heavy gardening count too.
So what does that mean for your average class participant at AMF…. A couple of dance fitness classes per week and something else outside of our sessions for example 30 minutes on the bike at home would cover your cardio, and 2-4 home/gym workouts (which I can help you with btw). If we can build that into our weekly routine we can be sure that we are covering all our bases when it comes to our fitness and strength levels.
I am aware that if you are currently managing one dance fitness class every two weeks, this seems like a lot. And I get that. But it doesn’t have to be done all at once, you could build up gradually over the next few months, slowly adding in one more workout until you reach a level that works for you.
If you need help with your workouts let me know, I have face-to-face classes for the cardio side of things which will bring the energy and uplift you for the rest of the week ahead and I’ve got Flex, my online program (which is cheap as chips btw) that has everything you need for home and gym workouts that fit around your lifestyle…. Including cardio as well if it’s not logistically possible for you to make my classes. Flex costs just £49.99 for the year at the moment, whereas PT with me starts at £520 for 8 weeks so if you are looking for a cost effective solution then Flex could be the thing you need.
Any questions ever, about fitness & nutrition, please drop me an email. I want everyone to have access to what they need to move forward regardless of whether you are currently involved with AMF or not.
Anna
Comments