‘Sweat it out’, we are told, burn some fat. True lies. In a hot country like ours, we can all sweat it out, even while waiting for a bus or waiting for the valet to bring the car. But does that lead to a smaller waist, a six-pack or accelerated fat burning? No, it simply means smelly bodies.
The point I am making is that exercise is a non-negotiable aspect of our lives but ‘sweating it out’ should be understood as a metaphor for it, and not taken literally. Chase fitness, not sweat.
Working out has three main subjects—flexibility, strength and cardio-respiratory fitness. Way too often, we bother only about the cardio-respiratory fitness part. Doctors tell us to ‘go take a walk’. Obediently, we walk and walk and walk, and come back with sprained ankles, bad backs, and pulled hamstrings.
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What we don’t realise is that walking, which is supposed to be great for the heart, can be detrimental to tendons, ligaments and joints, if you get fanatical about it. To walk effectively, without damaging your body, you need to make time for resistance training to build strength, and stretching to build flexibility. You can use your body weight, or dumbbells or bars or gym equipment for resistance training. A qualified professional will help you figure out what is the right resistance exercise for you. Stretching, as part of warm-up for exercise, and as a cool-down after exercise, helps makes the joints flexible. Yogasanas, learnt from an experienced teacher, will help build all-round fitness, though with much lesser sweat than other options.
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The bottomline: Seek professional guidance, spend time and money to work out an exercise schedule that will improve your overall fitness. Never adopt somebody else’s regime, or the most popular one of the moment—it could do you more harm than good.
(A fortnightly column on nutrition and fitness, by the best-selling author of Don’t Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight)
