This is from an article in New Scientist that is a good example of good journalism.
1. What counts as exercise?
150 minutes of moderate exercise a week. Moderate – 3 to 6 MET.
I ride at least 4 hours (240 Minutes) at average of 14 kmh -> which is abotu 6 MET.
2. How much, and how often?
If you aim for 150 minutes per week you can divide it up however you like.
So my 8 sets at a minimum of 30 minutes each is good.
3. How do you know if you’re getting fit?
There are also ways to estimate VO2max that don’t require a sports science lab. The only equipment needed for the Rockport Fitness Walking Test, for example, is a watch. Time how long it takes you to walk a mile as quickly as possible, then measure your heart rate. Plug the time and heart rate, along with your age, gender and weight into the appropriate equation or find a website that will do it for you – try the Brian Mac Sports Coach site at bit.ly/8c7wdx – and you’ll get a ballpark value for your VO2max.
I need to try this
4. Is pumping iron really necessary?
“The bottom line is that both strength and aerobic fitness make independent contributions to health,” says Steve Blair, one of the study’s co-authors, based at University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health, who helped write the US national guidelines on exercise.
In the 2007 update of its own recommendations on exercise, the American College of Sports Medicine added two episodes of strength training a week, consisting of about 10 repetitions of 10 strengthening exercises of all the major muscle groups.
I need to work on my upper body strength.
5. Can jogging kill you?
For someone who is completely unfit, the risk can rise by as much as 100-fold, relative to when they are resting. For someone who regularly runs five times a week, their risk while exercising roughly doubles
Study after study has shown that keeping active lowers an individual’s risk of suffering a heart attack by 50 to 80 per cent.
so real, no.
6. Is getting fit easier for some people?
While many people’s aerobic fitness improved dramatically, others showed a less marked response. The disheartening news is that about 1 in 10 showed no change whatsoever in their aerobic fitness, despite doing 45 minutes of vigorous exercise three times a week for the final six weeks of the programme
Happily, even those whose aerobic fitness did not change had lower blood pressure and cholesterol, more normal insulin levels, and less abdominal fat. “You’re never a complete non-responder,” says Bouchard.
I’d guess I am a lesser responder, but not a non-responder.
7. Can you be fat and fit?
Among those who were mildly obese, only a third met a common definition of being physically unfit, and only half of those who were moderately obese were unfit. Blair points out that measures of aerobic fitness – the body’s ability to deliver oxygen to the muscles – have nothing to do with the amount of fat tissue present.
In the 12 years during which the subjects were followed, Blair’s study found that the risk of dying was more closely linked to fitness than fatness. People who were fit but obese had a lower risk of dying than people who were unfit but of normal weight. That’s important, says Blair, because while many overweight people find it hard to get slim, they could still become healthier with more exercise. It’s a point he would like doctors to bear in mind when advising overweight patients.
I am still a little fat.
8. Do you need to ‘push fluids’?
But this is overdoing it, says Noakes. Drinking to satisfy your thirst is all that is needed. “The easiest way to lower your performance is to over drink, not under drink.”
kool, that’s what I do.
9. What if you get injured?
In many sports the most common injury is a sprained ankle. It’s a problem that often recurs: in the first year after an injury, the risk of suffering a repeat sprain roughly doubles compared with that for previously uninjured people. The risk can be reduced, however, by some simple home exercises using a wobbly platform known as a balance board. In July 2009, a team from the Free University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands showed that using the board for half an hour three times a week for eight weeks halves the risk of a repeat ankle sprain in the first year after injury
I sprained my ankle catching the train. but apart from that no injuries.