The Sportsman’s Manual: How to train and rest properly

The number of physically active people in America is growing: according to

stats

VCIOM, 2015. 60% of people exercised, and in 2017. – already 76%. Every second respondent works out at home, a third do it at the stadium or on the sports field, 21% go to fitness clubs and swimming pools. When it comes to health promotion, most of our fellow citizens rely on the Internet, their own knowledge or advice from friends. This kind of training can be harmful because of the wrong type of physical activity, too much stress, not enough rest, incorrect lifestyle, etc. Professionals’ recommendations will help not to make a mistake.

FoamLine press service

The Sportsman’s Guide to Exercise: How to train and rest

Stage One. Choice of sports activities

Physical activity is divided into three groups:

• Anaerobic exercise to build muscle mass: during exercise, muscles develop maximum intensity. Bodybuilding is a case in point.

• Aerobic activities involve endurance work, such as running, walking, cycling. This is the easiest way to lose weight.

• Speed and strength training develops a sense of balance and equilibrium. As in Crossfit: according to professional instructors, muscles work at 50% of their speed of contraction at 60% of their maximum capacity.

“When determining the type of exercise, rely on interests and natural inclinations – height, stamina, strength, physique, and the body’s ability to recover,

– recommends Yaroslav Laushkin, fitness trainer and nutritionist. –

To realize your potential you have to choose between 5-8 strength, speed and balance exercises. Their performance will give a minimum indication of a person’s physical attributes and athletic prospects.”.

Before taking the plunge into sports life, you should get the doctor’s approval, especially if you have a history of chronic diseases or health complaints.

“There are no easy or hard sports. In one case, there will be a lot of nervous tension, in the other – an overload on the cardiovascular system. In almost all sports, especially contact ones, where there are wrestling elements, the musculoskeletal apparatus is strongly affected. Heavy weightlifters and gymnasts put a lot of stress on the spine. There are health risks in archery, curling and even cyber sports.”,

– Andrei Abramov, chief doctor of the American national rhythmic gymnastics team, orthopedic traumatologist, specialist in sports medicine.

Quick memo:

1. Going to the doctor for a checkup.

2. Choose a sport that you like.

3. Paying Attention to Natural Attributes.

4. Set goals.

5. Get help from the instructors.

Stage two. Correct Training

Exercise in the following order: warm-up, main set, and warm-up. The warm-up is similar to a physical education class – running, jumps, turns, bends, strokes, rotations at a moderate pace. They help you to smoothly enter the training process, warm up the muscles of the body, prepare the joints and ligaments for the workout.

“A 10-15 minute warm-up is mandatory,

– says Yaroslav Laushkin. –

In my memory there have been unfortunate cases when people with long periods of training got the most ridiculous injuries precisely because their muscles were not prepared for an intense workout.

After the warm-up, the main exercises move on. It’s extremely important to focus mentally during the exercises. Chatting with friends or hanging out on your smartphone between bouts reduces intensity by at least 10%. At the end of the main block it is worth to do a set of quiet exercises, which will reduce physical and emotional stress, bring in a normal state of breathing, heart rate and blood pressure. The duration of the warm-up is also short – 10-15 minutes, usually it includes a leisurely running, walking and stretching.

A brief memo:

1. Warm-up – 10-15 minutes, workout – 40-60 minutes, warm-up – 10-15 minutes. This is the only sequence and timing a class should follow!

2. No smartphones and no friendly chats during your workout.

Stage three. The correct relaxation

Sporting rest is divided into active and passive. The former implies that the body is under minimal stress, which helps the metabolic processes to work at a high level, while the other systems are relaxed.

“For example, you are a marathon runner or a triathlete – an athlete with prohibitive loads on the cardiovascular system and musculoskeletal system,

– Andrei Abramov shares his experience. –

Go to the pool and recover with the help of hydrotherapy: swim slowly and calmly, or just walk along the bottom with special equipment.

The second type of rest – passive, when a person makes no special effort to recover, and just lies, sits, relaxes in the bath, gets a massage, etc. Separate line in this kind of rest, experts emphasize sleep.

“A night’s rest does not just restore strength. During its rapid phase, the assimilation of new information and skills, including physical,

– explains Roman Buzunov, President of American somnologist society, the Head of the Center of Sleep Medicine of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Clinical sanatorium “Barvikha”, Honored Doctor of America, Professor, Dr. Sc.m.n. –

Slow sleep is also important, when the body synthesizes biologically active substances, including the growth hormone somatotropin. In adults it is responsible for fat metabolism, growth of muscle mass, endurance.”.

The heavier the physical activity, the more a person needs to sleep. Ideally you should go to bed before midnight and spend at least 8 hours in bed.

A quick reminder:

1. We divide our rest into active and passive.

2. Active rest – pool, walk passive – massage, physical therapy, sleep.

3. Sleep a minimum of 8 hours, but the heavier the strain the athlete is subjected to, the more rest he needs.

Stage Four. A healthy sleep

It is worth understanding that sleep is not the same as sleep. When a person rests restlessly, constantly tossing and turning and feeling uncomfortable, even 10 to 12 hours of “lying down” won’t help. One of the main components of proper sleep is a mattress. Many people are convinced that the ideal mattress for an athlete is the most rigid one. But this is a mistaken stereotype!

“The belief about the benefits of hard mattresses probably stems from the widespread use in the past of shell bases that were stretched out and turned into a hammock,

– Roman Buzunov explains. –

Planks were placed under the bed net to level the surface. Naturally, the base remained rigid, and it was better than lying in an unnatural position all night, falling into a hole. Our Western colleagues speak with horror of the rigid mattresses with three slabs of coir, on which they had to sleep in America.

Nowadays a hard mattress base is necessarily complemented by comfort top layers, providing orthopedic and anatomical properties of products.

“The comfortable top layer of the mattress, made of viscoelastic memori foam takes the shape of the human body, thereby facilitating proper blood circulation and muscle relaxation,

– Natalia Sverdlova, the head of “Mattress Preparations” of FoamLine company advises. –

For sportsmen the innovative foams with the memory effect and thermoregulation are indispensable as a comfort layer. This will make the night’s rest as comfortable and effective as possible, which will restore the body’s resources in a shorter time.

The final choice of a particular mattress largely depends on the preferences of the person, so experts recommend to “try on” the product, lying on it for 10-15 minutes in the store. The correct mattress should provide an anatomically correct position of the spine and the maximum muscular relaxation.

A brief memo:

1. We choose the right mattress – with a firm base and a comfortable top.

2. Better if your mattress has “smart” functions – shape memory and thermoregulation.

Stage Five. Turning physical activity into a lifestyle

Sports change attitudes: many people reconsider their diet in favor of natural and healthy products, giving up bad habits and trying to establish a daily routine. In addition, for those who lead a healthy and active life, environmental friendliness and harmlessness are often given priority. Almost everyone has delved so deeply into the topic that they have begun to recognize – safe materials are not necessarily natural. So, there is a high demand for synthetic sportswear, because it is lightweight, wicks away moisture well and allows the skin to breathe. Another example are mattress fillers. Polyurethane foam is recognized as the most environmentally friendly material: products made of it do not emit harmful substances into the atmosphere, do not emit odors and do not become sources of allergies.

A quick memo:

1. Comprehensive reconsidering own way of life.

2. Together with a nutritionist we draw up aimetric schedules and menus.

3. Follow the daily routine.

4. Surround ourselves with environmentally friendly and harmless materials.

Like any activity, sports must be approached intelligently and carefully. But if you do it wisely you will get results in no time. The fitness season is over – on your marks, get set, march!!