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Monday, 20 July 2009 11:59 |
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Establishing a regular routine will help make it easier to stick to exercise so aim to exercise at the same time of day for the same length of time.
Aim to exercise for about 30 to 60 minutes on most days of the week. You may need to build up to this if you are just beginning or recovering from illness. No matter what kind of exercise you do, every exercise session should include a warm up before you start, condition work and a cool down when you’re done.
To warm up, spend 5 to 10 minutes doing a low-intensity exercise such as walking. Then gently stretch for another 5 to 10 minutes.
Repeat these steps after exercising to cool down.
Warm ups help the body get ready for exercise, reducing stress on your heart and muscles by slowly increasing breathing, heart rate and body temperature. Regular warm ups will improve flexibility and may reduce stiffness and soreness. Use a combination of stretching and range of motion activities such as cycling and walking to start your session at an appropriately low intensity.
Conditioning follows your warm up session and is the core of your physical workout. This is where your body gets improvements in fitness and burns kilojoules. This part includes aerobic and resistance exercises. Check your heart rate at least once during your exercise.
Cool down phase is the last part of your routine and allows your body to recover from the conditioning exercise and gradually return to normal as you wind down. It’s important to remember not to just stop after a conditioning workout because it might cause dizziness or heart flutters (palpitations). Use some of the stretching exercises and walking you started with in the warm up phase. Heart rate and blood pressure will return to near resting level at the end of your session.
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Diabetes Management 
