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For
decades, people have been donning sweaters after heavy
exercise. The name sweater, in fact, has obvious origins. The
sweater began as a means of keeping the body warm and covered
once it had become hot and sweaty.
Unless exposure to inclement
weather is a problem, or the individual has particular reasons
for putting on a sweater at the end of a hot workout, the sweater
myth is just that. Under normal temperature, weather, and other
conditions, the sweater simply prolongs the body’s hot state.
That helps not at all.
Some stiffness can, of course,
result from exercise. But wearing a sweater is not the way to
prevent that. Stiff ness usually has its sources in the body’s
condition—or lack of it.
The advice that counsels moderation
in launching a fitness program or in starting new phases of
it has a sound basis in physiology. The purpose is to avoid
excessive fatigue. Muscular fatigue is defined as stimulation
of a muscle or group of muscles beyond their ability to recover.
A second type of fatigue affects the entire body. Known as physical
fatigue, this form can be regarded as normal after physical
exercise if it does not suggest undue stress.
Keep in mind that a flexible
plan may call for adjustments under different circumstances.
It may indicate sometimes that it is best to terminate the day’s
activities. On other occasions, it may require elimination of
some exercises and continuation with others.
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Your knee begins to bother you. You drop the exercises calling
for knee exertion and retain those that don’t.
•
You get a “stitch” in your side. Because it hurts continually,
you decide to downplay those exercises—for that day—that produce
or exacerbate the discomfort.
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While running in place, you find yourself troubled by shin splints,
those pains along the sides of the shin bones. You stop running
and turn to something else.
Flexibility can exist alongside
dedication to a program. As common sense dictates, the individual
should sometimes slow down or blow the whistle completely on
some exercises. Even Napoleon retreated now and then.
Another important principle
should be noted: the individual will build and take to a fitness
program most readily if he believes it will do him some good.
And if he has faith and confidence in it, he is likely to stay
with the program over the long run.
Three stages of fitness have
been identified. The individual who stays with an intelligently
devised program moves through beginning, intermediate, and advanced
stages. These have been termed by some authorities the low,
medium, and excellent stages or phases. Some experts add a fourth
level: the elite stage at which a person finds himself able
to take part in highly competitive and demanding athletic activities.
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