The secret miracles of physical activity

This one is for the ladies: you’ll be surprised how a simple exercise programme can help ease much of your menstrual discomfort and suffering.

I’ve been in the game for quite some time now, but physical exercise itself never ceases to amaze me. The more I harp on about the many wonderful benefits exercise and fitness bestows upon us, the longer my list keeps getting.

As a personal trainer, through the years I have become more and more adventurous with the nature of clients I assist. The more issues a client brings to the table, the more challenging the case becomes, and the more I enjoy sinking my proverbial teeth in.

From herniated discs to chronic migraines, it turns out there’s a whole host of special populations out there that stand so much to gain from simply adopting a more active lifestyle, and any personal trainer would love to take on this challenge.

We’ve all heard about the usual effects of exercise, like increasing muscle mass, shredding fat, increasing functional strength and boosting body image and self-esteem, but there is so much more to the story than that, and I hope to share some of this story with you today.

Let’s begin with those chronic aches and pains. Do you suffer from little niggling issues in your lower back, shoulders or knees that never seem to go away? Many clients with aches and pains tentatively begin their training following the crucial words of caution: “If you feel the pain at any time during the session, stop immediately.”

By exercising, we can become more physically robust and improve our resistance to pain

Provided we have worked around the area safely or conversely, engaged it effectively when required, not only do we rarely need to stop, but the pains have this wonderful habit of just disappearing several weeks into the programme.

I myself, who sells the benefits of exercise until I’m blue in the face, sometimes stand in awe when clients inform me of what their training has accomplished for them. Sometimes, all it takes is the strengthening of key muscle groups to improve posture, thus alleviating undue mechanical stress on the spine or other major joint structures. Pains in the neck and right down the back to the hips can actually be healed in some cases without the need for any medication of invasive treatments whatsoever.

Have you ever heard of fibromyalgia? More and more sufferers tend to be crawling out of the woodwork complaining of chronic pain occurring at multiple points around the body. Some research suggests this disorder is related to neurological oversensitivity to feelings of pain. Most sufferers cannot exercise at all simply because the immediate effects of recovery are too painful to contend with.

This is a shame, because exercise is precisely what should be done, in the right doses of course. As a result of the limited exposure I have had to this condition however, it seems that a careful application of the principles of training and current guidelines still prevails and the benefits of exercise consistently hold true.

By exercising, we can become more physically robust and improve our resistance to pain but just as the next person wouldn’t jump straight into a marathon race after a lifetime of inactivity, sufferers of chronic pain wouldn’t jump straight into even the most basic of workout routines. The truth is, the majority of workout options we think are gentle actually turn out to be simply too intense.

To those overly sensitive to pain, even a simple routine might represent the same stress as a full marathon to the rest of us. The key here is building up your physical activity levels from scratch.

To someone accustomed to no physical activity, then only slightly more than no physical activity will represent an effective training load. During the next workout, a little bit more can be applied, and so on until an effective level of fitness has been achieved. Allowing the body to adapt only to slight increases in intensity at a time avoids much needless pain and discomfort.

Similarly, clients who suffer from migraines can sometimes make remarkable progress with a simple physical activity programme and healthy eating plan. Provided activities are not so intense that migraine attacks are actually triggered there and then, intensity and frequency of training can be continuously tweaked and adjusted to remain under the triggering threshold and raise fitness gradually and safely.

And this one is for the ladies, as your menstrual cycle might be presenting some major physical challenges of its own. Do you feel excessive fatigue, bloating, water retention, back pains or headaches leading up to your time of the month? If so, you’ll be surprised how a simple exercise programme can help ease much of your discomfort and suffer-ing. Female clients new to exercise often report these welcome claims.

One of the reasons exercise is so good at achieving all this and more is the stimulation of endorphins. This is a hormone chemically related to morphine, and is a potent pain killer and mood elevator.

When you train, you are flushed with feelings of health and wellbeing, and such effects may last for days. If you train regularly, then you can support a healthy presence of endorphins in your system on a continuous basis.

Whoever would have thought that through a bit of physical exercise you could actually feel better most of the time and reduce mood swings and stress?

Well it can, so before you write off exercise as too difficult or too time-consuming, remember you never know what other wonderful gifts it may bestow that you’ve never even heard of.

info@noble-gym.com