Thread by @SandeepMall

There is always an argument about how much exercise a person should do. There is a distinct definition between health, fitness and athletic performance. They are different goals with distinct demands and processes.

Health is a slippery term, defined actually by its absence. Having high BP, lipid profile, too much blood sugar, a wide waist, or any illness from cold to cancer, is unhealthy. Absence of these conditions is healthy. Activities, if wisely chosen, will improve health.

Fitness is how efficiently you transport oxygen to labouring muscles & maintain movement. A physically fit person has robust heart,strong lungs & sturdy muscles. They may or may not be clinically healthy. Some people blessed with high marks on fitness can have bad lipid profile.

30% of a persons cardio vascular fitness maybe genetic. But how you augment or diminish that inheritance is upto you.

Athletic performance, an ambition upto itself, capable, in some instances, of mitigating the other two. Walking 5 kms a day on regular basis with almost certainty will improve your health and fitness. Running four marathons a year might not.

Only you can decide what your goal is. How much discomfort you wish to endure to become healthy and fit. How much time you can devote to the process. At the extreme of exercise there can be undesirable consequences. Your heart is prone to over use.

How much exercise? If you are looking at health as your goal, WHO guidelines are simple 150 minutes of aerobic like walking, swimming or 75 minutes of more vigorous aerobic like running and weight training twice a week to ensure all muscles are healthy.

If your ambitions go beyond glowing health, you will have to push your body somewhat. You must over load the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems in order to improve your performance and fitness. You can do with whatever type of exercise you enjoy. Just do it harder than

normal sometimes. So to improve fitness, occasionally, increase the intensity or frequency of the exercises. You will be your best judge. Now a days it’s very easy to evaluate your recovery and heart rate with bands and watches. Trust your intuition.

There will be days when you can’t keep up with your intended exercise. Muscular aches if they don’t go away in three days is a sign of over use. Low HRV is a sign of overuse. Those days go light. Recovery is very very important.