Principles of Exercise Prescription Milind V Bhutkar
INDEX
×
Chapter Notes

Save Clear


Scope of Exercise Science1

 
A LOOK INTO THE PAST
The history of exercise in the form of sports is as old as history of mankind itself. In Indian mythology, ‘Hanuman’ is depicted as God of strength, discipline and loyalty. In Mahabharata, there are references of professional fighters and there are stories about Lord Krishna who beat two such mighty fighters (Chanoor and Mushtik) in the court of tyrant king Kansa. There is also description of how the royal Kuru princes (Kauravas and Pandavas) were physically trained as a part of their preparation to learn the war skills.
In recent times, wrestling was a popular sport in many parts of India. Wrestlers were supported and sponsored by many princely states and renowned wrestlers like Gama and Gunga used to make headlines for number of years. The traditional Indian gymnasium was called as ‘Talim’ or ‘Akhada’. However, exercises in these Talims were confined to few free hand exercises like some variants of push-ups, squats without weights (Baithaks) and exercises with Indian clubs. (Figure 1.1) However, there was no equivalent of progressive resistance training and increasing number of repetitions was the only way of increasing the intensity of exercise.
Once upon a time, exercise had been a part of religious tradition. Ancient Buddhist monks practiced ‘Kung-fu’ as an element of physical training and self-protection without using weapons.2
zoom view
Figure 1.1: An Indian wrestler performing exercises with Indian clubs
Physical strength as a virtue has been admired by all ancient civilisations. In Greek mythology, Hercules proved his strength and courage by completing twelve very difficult tasks (Herculean tasks). There is a story about an athlete Milo (sixth century BC) who began by lifting a newborn calf above his head. He continued this practice every day for few years till the calf was full-grown. It is claimed that Milo became so strong that he could lift a robust bull overhead and he became six times Olympic Champion.
Other interesting accounts of physical conditioning have been talked about for generations. One of these is the origin of Marathon run. The idea of the marathon was inspired by the legend of Pheidippides, a professional runner. In the year 490 BC, Persian Army attacked Athens and the battle took place on the plains of Marathon.
The Athenian Army was vastly outnumbered but they launched a surprise counterattack and by the end of the day, Athenians were successful in repulsing the attack.
History of weight lifting dates back to 1700 B.C. In China during the reign of Chou dynasty, prospective soldiers had to pass weight lifting tests before their recruitment in the army3
Pheidippides was called upon to run to Athens (26 miles away) to carry the news of the victory and the warning about the approaching Persian ships. He rose to the challenge. Exhibiting extraordinary endurance, he reached Athens in about 3 hours, delivered his message and then dropped dead due to extreme fatigue. This is considered a crucial event in world history because it prevented an Eastern regime (Persia) from conquering the Europe.
 
 
Only athletes need to know about Exercise Physiology.
FACT: Human body is designed for physical work and physical movement is the essence of life. In fact, in infancy, crying or body movements is the way by which one expresses the sense of hunger and thirst. Speech and meaningful words as means of communication develop later in life.
In prehistoric days, physical activity was an integral part of daily routine. Our ancestors were hunter-gatherers. They had to walk for miles, go up the hills, climb the trees to gather the food and fetch water from the lakes. Today, due to technological advances, our life has become comfortable as far as physical activity is concerned. But every coin has two sides. The affluence and comforts of modern society have taken their toll on health of the people. Luxuries in our society are increasing but so is the incidence of hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease, arthritis, and other ‘civilisation disorders’.
Unfortunately, since the times of our ancestors till today, the need of physical activity for health has not changed. The dictum ‘use it or lose it’ holds good in relation to health also. To achieve and maintain capacity for physical work one has to exert, there are neither short cuts nor magic formulae for health. Hence, even a common man needs to know the basics of exercise science.4
Thus, history of sports can be traced back to ancient days. But development of exercise as a ‘science’ is a recent phenomenon. Scientific methods, careful observations and development of new equipments for training as well as for measuring the performance have brought about dramatic changes in the insight towards exercise and sports physiology. Patronage given by the state and the society (especially in Western countries) has given a further boost to the development of this field. It is now realised that the resources invested in Research and Development in exercise physiology not only bring laurels for the country in sports but also contribute to the overall health and well being of common people of that society.
 
Why people approach the exercise consultant?
In the present text, the word ‘exercise consultant’ or ‘exercise specialist’ is used to denote a medical professional who specializes in theoretical and practical aspects of exercise physiology and ‘prescribes’ various physical activities (with or without use of equipments) to people in order to improve their health, to prevent occurrence of diseases or as a therapeutic measure. Although in our society, awareness about exercise practices is still in its infancy, it is slowly but surely on a rise. Increased media coverage in the newspapers, magazines and electronic media, about benefits of staying in shape and hazards of overweight has caused health awakening especially in the affluent class of the society. Springing up of health clubs, gymnasiums and spas is a testimony to this health realisation.
Different people approach the exercise specialist with a variety of expectations. These can be broadly categorized as :
  1. People who come with some vague ideas about fitness in their mind. To give some examples:
    According to Oxford advanced learner's dictionary ‘Exercise is a physical activity or movements that are done to stay healthy or to become stronger.’5
    • An obese middle aged lady wants to undertake exercise in order to have a figure like a super model or
    • A teenager weakling may tell you that he wants a muscular physique like an action movie hero or
    • A sports enthusiast who hasn't done any sports related activity except surfing the sports channels on television, suddenly wants to be as fit and athletic as his favorite sportsman or
    • An old, frail gentleman has a firm belief that a particular exercise or yoga can get rid of his long standing, nagging disease and he wants the views of the specialist on that aspect (or more accurately he wants the specialist to endorse his views.)
  2. People who are genuinely interested in improving their health. These can be sub-classified as:
    • Persons who are healthy at present and want to undertake exercise to maintain their health.
    • Persons who are suffering from a disease but want to use exercise as an adjunct to their present therapy.
    • Rarely a sportsman may come with a query that in spite of good training and nutrition programme, he is not making adequate progress and he wants the exercise consultant to modify his training programme in order to achieve optimum performance.
These are sincere people who are convinced about the prophylactic or therapeutic aspects of exercise and expect a scientific training programme for achieving a better health status.
 
What is fitness?
Fitness is more than just having absence of disease or having body weight within a particular range or having big muscles or having so called ‘ideal’ body measurements.
Fitness can be described as ‘the ability to carry out day-today activities with vigor and without undue fatigue and the capacity to meet any unforeseen emergency or a physically demanding situation.’6
zoom view
According to the USA President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, ‘Fitness is the measure of body's strength, stamina and flexibility.’ The American Medical Association states that ‘Fitness is the general capacity to adapt and respond favorably to physical effort.’
Thus, fitness is a holistic concept, which includes various aspects as shown in the above diagram
 
What is exercise?
Usually exercise involves contractions of muscles and movement of joints, which try to overcome an external force or a load. This load may be in various forms like weights (weight training), springs (expanders) or body weight of the person (free hand exercises like pushups). But the term exercise is not confined to physical activities done within the four walls of a gymnasium. It is a broad term, which encompasses varied activities like jogging, running, swimming, cycling, rowing and playing various outdoor games that elevate heart rate above resting level. Achieving and maintaining physical fitness is a common objective of all these activities.
Dr. George Wells Fitz (Harvard University) is considered as the first teacher who developed a formal exercise physiology laboratory and a curriculum for the exercise science course7
 
Components of an ideal exercise programme:
  1. Exercises that improve aerobic capacity (i.e. cardiopulmonary efficiency)
  2. Exercises that strengthen the musculoskeletal system including muscles of back and abdomen (which incidentally are the most neglected muscles in the body.)
  3. Education of the subject to inculcate habits which would improve biomechanics of the body i.e. to improve posture and modify faulty habits of sitting, walking, lifting a load and carrying it.
  4. Exercises that encourage full range of movements at various joints and improve flexibility of the subject (e.g. yoga, stretching)
  5. Instructions to the subject to inculcate safe exercise habits, which would prevent injuries and eliminate accidents during training.
  6. Provision of variety in terms of type of exercises, type of equipments used and muscle groups involved in order to break the monotony.
  7. Modification of exercise programme as one makes progress in physical abilities. This can be done by adding new movements or by subtle variations in existing ones.
Development of one of the physical attributes to an extreme degree while ignoring the other cannot constitute a fit person, e.g. if a man with big bulging muscles is unable to touch his toes without bending his knees, he is lacking in optimum flexibility and is deficient in one important aspect of fitness. Hence, in a training programme it is important to give equal consideration to all the aspects of fitness.
However, one should be aware that meaning of the term fitness might be different for different people. A professional marathon runner who is beginning his new competitive season 8may complain that his fitness has gone down during off-season as he is taking 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete the marathon run! On the other hand, a patient who has just recovered from myocardial infarction may tell his doctor that now he is able to walk half a kilometer without breathlessness and he is feeling energetic and fit! Thus, there can be a vast difference in the interpretation of words ‘fit’, ‘fitness’ and ‘lack of fitness’.
 
GOAL OF THE EXERCISE SPECIALIST
Although aims of the people may be varied and their expectations from the exercise programme may be ambiguous or unrealistic, the goal of the exercise specialist is clear – to promote health and overall fitness of his subjects. Here the word ‘subject’ is deliberately used for the clients of the exercise consultant. The word patient is avoided, as exercise consultant is one fortunate medical professional who may get opportunity to interact with healthy people.
The factor of paramount importance in successful implementation of any exercise programme is the cooperation of the subject. Unless a person obeys the exercise prescription in its letter and spirit, there will be little progress in achieving his objectives. Hence, the exerciser must be totally convinced about the utility of the exercise programme. This conviction can arise only if factual information about the benefits of an exercise programme is scientifically explained to him and he closely observes people around him who are reaping rich rewards of regular exercise. The following pages will reveal the dynamic nature of exercise science. So, read on!
The credit for designing first resistance training programme with barbells and dumbbells goes to Archibald MacLaren. In 1860, he designed the programme for soldiers in the British army.