We have been learning about the benefits of physical exercise, how to exercise, and how to improve physical fitness. In this last article of the series, we will address some general information about physical exercise, and then we will look at some quotes from the Spirit of Prophecy, to see what Sister White counsels about physical exercise. Not all forms of physical exercise should be engaged in. This series of articles addresses the importance of physical exercise, with an emphasis on how to take care of the delicate machinery that God has created. Many do not have opportunities for physical exercise as part of their daily work; therefore, an exercise programme is important in developing the physical aspect of our bodies. All suggestions regarding exercise need to be balanced with the exercise of the brain, in studying the word of God, in the development of our characters, to prepare ourselves, body, mind, and soul, for the soon coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

EXERCISE INTENSITY: WHY IT MATTERS

When we exercise, the intensity of the exercise matters if we want to improve our physical fitness—to strengthen our heart and our muscles. Remember, physical fitness encompasses a complex number of factors which all need to be addressed in order to obtain good physical fitness, including the efficiency of your heart muscle to bring oxygen to your muscles. How do you know how hard you should be exercising? When you exercise, do you feel like you are making an effort, or does the exercise feel effortless? Exercising at the correct intensity can help you can get the most out of your physical activity—making sure you are not overdoing or even underdoing it. When you are doing aerobic or cardiovascular activity, such as walking or biking, there are two basic ways to measure exercise intensity:

How you feel. Exercise intensity is subjective, which is a measure of how hard the physical activity feels to you while you are doing it—your own perceived exertion. Your perceived level of exertion may be different from what someone else feels doing the same exercise. For example, what feels to you like a vigorous bicycle ride can feel like an easy workout to someone who is more fit. If you are breathing faster and more deeply than normal, you are exerting yourself.

Your heart rate. Your heart rate offers a more objective look at exercise intensity. In general, the higher your heart rate during physical activity, the higher the exercise intensity. To determine if your heart is beating at a level in which the heart becomes more efficient, you must first calculate your maximum heart rate—the upper limit of what your cardiovascular system can handle during physical activity. Calculate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. For example, if you are 50 years old, subtract 50 from 220 to get a maximum heart rate of 170. This is the maximum number of times your heart should beat per minute during exercise. Once you know your maximum heart rate, you can calculate your target heart rate zone—the level at which your heart is being exercised and conditioned but not overworked.

Studies show that your perceived exertion correlates well with your heart rate. So, if you think you are working hard, if your breathing has increased in rate and depth, your heart rate is likely elevated.

The American Heart Association (AHA) advises that people aim to reach between 50% and 85% of their maximum heart rate during exercise. Your exercise intensity must be at a moderate or vigorous level for maximum benefit.

Moderate exercise occurs when your heart rate is between 50–70% of your maximum heart rate. To gauge if you are exercising at a moderate intensity, here are some tips to help you to recognize moderate intensity exercise. Subjectively, the exercise feels somewhat hard. Your breathing quickens, but you are not out of breath. You develop a light sweat after about 10 minutes of activity. You can carry on a conversation, but you cannot sing.

Vigorous exercise occurs when your heart rate reaches 70–85% of your maximum heart rate. Subjectively, vigorous activity feels challenging. Some tips to recognize vigorous intensity exercise are: your breathing is deep and rapid; you develop a sweat after only a few minutes of activity; you cannot say more than a few words without pausing for breath.

For a 50-year old, to obtain moderate intensity exercise, target a heart rate between 85–119 beats per minute. For vigorous intensity exercise, target a heart rate between 119-144 beats per minute. If you are not fit or you are just beginning an exercise program, aim for the lower end of your target heart rate zone. Then, gradually build up the intensity. If you are healthy, and want to develop more fitness, aim for the vigorous intensity.  Typically, a lower resting heart rate (averaging 60 beats per minute) indicates a well-conditioned heart. The more efficient a heart is, the less work it has to do to provide the muscles with oxygen, so it beats fewer times per minute. Also, the ability to be able to lower your heart rate quickly after an intense bout of exercise is a sign of good physical fitness.

If you have access to technology, a heart rate monitor is a useful device to determine your level of physical exertion. Also, an easy way of checking your heart rate is by placing your fingers along the inside of your forearm, just behind your thumb to feel for your pulse; or placing your fingers on your neck to feel for your pulse. Count for 15 seconds and multiply by four. For most people, a heart rate that is above 120 beats per minute is a good indication that you are exerting yourself adequately to improve physical fitness. A slow walk that does not elevate your heart rate will not improve your heart function. Tracking your heart rate over time and during different types of exercises will give you a good indication of your overall fitness, whether you need to improve, or whether you are at a good level of physical fitness.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU EXERCISE?

The frequency of exercise should be adequate to maintain or improve physical fitness. Waiting too long between sessions of physical fitness can decrease the muscle and heart conditioning you have been working to improve. Overdoing the intensity and frequency of exercise can result in pain, sore muscles, and overuse injuries.

Aerobic activity. Try to get at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity—such as brisk walking, swimming or mowing the lawn; or 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity—such as running or bicycling. You can also do a combination of moderate and vigorous activity, preferably spread throughout the course of a week. Each daily exercise session should be at least 20 minutes in length. Aim for doing aerobic activity at least three times a week. Increase the amount of sessions per week, and the length of time per session as your fitness improves.

Anaerobic or Strength training. Do strength training exercises at least twice a week. Consider free weights, weight machines or activities that use your own body weight—such as hill climbing or heavy gardening. The amount of time for each session is up to you.

Increase frequency and intensity as fitness improves. Allow your body enough time between sessions to recover from the exercise. Not waiting long enough in between means that you are exercising with a tired body, and you cannot perform the next exercise session effectively. You will get the most benefit from your workouts if you are exercising at the proper exercise intensity for your health and fitness goals. If you are not feeling any exertion or your heart rate is too low, pick up the pace. If you are worried that you are pushing yourself too hard or your heart rate is too high, back off a bit. However, balance is important. Beware of pushing yourself too hard too often. Overdoing it can increase your risk of soreness, injury, and burnout. If you are new to regular exercise and physical activity, start out at a light intensity and gradually build up to a moderate or vigorous intensity. If you are short of breath, in pain, or cannot work out as long as you had planned, your exercise intensity is probably higher than your fitness level allows. Back off a bit and build intensity gradually.

EXERCISE FOR OUR BENEFIT

What type of exercise does God approve of? Does He approve of all exercise?

As you may recall from the first segment of the physical exercise series, God gave man work. Even before sin entered into the world, Adam and Eve were given the task of taking care of the Garden of Eden. Work was then, and still is now, a blessing. As seen in the example of Sodom and Gomorrah, idleness leads to many sins. How we take care of our bodies, how we use them, even how we exercise is important. Let us review some of the counsels Sister White gives regarding exercise; these will guide us into knowing what type of exercise we can engage in that glorifies God.

Children and youth have much energy; they are still growing and developing. Their bodies need exercise in order to develop and strengthen growing muscles and bones. Health guidelines state that children and adolescents need at least an hour of physical activity per day, with most of the activity being in the moderate to vigorous zone. Children should also engage in muscle and bone-strengthening exercises at least three days a week. Parents should exercise with their children to develop good habits of exercise that they will then continue throughout their lives. Children will tend to be more physically active if it is a family endeavour.

An imbalance is created in students if all of their time is spent in studying, without taking time for physical exercise. “Attention to recreation and physical culture will at times, no doubt, interrupt the regular routine of schoolwork; but the interruption will prove no real hindrance. . . . There are modes of recreation which are highly beneficial to both mind and body. An enlightened, discriminating mind will find abundant means for entertainment and diversion, from sources not only innocent, but instructive. Recreation in the open air, the contemplation of the works of God in nature, will be of the highest benefit.” –The Adventist Home, p. 496

Those who are guiding the youth in schools and in churches need to encourage the type of recreation and physical exercise that does not incite a spirit of competition and of display, which can lead to unchristlike characteristics that can be a stumbling block in a young person’s pathway to a refinement of a Christian character. Exercise can also be done to an excess which takes the student’s time away from their studies.

“The question of suitable recreation for their pupils is one that teachers often find perplexing. Gymnastic exercises fill a useful place in many schools, but without careful supervision they are often carried to excess. In the gymnasium many youth, by their attempted feats of strength, have done themselves lifelong injury.

“Exercise in a gymnasium, however well conducted, cannot supply the place of recreation in the open air, and for this our schools should offer better opportunity. Vigorous exercise the pupils must have. Few evils are more to be dreaded than indolence and aimlessness. Yet the tendency of most athletic sports is a subject of anxious thought to those who have at heart the well-being of the youth. Teachers are troubled as they consider the influence of these sports both on the student’s progress in school and on his success in afterlife. The games that occupy so much of his time are diverting the mind from study. They are not helping to prepare the youth for practical, earnest work in life. Their influence does not tend toward refinement, generosity, or real manliness.

“Some of the most popular amusements, such as football and boxing, have become schools of brutality. They are developing the same characteristics as did the games of ancient Rome. The love of domination, the pride in mere brute force, the reckless disregard of life, are exerting upon the youth a power to demoralize that is appalling.

“Other athletic games, though not so brutalizing, are scarcely less objectionable, because of the excess to which they are carried. They stimulate the love of pleasure and excitement, thus fostering a distaste for useful labour, a disposition to shun practical duties and responsibilities. They tend to destroy a relish for life’s sober realities and its tranquil enjoyments. Thus the door is opened to dissipation and lawlessness, with their terrible results.” –Counsels on Health, p. 189

A balance must be found with the use of both physical and mental exercise, to glorify God in our bodies. We become physically weak when we devote all our time to studying. On the other hand, we can become mentally and morally weak if we devote all our time to engaging in physical pursuits, to the detriment of our spiritual life.

“Those who are engaged in study should have relaxation. The mind must not be constantly confined to close thought, for the delicate mental machinery becomes worn. The body as well as the mind must have exercise.

“It is the privilege and duty of Christians to seek to refresh their spirits and invigorate their bodies by innocent recreation, with the purpose of using their physical and mental powers to the glory of God. . . . I was shown that Sabbathkeepers as a people labor too hard without allowing themselves change or periods of rest. . . . The time spent in physical exercise is not lost. . . . a proportionate exercise of all the organs and faculties of the body is essential to the best work of each. When the brain is constantly taxed while the other organs of the living machinery are inactive, there is a loss of strength, physical and mental. The physical system is robbed of its healthful tone, the mind loses its freshness and vigor, and a morbid excitability is the result.” –The Adventist Home, p. 493–494

Sister White counsels parents and teachers to find the type of exercise for children and youth that not only develops their own physical powers, but which can be of benefit to others. The energies of the young, if guided in lines that help others will be a blessing to them, as well as to those that they are helping. Our life’s work on this earth is the same as was the work of our Master, in caring for others. Jesus not only cared for the souls of those He came into contact with, but also their health and their physical wellbeing. His physical labour, even as a young child, was spent in His father’s carpenter shop, thus providing the youth with the example of how to use their physical abilities in doing good for others.

“The greatest benefit is not gained from exercise that is taken as play or exercise merely. There is some benefit derived from being in the fresh air and also from the exercise of the muscles; but let the same amount of energy be given to the performance of helpful duties, and the benefit will be greater, and a feeling of satisfaction will be realized; for such exercise carries with it the sense of helpfulness and the approval of conscience for duty well done.

“In the children and youth an ambition should be awakened to take their exercise in doing something that will be beneficial to themselves and helpful to others. The exercise that develops mind and character, that teaches the hands to be useful and trains the young to bear their share of life’s burdens, is that which gives physical strength and quickens every faculty. And there is a reward in virtuous industry, in the cultivation of the habit of living to do good.

“No recreation helpful only to themselves will prove so great a blessing to the children and youth as that which makes them helpful to others. Naturally enthusiastic and impressible, the young are quick to respond to suggestion.” –The Adventist Home, p. 506

“Missionary activity is an ideal exercise.–There are plenty of necessary, useful things to do in our world that would make the pleasure amusement exercise almost wholly unnecessary.” –Ibid., p. 509

Helping others is missionary work. Helping those who need assistance in their homes, on their farms is missionary work. Also, as we go out to canvass, we can get exercise from walking. But, beneficial exercise is also not always available. We can go out into the country and help those who live on farms or acreages, but we cannot always do this daily. So, we need to find exercise that is beneficial but also honouring to God. We can engage in sport activities, but we need to do it from the right motive. We need to be engaging in sport that is from the motive of exercise, but when it becomes a competition, when it becomes harmful, when it can potentially damage our bodies, then it is not something that God can bless. In all that we do with our physical bodies, whether it is eating and drinking or in exercise we have to remember that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost and that we should not do anything that would dishonour the bodies that God gave us for His glory, that our witness to the world would not be tainted by our lack of Christian courtesy or need for competition and showmanship in our exercise. Many of the team sports that young people engage in is very good for exercise in that it incorporates all the three forms of exercise that we need, and, if done in the right spirit, can be both health for the body and health for the mind.

“God has given you a habitation to care for and preserve in the best condition for His service and glory. Your bodies are not your own. . . . ‘What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your sprit, which are God’s.’ ‘Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.’” –Child Guidance, p. 448