What Are the Dos of Exercise?
1. Check with your physician to see if there are reasons for you to restrict or avoid exercise. 2. Precede exercise with a stretching warm-up and end with a stretching cool-down. Failure to do either could mean soreness later; the pride of exercising on Monday could transmute to the agony of rising from bed on Tuesday. 3. Avoid trying to be Tarzan or Superwoman. The human body is capable of great deeds, when these are built gradually. 4. Avoid trying to be a weekend warrior. You can’t overcome six Rip-Van-Winkle days in one heroic bout. 5. Avoid becoming pace-conscious. Running and tennis and squash are fun and exerting. If you include them in your program of exercise, do so because they’re fun, not just because they’re exerting. Unfortunately, for many the true measure of the exercise is breathlessness. But if exercise, especially for the beginner (and you’re still a beginner even though years ago you weren’t) is to be enjoyed and integrated into your day, avoid the kind that makes yo
