Healthy tips while gymming

Authored by Dr Sanjay Bhat, Senior Consultant, Interventional Cardiology, Aster CMI Hospital

Regular physical exercise is important to keep our bodies fit. It helps maintain a healthy weight, combats health conditions and diseases, improves mood, boosts energy and promotes better sleep. However, one must keep in mind that over-exercising can be harmful.

Moderate exercise is best for physical and mental health. But extreme exercise training and competing in endurance events can lead to heart damage and rhythm disorders. Hence, it is vital for people to first evaluate their health before joining a gym. One must get their basic heart check-up done such as tests for blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol. People with genetic risk factors are especially vulnerable. They must go under certain tests like ECG, Echo and a stress test (TMT / treadmill) to rule out the possible risks. People above 40 years of age and who recently had Covid-19 must consult their doctors and have their physical health check-ups done.

Healthy tips while gymming:

Warmup: It is important to warm up your body before exercising. Always include a pre-workout warm-up before you begin. This allows the body to loosen up the muscle and a 5-min warmup is critical for better performance and fewer injuries.

Start slow: Focus on getting the body fit first. Fitness enthusiasts get into competition and indulge in high intensity and irregular exercise which can lead to heart issues. Similar to building the muscles in your body, the heart muscle can also thicken. When you indulge in heavy workouts, it pushes the heart to produce abnormal rhythms.

Don’t over-exercise or push yourself beyond the limit: Unaccustomed exercise without adequate training and overindulging in heavy workouts to achieve quick results can actually do more harm than good. It can lead to musculoskeletal injury and impact heart health. Don’t overdo it. Pushing your body beyond what you can handle can be dangerous.