It doesn’t matter what physical activity is done, as long as it is done at least 3 times a week, prolonged (45 minutes minimum), without pain or shortness of breath.
- Walking is the natural physical exercise of all bipeds, particularly because it allows them to move around.
- Cycling is also an interesting physical activity because it helps relieve the joints, especially for overweight people.
- But it is swimming that is the favorite sport of doctors, because this practice is gentle but very effective!
The natural physical exercise of all bipeds is walking, which allowed them to move. It is a very gentle activity for the joints, unlike running. An easy concept to understand. When running, depending on the intensity of the race, the lower limbs support a constraint and shocks representing 2 to 4 times the weight of the body. For comparison, walking only opposes a constraint of 1.5 times the weight of the body.
All means are good for walking!
The main thing is to walk as quickly as possible, without causing pain or shortness of breath. The ideal is to use a pedometer (or a suitable application on your Smartphone) and a heart rate monitor, to increase each day, if possible, the duration and especially the distance. All means are good for walking: walking goals (and during the walk, even fast, conversation must always remain possible, which is the best method to control shortness of breath), Nordic walking with poles, mat in the gym, etc.
Cycling, a physical activity in “relative weightlessness”
For those who are significantly overweight, the impact on the joints argues for practicing a physical activity in “relative weightlessness”. This is the preferred domain of cycling. Weather conditions, traffic, or the risk of falling can be perfectly avoided by practicing indoors, on a bike designed for this function or quite simply, with a road bike, on a home trainer, the first models of which cost less than 50 euros.
Pedaling, faster and faster and more and more energetically, thanks to the counters that these exercise bikes have as standard, can then be done in front of a television screen, which allows you to maintain the habits of an inveterate sedentary person!
Swimming, a gentle but effective effort
However, walking or cycling are not the favorite physical exercises of doctors, as one might think, but swimming! It is not the easiest of physical activities, but the effort is gentle and sufficiently effective. We also know that the weight of our body – since Archimedes found his soap – is carried by the liquid. It is an activity that, a little more than cycling, is practiced in weightlessness. It is therefore excellent for those who suffer from excess weight or painful joints… With few contraindications, especially if the water is warm. Except that you have to know how to swim and above all not be afraid of water! You might think that this is only the case among older people, but if the French remain poor swimmers while swimming pools are flourishing in our country, it is probably because we are an aquaphobic people.
Another activity that combines almost only advantages: rowing and its indoor application, the cyclo-rower. Here again, however, popularity remains minimal.
Finally, physical activity does not matter, as long as it is daily, sufficiently prolonged and above all that it is practiced without pain or shortness of breath.
