Jan Leow's Blog Page

Once a week exercise is better than nothing

I had a lively discussion with my colleague about exercise. Due to work and other commitment, I suppose a once a week exercise is better than nothing at all. Exercise is important as it improves our overall health fitness level and staves off illness. And if we do get caught with a malady, the boosted immunity will help you to recover much faster.  -- ..
 
Although the simplest of all exercise is walking, I found that rather mild in comparison to running. Typically the basic recommended amount of exercise is three times a week for a continuous 30 minutes mild workout. Getting just once a week exercise is already so difficult to schedule, so I go for the once a week approach with a simple jog of between 15 minutes to 25 minutes.
 
It took me a long time to get that kind of physical fitness running level despite doing it once a week. The first time I did a run, it was terrible! Barely able to do a continuous run even for a 50 meters distance! It took a lot effort to try again and again using run-walk-run to slowly build it up!
 
Eventually I could run continuously for 10 minutes, than slowly push it up to 15 minutes, with a one minute of walking break before going for another 5 to 10 minutes run. Nowadays I manage to get myself to go for a full 20 minutes to 25 minutes non-stop run before quitting. I notice if you don't attempt to run too fast too hard, you can get longer mileage.
 
A good pair of shoes is important too. When I injured my plantar fascia tendon, it was excruciatingly painful for one whole year! I had to lay off running, and walking was a big pain at the sole of my feet. I come sympathize with a fellow church goer as she too recently got plantar fasciitis. This pain is very uncomfortable and healing process is really slow. Even with so many prayers for healing, it still took time for such a wish to be granted.
 
Though now my feet is no longer suffering too much from plantar fasciitis, I can say it is about 90% cured. I need to be careful. So a good foot insert is necessary to provide cushioning while at the same time provide stability. Mind you, those foot inserts are not cheap!
 
Anyway, it is good to be back running and keeping fit. Although I would like to do more than once a week of exercise, sometimes other condition such as the potential for plantar fasciitis to happen as well as time constraint and weather condition makes it a little difficult to do more.
 
So in this case, the once a week exercise is better than not doing any exercise at all!

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