The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Fitness tips for men

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 23, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Fitness tips for men

Special Correspondent

`Regular walking has to be combined with healthy diet'

Bangalore: Many urban Indian men are unhealthy by their mid-thirties. The number of persons diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension and cardiac problems in their forties is alarming.

Australian cricket legend and the man behind the success of the Indian cricket team, Greg Chappell, has authored a comprehensive book on fitness for the middle-aged or those entering that phase in life.

Mr. Chappell's "Fit for 50+" has come at the right time when average life expectancy has increased and many middle and upper middle class men are living well beyond their seventies.

The sub-title, "Exercises for men who want to live healthier and longer," tells it all. To be fit in old age, you need to be physically active. Not easy when many are working 12 hours and more each day but still possible with a bit of self-discipline.

Like many fitness trainers, Mr. Chappell recommends brisk walking, steadily increasing the time and distance rather than suddenly taking up running or jogging in middle age. You can actually walk faster than a jogger and with less strain on the cardio-vascular system.

He suggests a bit of gradient on your walks and this is very much possible in a city like Bangalore. "Walking burns up energy and fat, provided you do it regularly. A brisk walk raises our metabolic rate more than most of us realise... your body uses more oxygen,'' he says.

Regular walking has to be combined with a healthy diet to control weight.

A 20-minute walk can help, and more of it is perhaps better. It takes thirty half-hour walks on a regular basis to burn off one kilo of fat, he adds.

Exercise makes you feel good and the more you do it, the more benefit you reap. Muscle-toning exercises have a long-term benefit even after twenty or thirty years, say by the time you are in your seventies, you will still have enough strength in the upper body for most activities.

The legs of course will be toned up from all that walking, he says. Mr. Chapell himself could well be the example.

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