Bragg Creek Physiotherapy has been your go-to for physiotherapy and massage and is happy to announce that we now also offer personal and small group fitness training. We can work with our existing clients to help bridge the gap between physiotherapy and getting you back to your favorite activities. But that doesn’t mean you need to be a client to utilize our fitness services. Whether you are new to fitness or a seasoned veteran, we have something for you! We believe that physical health and fitness are essential foundations for living a full and meaningful life so adding personal training is a natural fit for us.
In case you need a refresher, here are 10 great reasons why fitness plays such an important role in a healthy lifestyle:
- Heart health – Exercise can build strength in the skeletal muscles but it also helps to strengthen our most important muscle, the heart! During exercise, the heart must work harder to supply muscles with adequate blood and oxygen. Over time, this will strengthen the heart muscle allowing it to work less during regular activity and to be able to work harder when required. Regular exercise can also help to keep blood pressure in check.
- Cholesterol – Cardiovascular exercise can increase the amount of circulating ‘good’ cholesterol (HDL – high density lipoprotein) in the blood stream thereby improving the blood lipid profile and decreasing the ‘bad’ (LDL – low density lipoprotein) levels.
- Reduce insulin resistance – Insulin resistance is associated with many health risks including diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and certain types of cancer. Exercise is very effective at improving insulin sensitivity. Combining aerobic activities (e.g. brisk walking or cycling) with resistance or weight training appears to have the greatest positive effect.
- Increase bone strength – Weight bearing exercises such as weight training or running help to increase bone strength and prevent bone loss. This is important as bone loss is seen in many individuals as they age.
- Maintain muscle mass – Age related muscle loss can start as early as your 30’s with a loss of 3-8% each decade and the decline worsens after age 60. Maintaining muscle mass is important to be able to carry out activities of daily living, reduce risk of falls and increase ability to recover from injury. The good news is that this muscle loss is avoidable, and to some degree, reversible with exercise.
- Improved sleep quality – Inadequate sleep and poor sleep quality are becoming more prevalent and take a real toll on your mental and physical health. Exercise is a great way to improve sleep quality.
- Reduced stress – There is a release of ‘feel good’ neurotransmitters during exercise which can make you feel happier, more relaxed and less stressed.
- Weight management – For most people, diets aren’t an effective way to manage weight over the long term. Making exercise part of your lifestyle can be a more successful way to maintain a healthy weight. Exercise can increase the number of calories expended throughout the day, can reduce body fat, increase muscle mass and increase resting metabolic rate.
- Improve memory and thinking skills – Regular aerobic exercise, the kind that gets your heart pumping, appears to boost the size of the hippocampus, the brain structure involved in verbal memory and learning. It is effective at reducing fatigue, improving alertness and concentration and enhancing overall cognitive function.
- Mental well-being – Exercise has been shown to increase confidence and self-esteem; improve body image; reduce stress and overall levels of tension; and to elevate and stabilize mood. There is evidence that physically active people have lower rates of anxiety and depression than sedentary people. In fact, just 5 minutes of aerobic exercise can begin to stimulate anti-anxiety effects. For those experiencing depression or anxiety, physical activity can be an important part of their treatment and for some can be as effective as medication.
This is a pretty compelling list of reasons for making physical activity part of your lifestyle! Let Bragg Creek Physiotherapy help you on your pathway to health and vitality. Contact us for more information on our fitness offerings.
Tish Resta B.Comm., CPA, CMA
ACE Certified Personal Trainer