Inspired by Olympians? How to safely improve your physical fitness

Many people have been inspired by Olympians to get into better shape.

From biking to running and gymnastics to perhaps even archery, there are ways to get back into a sport, or maybe try a new one. But you can’t go for the gold right away.

No matter the sport, there is one muscle all these athletes use and have to take care of — their heart.

Dr. Gregory Clabeaux, a vascular surgeon in Buffalo, is a big gymnastics fan. His biggest piece of advice is just to move. Take it slow and listen to your body.

Remember there are five zones you enter when working out. Zone one and two are great for warming up and cooling down. Zone three is the magic spot in which you want the majority of your workout to be. 

Then there are zones four and five. They are 80-85% of our maximum heart rate. You can calculate that by taking 220 minus your age. Clabeaux says you shouldn’t be in that for more than a couple of minutes.

He also has advice when it comes to stimulants.

“You don’t necessarily need a whole lot of help,” Clabeaux said. “So you want to avoid stimulants. In my opinion, too much caffeine before a workout can make your heart do a little extra work that it doesn’t necessarily need to do. So I’m not a huge fan of some of the caffeine, heavy pre-workout things. You know, half a cup of coffee and you should be… it’s about as much as you should use.”

Your metabolism and cardiovascular system will increase efficiency over the following 24 to 48 hours after exercise.

Moving is also great for your mental health. It releases dopamine.

Dr. Clabeaux says it also helps slow the progression of aging in the cells and reduces the risk of dementia.

And he reminds everyone to remember to stretch.

Lifting weights, or resistance training, is just as important as cardio, according to Clabeaux. But again, don’t go for maximum weight right away.