Analyze big data based on physical and mental characteristics to support election campaigns and move happily
Text◆Li Zuyi “Ming Pao”
Every time after the Olympic Games, there will be a sports craze. How to choose the right sport? How to develop the habit of continuous exercise?
Long-distance running tests endurance, fencing tests reaction, and ball games require hand-eye coordination. A British university uses big data to select suitable sports for everyone; Hong Kong experts emphasize that happiness is the most important thing.
(Hong Kong News) At this year’s Paris Olympics, 61-year-old Luxembourg table tennis player Ni Xialian played “happy table tennis” and emphasized that “as long as you have fun playing, there is no reason to stop.” Hong Kong team fencer Zhang Jialang defended the gold medal and encouraged Hong Kong people: “Participate Exercise is fun and healthy, and the most important thing is not to give up.”
Convenient and can be done individually to improve durability
Different sports require different skills. For example, gymnastics requires a high degree of agility and strength, while weightlifting focuses on strength and less on agility. Sports scientists from Loughborough University in the UK have designed an online quiz (bit.ly/4dv1OL3) to help everyone find the exercise that suits them and encourage more people to participate and continue to exercise. Participants answer questions about their physical and mental characteristics, and a computer system evaluates the answers according to the Commonwealth Games sports and comes up with the three best-matching sports.
Physiotherapist Ouyang Jian said that the test is designed to increase interest in sports and inspire everyone to do sports. The results do not mean that participants are only suitable for certain sports or that they cannot do other sports. For health goals, the most important thing is that the choice of exercise is consistent with personal interests and sustainable.
Choosing exercises that are convenient and easy to perform can help improve continuance, such as nearby sports venues to reduce time spent on transportation, or choose individual sports such as running, swimming, cycling, etc., which make it easier to start sports without teammates. In contrast, playing rugby requires at least seven people to form a team, and it is difficult to find enough people to participate.
Lei Xiongde, a senior lecturer in the Department of Health and Physical Education of the Education University of Hong Kong, added that the above-mentioned test uses big data to analyze personal physical fitness and match suitable sports. However, due to the different sports cultures in the UK and Hong Kong, the sports events derived may not be popular in Hong Kong.
Currently, Hong Kong does not have enough big data to make highly reliable predictions. Simply put, how to choose the right exercise? The general principle is to do the sports you like according to the physiological needs, physical conditions and abilities of different age groups. As we age, our body’s functions and abilities also change. Here are some examples of exercises that correspond to the development of physical abilities:
Pre-puberty: Coordination of limbs through various movements
Children are in a period of rapid physical development, and their flexibility, coordination and balance are gradually improving. They can try different forms of exercise to meet their physiological needs. For example, swimming can help exercise cardiopulmonary function and body coordination, and various ball games can cultivate Sensitivity and coordinated limb control.
Adolescent stage: increase the amount and intensity of exercise
Entering adolescence, muscles and bones develop rapidly, and adolescents’ motor skills and coordination abilities have greatly improved. They can appropriately increase the amount and intensity of exercise, such as participating in table tennis, badminton, basketball, volleyball and other sports. Fast-paced and physically demanding ball games can better meet the physical and mental needs of teenagers and allow them to exert their full strength.
30 to 60 years old: Exercise reduces stress and extends lifespan
Adults aged around 30 to 60 are in a career-struggle period and are under great pressure in work and life. They can try activities such as mountain climbing and jogging, which can help improve the heart and lungs, increase endurance, and speed up metabolism. Exercise in contact with nature can also relieve stress.
Foreign data show that adults with regular exercise habits can extend their life expectancy by 3 to 8 years on average. Based on running calculations, running for 1 hour can extend your life span by approximately 7 hours.life.
Elderly: Regular exercise can effectively delay aging
As we age, it is more difficult to maintain the muscle mass we had when we were young because our metabolism, immune system, and hormonal system slow down. However, getting older does not necessarily mean your machine is broken. Studies have found that regular exercise can effectively delay aging.
After the age of 65, muscle strength and coordination gradually decline, and you need to pay more attention to the body’s stability and balance. It is recommended to do more supine leg raises, lunges and other exercises.
Satisfy social needs and increase intrinsic motivation
“Young people react faster and have certain advantages in playing table tennis, while middle-aged and elderly people react slower, but the most important thing is to enjoy the happiness.” Lei Xiongde emphasized that there are physical differences between people. There is no predetermined age group that must do a certain sport. Instead, appropriate and moderate exercise can be done according to personal interests and with controllable risks. Having intrinsic motivation to voluntarily participate in sports can continue the sports career; and parents should let their children try different sports, even if they do not. Can master the skills of a certain sport, or may perform well in other sports.
“To develop continuous exercise, there are three main elements – happiness, social interaction, and measurability. Find happiness in the exercise process, and have social elements, such as eating, drinking, chatting with friends after exercise, and measuring the progress achieved, such as playing skills It has improved, running becomes easier at the same exercise intensity, and having a sense of success and satisfaction can increase the intrinsic motivation to do exercise.”
Consider age balance to avoid injury risk
Lei Xiongde participated in outreach training when he was young and came into contact with canoes for the first time. He has been playing with them for more than 40 years. He shared the reason why canoes have fascinated him for many years: “Every time I sit in a canoe, I can feel the progress with every stroke of the paddle, and it feels very comfortable. Canoeing in the sea is far away from the hustle and bustle and concrete forests, and You can paddle and chat with your close friends while paddling to an uninhabited desert island, which gives you a completely new feeling, like pressing a reset button.”
There is no age limit for exercising, but you must know how to balance the risks. Reducing the risk of injury during exercise will help develop lifelong exercise habits. Reichonde, who is nearly 65 years old, rarely played football five years ago because he was concerned about balancing the risk of injury. If you fall or sprain your knee while playing football, you will not be able to participate in other activities such as climbing.
At this age, he thinks mountain climbing makes him more happy than playing football, but he has to pay attention to the weather. “The weather is so hot now. I will choose to walk on a flat road or a pond with shade trees at dusk instead of climbing the Lion Rock or the Lion Rock. Anaconda or Phoenix Mountain, having the knowledge to deal with the environment is also very important.”
In addition, to reduce the risk of injury during exercise, it is important to do warm-up exercises. Lei Xiongde said that before starting the main exercise, you should warm up to increase your core temperature, warm your hands and feet, and even start to sweat.
The warm-up can include relevant actions according to the type of main sport. For example, the warm-up for football can include passing the ball, imitating shooting movements, running back and forth, left and right, etc. These actions should be done easily and slowly, so that the brain can already play the ball when actually playing football. Activate relevant sensors to control muscles.
Novice exercisers don’t need to chase their heart rate
Ouyang Jian added that exercising within your ability, gradually carrying out exercise, and gradually increasing the intensity will help develop a habit of continuous exercise and reduce the risk of injury.
“Generally healthy people need a maximum heart rate when doing aerobic exercise.
(220 minus age) 60% to 80%.
Take 30 years old as an example,
The heart rate should be maintained at 114 to 152 beats per minute,
But for people who have no exercise habits at all,
Maintaining this heart rate for 20 minutes may feel strenuous.
Therefore, you can settle for the next best thing,
First aim for 50% to 60% of your maximum heart rate.
That is, 95 to 114 times per minute,
Extend exercise time to about 25 minutes.
When you feel good, gradually increase your target heart rate. “
Muscles suffer from sudden exercise
For those who have just started exercising or those who have not exercised for a while, muscle strains or sprains may easily occur due to “sudden exercise” or “weekend warriors”.
Physiotherapist Ouyang Jian points out that common injury types include:
◆Hamstring strain
If you haven’t exercised for a long time, the hamstrings on the back of your thighs are particularly susceptible to strain during sports that require sprinting.
◆Calf muscle strain
Calf muscles are easily strained when the amount of activity suddenly increases
◆Ankle sprain
Weakening of the muscles and ligaments that stabilize the ankle can lead to ankle sprains when returning to activity
◆Lower back strain
Weak core and back muscles, making them prone to strain when sudden stress is placed on the body
◆Knee injuries
Weakening of the quadriceps and hamstring muscles around the knee, which can lead to sprains or other knee problems
After exercise, heat compresses and massage with an exercise roller can help relax muscles and relieve delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Muscle soreness will be more obvious if you have not exercised for a long time or if you suddenly increase the amount of exercise. Muscle soreness usually lasts for 3 to 4 days. If the symptoms persist or do not subside, it may be a muscle strain and you should seek professional treatment.
3 tips for sports newbies to reduce injuries
It coincides with the Olympic year, which has set off a sports craze. In addition to watching the events and appreciating the athletes’ performances and cheering them on from a distance, many people were also inspired by the athletes’ perseverance and started or regained their exercise habits.
I would like to take this opportunity to briefly talk about the possible injury risks and precautions for novices who have just started exercising, so that everyone can better appreciate the fun of exercise.
The training intensity and volume of athletes are many times higher than that of ordinary people. Therefore, if the training volume is not properly controlled, they will be more prone to injuries than ordinary people. Furthermore, the biggest cause of injuries is “old injuries”. As a former track and field athlete, the author deeply understands the impact of injuries on athletes. Therefore, it was really sad to see Tai Tzu-ying, the “biggest badminton player” of the Chinese Taipei team, suffering from injuries that affected her performance, and Ma Lin, the badminton player of the Spanish team, to retire due to an old anterior cruciate ligament injury during the match.
Various common injuries
General sports enthusiasts will also have old problems, such as low back pain, neck pain, or the most commonly ignored ankle sprain. If the old problem is not treated well, even if the pain is gone, the fascia and joints in the area will still be tight or have problems, resulting in a reduction in the space for fascia movement throughout the body. Excessive exercise and insufficient time for the body to recover can easily lead to strains or injuries.
Popular leisure sports such as running, badminton, swimming, etc. may cause various common injuries. The first two sports mostly use the strength of one leg and limb, such as the anterior and posterior thigh muscles, buttock muscles, etc. to perform actions such as supporting one leg or lunging. The risk of knee injuries can be reduced through exercise. Swimming requires the use of more core muscle strength to stabilize the trunk and prevent the body from sinking; when the core strength is insufficient, the psoas muscles will compensate, and strain problems will occur.
Rest and recovery to deal with old problems
To reduce the risk of injury, pay attention to the following when exercising:
1.Exercise your body’s muscle strength and learn correct movement postures.
2.Give your body enough time to rest and recover: Although according to the overload principle, exercise needs to be of sufficient intensity to improve performance, you also need to pay attention to your body’s warning signs to avoid strain or serious injury due to overexertion.
3.Treat old problems well. Even if there is no pain in the joints, it does not mean that the joints or old problems have been properly treated. Dislocation of joints or tight fascia will cause muscles to compensate for each other, and injuries will occur over time.
