Racing to Save Lives!

I was asked to write this article, which was later published on Motorola's Wellness Center's July Newsletter:

Editor’s Note: Sergio has been with Motorola for the last 16.5 years. He has been a great, respected and admired health and fitness ambassador for TX14. He is too modest to write an article that highlights his many and impressive achievements as a runner and tri-athlete, not to mention passion for charity through exercise, so I make mention of that to honor his distinguished and talented achievements over the years.

We wish him only greatness as he moves on to his next station in life. The sun doesn’t set here – keep shining Serg.

Sergio Flores-Chavira

Senior Systems Engineer

CDMA Field Ops

Three Constants: Consistency, Periodization & Rest

Training, nutrition methods, the overall concept of fitness and what the human body is capable of in the world of sports and fitness – just some of the things that have changed substantially over the years.

Progress has been slow sometimes – it took the International Olympic Committee 88 years to finally add the women's marathon to the Olympic program, never mind that women had been officially allowed to run previous New York and Boston marathons.

More changes are certain to come in the future. However there are some aspects that we can be sure will remain unchanged:

Consistency: approach exercise and physical activity with a long-term perspective. Quick fix and sporadic efforts simply don't work. For example, unhealthy rapid and unsustainable weight , ramping up mileage excessively in a short period of time and not allowing the body enough recovery time are recipes for disaster, often leading to overuse injuries, burn out and weaken the immune system. Regardless of the sport or physical activity, a slow, gradual increase in volume and intensity allows the body to adapt itself to the stress placed upon it.

Periodization: Once a regular program of exercise has been well established (through consistency), it is important to vary the intensity and duration at regular intervals. Training at high intensity levels for long periods of time can lead to overuse injuries. For the average person, exercise at moderate to medium intensity for most of the time. As a general rule, you should feel tired but not exhausted at the end of any given session: there should be a feeling of Yes, I could do this workout all over again later today. Cross training is a good way to achieve this: if you are a runner, jump in the pool, ride your bike, play basketball, lift weights, etc. You get the idea!

Rest! Once the competitive bug bites you, it is hard to take days off. However, it is during rest days that the body repairs itself. Rest may mean cross training - an alternate exercise can provide rest to muscles used in your main form of exercise; an active form of resting that allows the body to recover from strenuous effort while keeping one's fitness intact.