Fitness

Your body needs these three forms of movement every week

Published

2 years ago

May 8, 2024

Your body needs these three forms of movement every week

Walking has earned a reputation as a great form of exercise that’s easy and accessible for many people, and scores of studies show the popular activity has numerous health benefits, too.

Getting at least 2,300 steps per day reduces your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, according to one study published in a 2023 edition of the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

In addition, weight-bearing exercises such as walking help prevent osteoporosis, according to another study published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

Yet some experts in the health and fitness fields assert that while walking is certainly good for your health and fitness, it’s not really high-quality exercise. One such expert is Melissa Boyd, a certified personal trainer and coach with Tempo, an online personal training platform. Boyd is based in San Francisco.

“Our lives have gotten so busy — we commute, sit all day, then are exhausted at night — that getting a short walk in makes you feel like you’ve done this big, exponential thing,” Boyd said. “But walking is really a baseline movement your body requires to function well, to help with things like circulation and digestion, and to decompress.”

To help her clients better understand why a daily walk won’t result in a beach body — something many of them believe, thanks to various social media influencers — she discusses with them the three types of movement that are beneficial for overall health and fitness.

First is the movement your body is owed or requires every day, such as walking, stretching and bending. Second is athletic movement, which you can do a few times a week to improve your fitness or to train for a sport. Third is social movement that you do for fun or to connect with others, such as dancing or playing volleyball.

“It’s important to think of movement in these different categories because not moving throughout the day has become normalized,” Boyd said. “Our lives are so sedentary, many of us are trying to dig ourselves out of a movement deficit. But exercise is different from physical movement.”

Our bodies need to move in many different ways

Walking is great, but it’s just one, unidirectional form of movement, and our bodies need more to be functionally fit, said Dr. Carl Cirino, a sports medicine surgeon at HSS Orthopedics with Stamford Health in Connecticut.

People use the muscles and tendons in their bodies to assist with all the bending, twisting and rotating they do in their daily lives, Cirino said, so they need to work and stretch them in many different directions. Yoga and Pilates are two activities that are very effective and healthy in this regard, he said.

“Stretching is also incredibly easy, and something you can do when you wake up and before you go to bed,” Cirino said.

Having loose, pliable muscles also means you will have more balance and stability, which helps prevent falls and injuries in all physical activities, he said. It’s also good to get your heart rate up several times a week for cardiovascular health.

Time for an exercise snack

Ideally, you should create a plan that incorporates daily “owed” movements, such as walking and stretching, with some cardiovascular work, strength training and social activity sprinkled throughout the week, the two said. That can seem overwhelming for many, however.

Breaking down all these different movements into exercise snacks is one way to sneak in the movement your body needs, Boyd said.

“Maybe get a walking pad and do some of your meetings while walking slowly on the pad,” she said. “Maybe every time you go to the bathroom, you do 20 squats, or every time you get water, you do 10 push-ups against a wall. If you attach these exercise snacks to something else you’re already doing, you can make it more of a habit. I’ve seen huge success with this.”

Boyd also encourages her clients to find some form of movement they enjoy that doesn’t seem like a workout, such as playing kickball or pickleball. That way, you’re having fun and being social while getting fitter.

Cirino agrees. “We see kids here in sports medicine whose parents want them to play baseball, but they don’t want to do it,” he said. “It’s the same with exercise. You need to find something that’s interesting and easy — maybe an activity your friends are doing — and use that as the basis to build good habits.”

Start slowly and build from there

Rethinking exercise as regular movements your body needs for functionality, fitness and social connection also can be a means of giving yourself permission to carve out time for working out, Boyd said.

It’s also helpful to keep in mind that creating an exercise plan doesn’t require an immediate, massive change in your lifestyle. In fact, it’s better to start slowly with new, little chunks of movement.

“What I usually see is that people love the way this starts to make them feel,” Boyd said. “Then the stronger they become, the more they want to move even more. Movement inspires movement.”

Melanie Radzicki McManus is a freelance writer who specializes in hiking, travel and fitness.

Fitness

Boutique Fitness Is Redefining How Americans Work Out. Which Drop-In Classes Are Worth Booking?

Published

5 hours ago

July 1, 2026

Press Room

Boutique Fitness Is Redefining How Americans Work Out

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Fitness

I pushed myself too hard at the gym – and ended up in the hospital

Published

15 hours ago

June 30, 2026

Press Room

I pushed myself too hard at the gym – and ended up in the hospital

In January 2025, I attended my first bootcamp class.

I had spent the day hunched over my laptop, anxious and craving an intense workout that would dispel my worries. I booked the class at a nearby gym, and the five-star reviews promised the all-consuming exercise I wanted: “Militant style instructor, but very motivating,” read one. Another: “Hardest workout of my life; extremely rewarding.”

The gym was no-frills – just a room with a mirror. After a standard warm-up, we did four sets of lateral shuffle push-ups across the floor, interspersed with standing, weight-bearing exercises.

When my turn came, I dropped to plank position and started doing steady, shallow reps, focusing on my form.

But caution soon fell away. Upbeat music was booming and someone was always advancing beside me. When the instructor encouraged us to lower all the way down, I obeyed, even though my form suffered. I had rarely done more than a handful of pushups at a time, and in the final set, I was exhausted, collapsing on every rep and barely prying my torso off the floor.

The rest of class was a blur. I became nauseated, told the instructor I needed to pause, and stepped outside to suck cold winter air into my lungs.

Back in the studio, I sat on the sidelines and waited for the dizziness to recede before slinking to my spot for the core section and cooldown.

Later that night, I felt what I thought was typical post-workout muscle soreness. I was satisfied; the ache was proof of a successful workout.

But the next day, lifting my arms to wash my face was exhausting. Searing pain kept me awake that night. Two days after the class, my arms were so stiff I couldn’t raise them more than a few inches, even to brush my teeth.

When I Googled my symptoms – pain, weakness and a new one, dark urine – something frightening came up: exertional rhabdomyolysis, a condition wherein extreme exercise causes muscle cell contents to flood the bloodstream, potentially overwhelming the kidneys. One article warned that debilitating pain after a new, intense activity was a sign to visit the emergency room.

I went to the ER but suspected I was overreacting. After all, the internet always offers the worst possibility.

Doctors use bloodwork to test for exertional rhabdomyolysis; typically, they diagnose it if a patient has too much of a muscle enzyme called creatine kinase (CK) in their blood – at least 1,000 units per liter, or five times the normal range. However, there is little consensus on this number, says Dr Barry Boden, an orthopaedic surgeon at The Orthopaedic Center in Maryland, who specializes in sports medicine. Some recent guidelines suggest that only higher amounts – as much as 10,000 units – warrant diagnosis and inpatient treatment.

My CK count was so high the machine in the emergency room couldn’t measure it; a nurse had to do a second blood draw and send it to a more precise lab. They put me on an IV drip and eventually reported the exact number: 57,000.

Thus began my seven-day hospital stay. My mom and sister traded shifts, acting as my arms for the week – scrubbing my teeth, feeding me, washing my face. I had never felt so helpless and irresponsible. What had I done to myself?

What is exertional rhabdomyolysis?

Normally, during exercise, muscles tear a little and then rebuild. There may be a little extra CK in a person’s blood as a result, which healthy kidneys can filter out.

But excessive exercise can harm muscle cells so much that their contents – including CK and a protein called myoglobin – overload the system. “When the cell membrane starts to break down, the chemicals within the muscle cells start to get released, which can cause damage to other organs around the body,” said Boden. “ If there’s enough of those chemicals from the muscle that reach the kidney, it can cause damage to the kidney.”

The symptoms are muscle pain (even while at rest), weakness and dark urine, though few people experience all three. Treatment involves early and aggressive administration of IV fluids to help the kidneys filter the toxins. It’s possible to manage a mild case with at-home oral hydration, but it’s always important to consult a doctor because mild symptoms don’t always mean low CK elevation, said Dr Petr Schlegel, a CrossFit trainer and professor at the department of physical education and sports at the University of Hradec Králové in the Czech Republic.

Exertional rhabdomyolysis is dangerous and fatal in very rare cases; researchers estimate that 10% of patients develop acute kidney injury (AKI), and some suffer other serious complications.

How common is exertional rhabdomyolysis?

Before I had rhabdomyolysis, I had never heard of it; I thought the worst that could come from a workout was a broken bone or a regurgitated lunch. I now know it can happen to anyone, although people with certain conditions, such as sickle-cell trait and hypokalemia, are predisposed. Despite the common misconception that only unfit people can get it, even elite athletes are susceptible.

“Anybody can get it – anybody that’s pushed to an extreme, taking a big jump in their exercise level, or doing something they’re not used to doing,” said Boden. “Everybody has muscles, and if the muscles are damaged enough, you can develop rhabdomyolysis.”

Boden authored a study estimating there were over 40,000 exertional rhabdomyolysis cases in US hospitals from 2000 to 2019. But he said it’s impossible to get a precise count, as no organization collects the data.

This number is likely an underestimate, as the condition is probably under-reported, said Schlegel. Since the symptoms closely resemble those of delayed onset muscle soreness – the normal ache people expect after a workout – individuals may not seek care.

Data indicate exertional rhabdomyolysis is on the rise. In Norway, Australia and the US, researchers have observed an increase in hospital records between the 2000s and 2010s. This year, hospitals in a Canadian province reported a surge in cases.

Researchers suspect the popularity of high-intensity workouts is behind the rise. They are efficient and produce measurable progress, but are risky if misused, said Schlegel: “Evidence suggests that high-intensity exercise, especially when combining strength and endurance elements, carries the greatest potential to induce [exertional rhabdomyolysis].”

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Can you prevent exertional rhabdomyolysis?

Prevention guidance has been pretty consistent since the earliest studies from the 1960s: vary exercises to avoid overloading one muscle group, incorporate rest, and gradually build intensity when starting something new or after time off.

Starting low is especially important when targeting large muscle groups – such as biceps, triceps and quads. “It’s that hyperintense going from zero to 100, really intense workouts of large muscle groups, that puts people at risk,” said Dr Bryant Walrod, a sports medicine physician and the head team physician for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Weight matters, but so do reps; an outrageous number of low-weight exercises or calisthenics – hundreds of pushups or squats, for example – is the trigger in many cases. Walrod also advises doing a different kind of workout from one day to the next.

Eccentric exercises like push-ups – where muscles lengthen – are particularly likely to cause injury. In a 2024 article about how to prevent rhabdomyolysis in student athletes, the National Federation of State High School Associations called push-ups the “No 1 cause” of rhabdomyolysis. In April, Texas families filed a lawsuit against a charter school after 20 children were hospitalized after hundreds of pushups.

Walrod said collegiate sports professionals became more vigilant about prevention after University of Iowa football players were hospitalized with exertional rhabdomyolysis in 2011. “That case spurred better control of workouts, better monitoring, and better input from the trainers and strength coaches.”

“Where we see most of the cases is that athletes are being pushed or threatened or punished [contrary to industry standards],” said Dr Rebecca Stearns, COO at the Korey Stringer Institute for preventing sudden death in sports. Coaches are not exercise physiologists, and even when well-intentioned may not have adequate training to prevent overexertion, said Boden.

Similarly, there’s no guarantee fitness instructors understand the risk. “People may be going in unconditioned and doing too much too soon,” said Walrod of these classes. CrossFit incorporated prevention into its trainer curriculum after reports of severe cases among participants, but in general, class participants should self-monitor.

How do you identify overexertion?

I was discharged from the hospital with a firm instruction: no exercise except walking for a month. I had to learn what an appropriate challenge felt like – how to self-monitor, discern between safe discomfort and overexertion, and advocate for myself. But when is hard too hard?

Unfortunately, sensing that something is wrong is a subjective measure; there is no universal metric.

“I never have a very satisfying answer to that, but I do think it’s a line we need to be vigilant about always, and it changes from day to day,” said Dr Natalia Petrzela, author of Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession, longtime fitness instructor, and professor of history at The New School.

“You know your body the best, and if you feel like something isn’t right, it’s time to speak up,” said Walrod. Sports medicine physicians advise people to stop exercise immediately if unusual pain occurs; in the event that there is excessive muscle breakdown, it’s critical to stop the movement right away.

Speaking up in a class setting can be difficult. Many feel self-conscious about pausing or modifying activity, especially if an instructor is singling them out. Petrzela said that she motivates participants in her class but also expresses a key caveat: “Only you know what you can do today.” She said this language “helps [them] find that very important and difficult-to-discern line”, adding that this nuance might get lost in classes with less experienced instructors who give inflexible instructions.

During that fateful class, I ignored the alarm bells. Maybe I was desperately chasing endorphins or wanted to prove to myself that I wasn’t weak. Ironically, my arms atrophied to below baseline as a result.

Over a year later, I’m still building my strength back – but not at bootcamp. I opt for low-impact methods such as barre and pilates where I can modify if needed, and there is no need to keep pace with others.

Sometimes I tell instructors about my medical history, so they understand what’s happening if I pause. Verbalizing it also reminds me to be careful. Finally, I avoid anything new or especially difficult when I’m having a hard day.

Fitness culture taught me that pain is gain – but now I know that’s not always true.

Fitness

Fitness Point: The Small Weekly Investment That Could Transform Your Health – KT PRESS

Published

1 day ago

June 30, 2026

Press Room

Fitness Point: The Small Weekly Investment That Could Transform Your Health – KT PRESS

Fitness Point gym has state of the art machines to help in health exercises.

KIGALI – There are 10,080 minutes in a week. Health experts recommend that adults spend at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity each week in order to build a healthy body.

For those who prefer structured workouts, three one-hour gym sessions amount to just 180 minutes, less than two percent of the time available over seven days.

It is a surprisingly small investment for something associated with better heart health, stronger muscles, improved mental wellbeing and reduced risk of many chronic diseases.

That simple idea found an unlikely ambassador recently when Rwanda’s Minister of Health, Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, reflected on a birthday gift he had given himself.

“Healthy habits are the best gifts we can give ourselves,” he wrote after completing a demanding hike to the summit of Karisimbi volcano.

Many people may admire the endurance behind the journey but perhaps the most powerful part is the reminder that good health is rarely built through one extraordinary achievement. It is built through habits repeated week after week.

The Growing Urban Philosophy

A lady working out at a Fitness Point gym located in Gacuriro.

Every evening across Kigali, people filter through the doors at various Fitness Point’s branches carrying laptops, gym bags and the fatigue of another workday to quietly bring that philosophy to life in a different setting.

In Remera, Gacuriro and Kimihurura, some arrive before sunrise, squeezing in a session before the office. Others come long after business hours, determined to honour a promise they made to themselves despite packed schedules.

They are not training to conquer volcanoes or prepare for competitions. Most are simply trying to become healthier than they were yesterday.

As work becomes increasingly desk-based and daily routines leave little room for movement, the challenge is not understanding that exercise is important. It is finding a way to make it part of ordinary life.

For many, that begins with putting just three appointments on the calendar each week.

Consistency Better Than Intensity

Jean Baptiste Muganza, a Kigali-based physiotherapist and frequent guest at Fitness point, says one of the biggest misconceptions he encounters even in his work is that meaningful health improvements require extreme effort.

“People often believe they have to exercise every day or spend several hours in the gym before they can see results. In reality, consistency matters much more than intensity,” he says.

A structured routine done regularly, he says, delivers far greater benefits than occasional bursts of very demanding exercise. And the benefits extend well beyond appearance.

“We see improvements in cardiovascular health, muscle strength, posture, flexibility and energy levels. Regular exercise also plays an important role in managing stress, improving sleep quality and reducing the physical effects of spending long hours sitting,” he explains.

Ironically, he says, the hardest exercise often happens before anyone touches a treadmill or lifts a weight.

“The biggest challenge isn’t completing the workout. It’s building the habit. Once exercise becomes part of your weekly routine, it stops feeling like an obligation and becomes part of your lifestyle,” Muganza says.

Leading by Example

Rwanda’s Minister of Health, Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana recently took a hike to the top of Karisimbi volcano as a birthday gift to himself.

That change is becoming increasingly visible at Fitness Point, where trainers say members are arriving with goals that seem less visible but perhaps more valuable than just chasing dramatic body transformations.

Many are seeking something lower stress, better mobility, freedom from persistent back pain, improved fitness and enough energy to keep pace with demanding jobs and family life.

The gym itself has gradually evolved into more than a room filled with equipment. Before work, it offers a fresh start. After work, it becomes a place where the pressures of the day give way to movement.

Between those moments, friendships are formed, routines are strengthened and small victories accumulate, one workout at a time.

That is perhaps why Minister Nsanzimana’s message resonated with so many people. Healthy habits are gifts not because they require extraordinary effort, but because they reward ordinary consistency.

A birthday hike or a workout at the gym may inspire thousands, but the habit that made it possible was almost certainly built long before that day.

For most people, good health may begin in a neighborhood gym, during an evening workout after work, or in the simple decision to dedicate less than two percent of an entire week to taking care of the one body they have.

Sometimes, the smallest investment of time turns out to be the one with the greatest returns.