Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 13. June 11 1979

REC Centre

REC Centre

Recreation Centre

So what's new at your Centre?

Well, there are a lot of the old faithfuls still going:

Beginners badminton Tuesday 10-11
Friday 10-11
Beginners squash Monday 2 - 4
Thursday 2 - 3

And coming after Study Break, will be Beginners Golf; so watch this space for further information, or ask at Reception.

Weightlifting coaching is available in the Weights Room on Monday, Wednesday and Friday 12 noon until 1 pm.

Yoga for Beginners and Better than Beginners on Tuesdays and Thursdays 1 - 2 is a relaxing 45 minutes at a decidedly easy pace. Quite a few people are coming to the 12-1 fitness class on Tuesdays and then using the Yoga session to wind down.

That brings us to the subject of warm-down. Many people have used the Recreation Centre warm-up procedure most successfully. This has helped them to avoid injuries and to become more supple. If you have just completed a vigorous work-out, then, to avoid any unpleasant aches and pains, try using the same five minutes routine as a means of winding-down. The waste products which are left in the muscle after vigorous activity can be removed by the simple stretching routine. It is thes waste products which cause so many of the aches and pains after hard exercise.

More on the Exercise for Asthmatics

We have heard from some asthmatics that a bit more information on how and why asthma occurs, and what kind of exercise, will help. Each week, we will add a few more notes on the subject. Looking at the lungs First; the bulk of the lungs is made up of elastic spong-like tissue which sucks in and expels air as a sponge does water. To accomplish the movement of air out and into the lungs, they are alternately squeezed and stretched as the chest cavity is made smaller or larger by two different forces. Both of these involve the actions of muscles. One is the movement of the ribs and walls of the chest, the other the raising and lowering of the large dome-shaped muscle called the diaphragm which separates the abdominal cavity from the chest cavity.

Normally, breathing is automatic, easy and un restricted. In bronchia] asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema there is a narrowing of the air ways in segments of the lungs. This results in increased resistance to the flow of air both in and out of the lungs. Because of this the body must work harder in emptying and filling the lungs.

It is common in asthmatic conditions for the lungs to have become over-inflated. They have lost much of their elasticity and no longer help to fill up the diaphragm. This condition changes the division of work between the diaphragm and the muscles of the chest. The chest muscles do more and more of the work breathing while the diaphragm does proportionately less. The chest muscles are not designed to carry the greater [ unclear: wor] load in breathing. Consequently, Recreation Centre programmes are designed to restrengthen or rebuild inadequate musculature which is present in many asthmatics. Other exercises which are available are related to breathing While mastering these, you will be able to Irani the mechanics of proper breathing and at the same time how to relax and use the available oxygen as effectively as possible.

Recreation Centre Quiz No. 8.

After our last competition, where we required the completion of a limerick, no entries suitable for publication were recieved. Judging by the last Salient, the poets are around, so what about a poem on Recreation Centre, limited to two verses and starting with the line:' "I wandered lonely aft a Recreation Centre."