The truth about exercise!

The truth is you must do it!  At any age and any stage some form of exercise is necessary for you body to be optimal.  As I have always said you are either moving forward or going backward, there is not static place in between!

So, this all opens up the door to what type of exercise is best and at what stage of life should I do which exercise?

There are so many factors affecting this that I have to give you the advice as follows before we continue:

The information we are going to cover today is the opinion of the author and is no way to be construed as medical advice.  You should always consult with your medical professional prior to beginning any dietary, exercise, self-help or other life altering program.  You assume all liability for your own actions and hold author harmless for any claims whatsoever.

With that out of the way I also must recommend working with a professional fitness trainer to guide you through the processes and help you avoid the pitfalls that could derail your success.  Of course, we would love to be your training team whether you are local and can train with us at our studio or remotely through our amazing program design and monitoring software and/or video calling.  Whether you choose us or find a great trainer you meld with, please do at least get the ball rolling with a professional so you can truly get the maximum results for your efforts!

Let’s delve into some fitness basics!

First question I usually get is “Should I be doing cardio or strength training?” Answer is both!  See there is no one then do the other as they are two sides to the same coin called fitness!

You need to build muscle so the cardio can use the metabolic effect of having more muscle in the body to burn more fat! What is generally best is a cross training routine that incorporates both at the same time or on alternate days!

The big myth is “I have to lose some weight before I begin”.  The reason that this is a myth is that if you do some fad diet and actually do lose weight with out exercise you not only lose fat but muscle which will ultimately slow the metabolism and in almost all cases the person gins the weight back and often times even more!  So why not do it right the first times as it is easier to maintain once it is done rather than being on the up and down roller coaster.

So yes, appropriate strength training coupled with appropriate cardio conditioning for your stage of life is crucial to your success!  You know what else is crucial?  I mean really crucial! Finding activities, people and an environment that makes it enjoyable!  Once you link pleasure to exercise (remember the posts on pain and pleasure?) you will the find it 100x easier to incorporate into your daily routine as it becomes something you look forward to!

Remember when we talk about stages of life, we are not necessarily just referring to age chronologically rather effective age as relating to condition, health issue, previous injury and the likes!  I have worked with 70-year old’s that outperform 20 year old’s, so it is not just an age thing!

Another factor is testing, monitoring and logging!  Starting to sound like work?  Well as we know from previous training’s you must know where you are going, map out how to get there and take action, there is another step monitoring and adjusting.  If you monitor your progress you will know if you are on track or ahead or behind.  This is necessary because you need to adjust what you are ding if you are not getting the result you set out for!

Forms of monitoring include body composition as opposed to just body weight, blood testing for your lipids, sugars, hormones and organ function and strength/endurance testing.

Also training in the proper heart rate zones for goals you are after are integral as well as safety!  I personally recommend and use a polar heart rate monitor the h10 model as it comes with an app that interpolates so much important data to help you with your success!  Click here to order one from Amazon!

Why is this so important?  The reason is weight alone does not accurately reflect health, wellness and energy!  Know your numbers they will make or break you!

Keep a journal to help you keep track of your successes and challenges as this journey you are on will give you lifelong lessons! 

So, let us recap!

The keys to successful exercise habits:

• Combine the proper level of cardio and appropriate strength training for your stage of life

• Find a professional to design a routine that works for your goals. Of course, make sure you clear this with your medical professional as well.

• Find fitness routines that are fun for you, so they are sustainable, enjoyable and effective

• Schedule your fitness times the same as you would anything else important in life such as the time you pick your kids up!

• Start now! Don’t weight till you lose weight first, you “have time”, or some other BS excuse.

• Start at a safe level! If you want to run but you are way over weight and have never been a runner don’t start out trying to do a marathon, rather start out with a brisk walk, then learn to jog and the run as your body adapts…Then do you marathon! See this is about growth not going out day one and destroying yourself!!! It is good to set a goal for instance a marathon or OCR race to give you something to work towards and of course I always say make it compelling and outside your comfort zone!!  Make sure you calculate and follow through hon the preparation though!

• Track it, monitor it and adjust if necessary! I can not stress enough the importance of knowing where you are, where you are going and what the steps are.  Seeing results helps you stay on track and adjust where necessary!

• Celebrate your successes! You deserve to feel amazing about what you are doing and what you accomplish!

• When things get tough, you are off track or just don’t feel like it, remember to tap into your power of Y!

Next week we are going to delve into rest, sleep and stress management and how it affects everything in your life!

If you are ready to go and need some guidance you can book a coaching session or fitness training session to get the ball rolling! 

Live with energy, passion and always live your dream!

-Coach Lew