Michelle also made a decision not to waste what little free time she did have doing things she disliked, like going to a gym. Instead she focused on finding activities that were fun. “I joined a fitness group, and they introduced me to the most beautiful trails in my area that I never even knew existed,” says Michelle. As she stepped up her exercise and adjusted her diet, she dropped 35 pounds and completely reversed her diabetes.
Six years later, with no sign of diabetes and her weight holding steady at 130 pounds, exercise is simply part of who she is. “I do mud runs, triathlons, half marathons, turkey trots—there’s always something fun every month that I’m involved in to help keep me motivated. I look forward to doing something active every day, even when I’m on vacation.”
Don’t let situations that aren’t perfect defeat you. Sure, it’s a bummer if you can’t make the morning spinning class at your gym, but you can still get on the exercise bicycle in your home. Maybe you can’t walk around your neighborhood after work because it’s too dark, but you can squeeze in a twenty-minute walk on your lunch break or hike through the corridors of your local mall before heading home. Take a page from Michelle Fairless’s playbook (see page 153). She has to take her daughters to soccer practice, but instead of sitting in the bleachers, she walks around the field. There’s a solution staring you in the face, and if you’re motivated and if being active is a priority for you, you’re going to get it done. Bear in mind, too, that as you become more fit, your energy and enthusiasm will rise so that you get more done at a quicker pace. In a sense, by taking time to exercise, you’ll create more time elsewhere.
Here’s something else you should consider if time is a problem for you. There are higher-intensity workouts that give you good results with a minimal investment of time. More and more research is showing that vigorous interval training can give you the same results as three times the amount of moderate-intensity exercise. Many electronic exercise machines offer an interval training option on their intensity controls, but you don’t have to be on a machine to do it. Interval training involves speeding up to almost a sprint for a brief period—anywhere from thirty seconds to two minutes—then slipping back down to a moderate speed for either an equal amount of time or longer. You keep repeating the pattern, ending with a few minutes to cool down. One Australian study found that women who worked up to twenty minutes of interval training on an exercise bike three times a week lost about five and a half pounds of body fat in fifteen weeks. Other studies have shown that interval training for fifteen minutes three times a week changes the body in ways that help protect against diabetes and heart disease.
YOUR EXCUSE: “I’M NOT SURE WHAT TO DO”
Kickboxing, step aerobics, yoga, Pilates, kayaking, swimming, cycling, Afro-Brazilian dance, hip-hop, pole dancing, Spinning, walking on the treadmill or at an outdoor track or on the beach—there are literally hundreds of ways to exercise, and while that can be reassuring (you’re bound to find something you like), it can also be very overwhelming. The only way you are going to know what you like is to experiment. But also keep in mind that different workouts work your body in different ways. Any exercise that you do is admirable, but if you want to really see changes in your body, you need to do a combination of exercises. Not only different types of aerobic exercise, though. To achieve true fitness, you need a three-pronged approach to exercise that includes these three elements:
1. Cardio (aerobic) exercise—measured either in minutes per day (or week) or by steps per day
2. Strength training
3. Functional fitness exercises
These are the different types of structured exercise you should perform. But unstructured exercise is important, too. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking far from your destination so that you get in a little walking, getting up to talk to work colleagues instead of sending emails, walking rather than driving to the store—all these little things contribute to your overall fitness. If that informal type of inactivity is all you feel that you can fit into your life, I suggest that you purchase a pedometer, a small device that counts your steps, and aim to log a few miles that way. Appendix 6 contains a complete twelve-week fitness plan, including recommendations for step counting.
That plan is based on the following guidelines. Here, specifically, is how much of each type of exercise you need, depending on your goal.
CARDIO EXERCISE (ALSO CALLED AEROBIC EXERCISE)
To Lose Weight or Maintain Weight Loss
If you’ve been confused by how much cardiovascular exercise you need to do for weight loss or weight maintenance, you’re not alone. There are many different guidelines out there, and they keep changing. My recommendation to clients is based on two things: what research tells us works best and what I’ve seen firsthand while working with a variety of different people.
My recommendation to you is this: Gradually work up to exercising aerobically for approximately 6 hours (360 to 375 minutes) a week at a moderately high intensity. (See the Perceived Exertion Scale, on pages 158–160, for a guide to what different intensities feel like. Moderately high intensity is an 8 on the scale.) At first, this may seem like a lot of exercise, especially when you consider how inactive most Americans are. But keep in mind that you can break up those 6 hours however you like and choose whatever kind of physical activity you enjoy. Cycling or walking for an hour six days a week would do it, or you could exercise on an elliptical trainer or swim for 75 minutes five days a week. Doing a combination of activities throughout the week is another option—and a good one, as cross-training gives you the opportunity to build up different muscles and makes it less likely that you’ll sustain any overuse injuries.
One area where my recommendation varies from some of the other ones out there is that I suggest that you always try to exercise at a moderately high pace. And here’s why: Exercising hard dulls the appetite and keeps your eating in check. When you work out at a vigorous intensity, you just don’t feel like eating after you’re done and sometimes for hours afterward, making it less likely that you’ll eat back the calories you just burned. Slower exercise, on the other hand, tends to stimulate the appetite, which can get you into trouble if you’re trying to put the brakes on your eating.
If the moderately high pace I’m suggesting is too difficult for you, remember, this is a level of exercise you should work up to over several weeks. During that time, you can simply exercise longer and slightly relax the pace. You might, for instance, walk at a pace of 6 or 7 on the Perceived Exertion Scale, but for 1¼ hours instead of an hour. Another way to get all the exercise you need for losing or maintaining weight is to count steps: Ultimately, your goal should be 18,000 steps a day. That’s about nine miles a day, which may sound like a lot, but you can accomplish this by going on formal walks and increasing your incidental walking. Not to mention, you’re probably logging several thousand steps already in your normal day-to-day life without even realizing it.
Although you may not be ready to do 6 hours of cardio exercise weekly right off the bat, I encourage you to aim as high as you can when you first begin. Make your first goal 90 to 150 minutes per week, or at least 3,500 to 10,000 steps, the minimum amount for disease protection. If you’re very overweight or have any medical conditions, check with your doctor before increasing activity.
To Protect Yourself from Heart Disease, Cancer,
and Other Chronic Diseases
Get at least 2½ hours weekly of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of moderately high intensity exercise. Or do a combination of the two (for instance, 75 minutes of moderate and 38 minutes of moderately high intensity each week). Ideally, try to spread it out over five or six days a week. If you’re currently not exercising, start with moderate intensity and bump it up to moderately high intensity only after a month or so, and if your doctor okays it. Alternatively, you can make sure that you take 10,000 to 14,000 steps a day.
Of course, if you can do more, great. For even greater protection against chronic diseases and to further im
prove fitness, get 5 hours a week of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (or 150 minutes of moderately high intensity) spread out over most days of the week. Or, again, do a combo of moderately high and moderate intensity.
STRENGTH TRAINING EXERCISES
(FREE WEIGHTS OR MACHINES)
For Both Health and Weight Loss or Maintenance
These guidelines for strength training also help the body beat back the effects of aging. Do a minimum of six different strength-training exercises that work the major muscle groups: abdomen, back, arms (biceps, triceps), shoulders, and legs (quads, hamstrings, calves). For each exercise, do at least two sets, eight to ten reps per set, at least two days a week—three days is even better. Begin with weights that are challenging but not so heavy that it’s impossible to complete the eighth rep or they force you to compromise your form. I’d like to see you work up to eight or more strength-training exercises if you can. Ideally, three sets each (same number of reps), two or three times a week. You’ll find more specifics on strength training in appendix 6, and for even more details, check out my previous books Total Body Makeover and Get with the Program! or visit www.thebestlife.com.
FUNCTIONAL FITNESS EXERCISES
For Both Health and Weight Loss or Maintenance
Being “functionally fit” is having the strength and agility to get through daily life with ease. Functional fitness also makes the other types of exercise you do easier and helps protect you against injury. The exercises that improve functional fitness are primarily stretches, crunches, and other resistance exercises (such as arm and leg raises and trunk curls) that you do with or without weights. As a group, they increase your core strength, flexibility, balance, and coordination. Ideally, you’d do functional fitness exercises every day. If that’s impossible, do what you can. You can read more about functional fitness exercises in appendix 6 and on www.thebestlife.com.
THE PERCEIVED EXERTION SCALE
To bring about important changes in your body—changes that benefit your heart, your lungs, and the healthy functioning of just about every other part of your body—you need to exert some effort. The Perceived Exertion Scale helps you determine just how much effort you’re exerting and whether it’s enough to precipitate the changes you want. There are also formulas for figuring out how intensely you’re exercising that rely on measuring your heart rate. Those are especially helpful for people who have specific heart problems. However, I find that the Perceived Exertion Scale is easier to use and more accurate for the average person. This tool gauges how exercise feels to you, on a scale of 0 to 10. Using your breathing to gauge how much effort you’re putting into your workout (you breathe harder as your exercise intensity increases because your body needs more oxygen to fuel your muscles), you ask yourself how hard you’re working. That’s your level of perceived exertion.
The optimum level of exertion is a 7 or 8. It may take a while for you to work up to this intensity—or to maintain it for any length of time—but it will come. If you can’t hit that pace right off the bat, start at a lower level of exertion and try to exercise at a 7 for a minute or two before moving back to your more comfortable pace. Build on that, adding a minute each week (more frequently if you’re able) so that you eventually work up to a whole workout at level 7 or 8.
0 This is the way you feel at rest. There is no fatigue, and your breathing is not elevated.
1 This is how you’d feel while working at your desk or reading. There is no fatigue, and your breathing is normal.
2 This is what you’d feel like when you’re getting dressed. There is little or no feeling of fatigue, and your breathing is still normal.
3 This is how you’d feel while walking slowly across the room inside. You may feel a little fatigued, and you may be aware of your breathing, but it is still slow and natural. You also might feel this way in the beginning of an exercise session.
4 This is the way you’d feel if you were walking slowly outside. There is a slight feeling of fatigue, and your breathing is slightly elevated but comfortable. You should experience this level during the initial stages of your warm-up.
5 This is how you’d feel while walking somewhere at a normal pace. You’re aware of your breathing, which is now deeper, and there is a slight feeling of fatigue. You should experience this level at the end of your warm-up.
6 This is similar to how you’d feel if you were hurrying to an appointment for which you were late. There is a feeling of fatigue, but you know you can maintain this level of exertion. Your breathing is deep, and you’re aware of it. This is how you should feel as you transition from warm-up to your regular exercise session.
7 This is how you’d feel when you are exercising at moderate to moderately high intensity. There’s a feeling of fatigue, but you’re sure you can maintain this level for the rest of your exercise session. Your breathing is deep, and you’re aware of it. You could carry on a conversation but would probably choose not to do so. You should try to maintain this level during your workouts.
8 This is how you should feel when you’re exercising vigorously at moderately high intensity. You’re feeling fatigued, and if you asked yourself if you could continue for the remainder of your exercise session, your answer would be that you think you could but you’re not sure. You’re on the edge, but you can maintain the pace, at least for a fairly good while. Your breathing is very deep, and though you could still carry on a conversation, you don’t feel like it. You should try to exercise at this level only after you’re feeling comfortable enough at level 7. Many people see rapid results at this level.
9 This is what you’d feel like if you were exercising very, very vigorously. You’d definitely feel fatigued, and you probably wouldn’t be able to maintain this high-intensity level for very long. Your breathing is very labored, and it would be very difficult to carry on a conversation. If you’re doing interval training, you may hit this level for short periods of time, but it’s not a level that you need to or can stay at for a lengthy duration.
10 This level is all-out exercise, so difficult that you couldn’t maintain it for very long. Hence, there’s no benefit to it.
YOUR EXCUSE: “I’LL GET HURT”
If you haven’t exercised much (or at all) in the past few years, perhaps you’ve talked yourself into the idea that you’re too out of shape to exercise. One jog in the park, and you’re sure to wind up sitting in the emergency room waiting for an ankle X-ray. Although you may be slightly more vulnerable to injury if you haven’t taxed your body for a while, the threat of injury is very, very small. Most exercisers don’t get injured, and a U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study of approximately six thousand men and women ages twenty-five to eighty confirms it: Over the course of a year, just a quarter developed any type of injury, and most of those injuries occurred while playing sports, not from walking or going to the gym. (Still, it’s a good idea to get the green light from your doctor before beginning any exercise program.)
To my way of thinking, fear of injury isn’t a valid excuse, and you need to see it for what it is: justification for not taking care of yourself. Any judge would throw that one right out of court. A good fitness option for many people is walking. It has a very, very low injury rate. Invest in a pedometer and follow the step-counting guidelines in the appendix.
YOUR EXCUSE: “I’VE SUFFERED AN INJURY”
An injury—whether it’s lingering or newly acquired, exercise related or not—can seem like the perfect get-out-of-gym-free card. It seems only logical to abstain from any activity that might aggravate your bum ankle, cause your sore shoulder to swell up, or tweak an already tight muscle in your back. Years ago, you would have had your doctor on your side: Experts used to recommend bed rest or at least sitting it out until an injury fully healed. But while rest is still recommended, it’s usually for a much shorter period of time (sometimes as little as a day or two, depending on the specific injury). Instead, a gradual return to activity has now become part of the recovery process for mo
st injuries.
We now know that movement is essential to healing. For one thing, it increases blood flow to the injured area, bringing nutrients that help speed recovery. It also strengthens the surrounding muscles, taking pressure off the injured area, which allows it to heal more quickly and reduces the chances of reinjury. Staying active while injured also helps you maintain flexibility and range of motion, which are important to ensure full healing—if you don’t have full range of motion or flexibility, you may heal only 80 percent or 90 percent. Plus, it will allow you to return to your full workouts more quickly. If you’ve stayed off your feet while nursing your injury, you’ll lose strength, endurance, and flexibility, which will make it even harder for you to get back to where you left off.
This isn’t to say that you should simply shake it off and get back out there if you’re really hurt. And I’m definitely not recommending that you exercise through pain. See your doctor and let him or her guide you back into action. If your physician says that you’re ready to jump back in (or get started), perhaps at a reduced level, but you feel resistant, this is a good time to check in to see what you’re really feeling. Is it physical pain? Or are you procrastinating for some other reason? If there is no physical barrier preventing you from exercising, then there’s obviously a psychological one, and you need to own up to it and explore the reason behind it.
If your injury truly is lingering, there are still ways to get in some form of activity, and, for the reasons I described above, it’s in your best interest to do so. Think outside the box. If, for instance, you have an injury that affects your leg (shin splints, plantar fasciitis, or tendonitis of the knee or ankle, to name a few), you can do an arm-focused workout, such as using an upper body ergometer (basically, a bicycle for your arms) for cardio exercise, and perform upper body strength training exercises (such as biceps curls, chest presses, seated rows). You may even be able to participate in low-impact, non-weight-bearing aerobic exercise, such as swimming or walking in the water, which will give you a cardio challenge without putting stress on the injured area. If you’re nursing an upper body injury (like a rotator cuff tear, tennis elbow, or even neck or back pain), you can do lower body resistance exercises (squats and lunges without weights) for your strength, and try an upright or recumbent stationary bike or elliptical trainer for your cardio workout. (Elliptical trainers come in both recumbent and upright versions. My favorite models are from Octane Fitness, www.octanefitness.com.) Runners who are injured usually do well when they switch to walking up a steep grade. It’s still a vigorous form of exercise, but without the pounding.
The Life You Want Page 18