The Life You Want
Page 28
Analyze why things have fallen apart in the past and see if you can prevent any of the forces that destabilized your diet. Maybe a major stressor hit, like a move or you lost your job. In chapter 2, you can pick up some great coping skills that will give you a better way to deal with stress next time. Or maybe you had a relapse and gave up—that’s a classic. The section on black-and-white thinking featured in the Nine Step Program will help you deal differently next time.
Question 11 takes the opposite view: What are the reasons you might be more likely to sustain it this time? Maybe you feel more ready now. Or you have more experience to draw from, so you can eliminate the all-salmon diet and other unsustainable techniques and give strategies that worked another try. Many of the approaches in the Nine Step Program will resonate with you.
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Appendix 6
THE BEST LIFE APPROACH
TO EXERCISE
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By Bob Greene
TRYING TO EXERCISE ON a catch-as-catch-can basis hardly ever works. To stay motivated and reap the many benefits of exercise, you need to exercise regularly and consistently. And to exercise regularly and consistently, you need to make fitness part of your schedule so that you do it as habitually as you, say, brush your teeth or eat lunch. You put aside time every day to do those things; now put aside time every day (or almost every day) for exercise.
The most effective fitness regimens include exercises that address three primary areas of fitness: functional fitness, cardiovascular (also known as aerobic) fitness, and strength. As I noted on pages 156–157, there are time, intensity, and frequency marks you’ll need to hit in order to maximize your results from cardiovascular exercise as well as specific benchmarks for functional fitness and strength training. A good starting place is the following twelve-week cardio, strength training, and functional fitness plan. It will not only get you started, it will also give you a template for long-term fitness. (The fact that it’s twelve weeks long doesn’t mean it’s over in twelve weeks; consider it a launching pad for ongoing exercise.) The plan is similar to the one I gave readers in The Best Life Guide to Managing Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes. I like it because it works for just about everyone, and it pays particular attention to the type of exercise that helps burn fat and improve blood glucose levels. Even if you don’t have diabetes or prediabetes, it will give your health a boost.
The Plan, Part 1: Functional Fitness
If you haven’t engaged in any significant physical activity for a long time, it’s a good idea to start with functional fitness exercises: a combination of stretches and strengthening exercises that often use your own body weight for resistance. Simple, yet succinct, they better your core strength, flexibility, balance, and coordination, improving posture and helping you move more gracefully. All that is also going to make your everyday movements easier: toting groceries, lifting a suitcase, carrying a child who refuses to walk, reaching for a coat in the back of a closet—those things become less arduous when you are functionally fit.
Just as important, functional fitness exercises prepare you to perform the cardiovascular and strength-training workouts you need to both manage your weight and increase your well-being. By helping you build up strength and flexibility, they reduce your likelihood of injury when you begin those more rigorous forms of exercise, and they also make cardio and strength-training workouts feel like less of a chore. That’s going to help you stick with the twelve-week program and beyond.
The functional fitness exercises that follow take so little time to perform that you could—and should—do them every day. Here are four strengtheners and seven stretches to work into your routine.
Functional Fitness Exercises
HEEL RAISE
Standing on a board approximately 2 inches by 36 inches, or any other raised, stable surface (no more than 2 to 3 inches high), place the ball of each foot on the raised area, with heels on the floor. Keep feet about 12 inches apart; knees are straight, but not locked. Slowly raise heels as high as you can and hold for 1 second before slowly lowering down to starting position. Repeat for a total of 15 stretches.
SHRUG ROLL
Stand up straight, feet a little apart and arms at your sides. Shrug shoulders up toward your ears as high as they can go. Pause for a second in this position, then roll shoulders back while squeezing your shoulder blades together. Pause for a second in midsqueeze, then drop shoulders back to starting position. Repeat 10 times; do two sets.
THE BASIC CRUNCH
Lie on your back, with knees bent and heels 12 to 15 inches from your buttocks. Place both your hands behind your neck.
Let your abs do the work of raising your torso straight up at a 30 degree to 45 degree angle, but don’t curl your body or your back up. Point your chin to the ceiling.
Hold for 1 second, then lower down. Repeat 15 times for one set.
THE TWISTING TRUNK CURL
Lie on your back, with knees bent and heels 12 to 15 inches from your buttocks.
Place your right ankle over your left knee.
Place both hands behind your neck.
Using your abs to power you, raise your right shoulder toward the left knee, just 8 to 12 inches off the ground. Then return to start position.
Do 15 on this side, then switch legs and repeat for another 15 moves.
UPPER AB CRUNCHES
Lie on your back with your elbows out, fingers touching the sides of your forehead.
Bend your knees and hips until your legs are at 90 degrees; it’s best to have a ball or chair support your feet.
Raise your torso at a 35 degree to 45 degree angle and hold for a second.
Return to start position. Perform two sets of 15 to 20 repetitions.
THE ARM AND LEG RAISE
Lie on your stomach, arms stretched out in front of you, with your head supported by a folded towel. (The towel goes under your armpits and under your chin.)
Raise your right arm and your left leg simultaneously by contracting your abdominal muscles and lower back muscles. Keep your shoulders and pelvis pressed against the floor. Meanwhile, your left arm and right leg should be on the floor.
Lift to the point where you feel a gentle tension in the lower back muscles. Pause for a second before going back to starting position.
Do 15 on one side, then switch so that your left arm and right leg are raised and do another 15.
LATERAL NECK STRETCH
Tilt your head to the side, ear to shoulder.
Hold on each side for about 15 seconds.
Repeat 5 times.
MIDDLE AND LOWER BACK STRETCH
Seated on a chair with your knees apart, hold your arms out in front of you and stretch. Keeping them in this position, gradually bend forward until you feel a gentle tension in your upper and/or middle back. (At this point, your arms may be between your knees, hands touching the floor if possible.) Hold the stretch for 5 seconds, relax for 5 seconds, and repeat 2 more times.
STANDING HAMSTRING STRETCH
Stand with one leg up on a step or on a chair in front of you. Place hands on hips, making sure you’re stable. Keep the leg that is lifted straight and slowly bend toward your toes, keeping your back straight until you feel a stretch. Hold for 5 seconds (no bouncing) and relax for another 5 seconds. Repeat on each leg 3 to 5 times.
QUADRICEPS STRETCH
Standing, hold on to a chair back with your right hand. Use the other hand to clutch your left ankle behind you, knee bent. Bring your heel toward your buttocks until you feel a little tension in your thigh. Keep the knee of the other leg slightly bent. Both knees should be parallel. Hold for 5 seconds, relax for 5 seconds, and continue this way for 3 to 4 stretches. Repeat on the other side.
UPPER CALF STRETCH
Standing, hold on to a chair back with your left hand while placing the other hand on your right hip. Bend your left leg about 45 degrees, keeping your left knee right above your left foot (not in front of it). Bring your right leg behind you, keeping i
t straight, with the heel on the floor. If you don’t feel the stretch in this leg, bring the opposite (bent) leg forward a little more. Do not arch your back; hold the stretch for 5 seconds, relax for 5 seconds, repeat 2 more times. Then switch legs and repeat.
Check out www.bestlife.com to view video demonstrations for each exercise.
SAFE, EFFECTIVE STRETCHING
Your flexibility—the range of motion available in a joint, such as the shoulder, or a series of joints, such as the spine—is determined partly by genetics. But stretching regularly can help improve your flexibility. On the flip side, you can lose flexibility if you don’t make stretching a habit. What does flexibility do for you? Some of the benefits:
Reduces lower back pain
Reduces cramping in the calves and quadriceps (upper leg muscles)
Improves posture; helps prevent rounded shoulders
Helps muscles relax, which can improve performance in exercise or any sporting activity, as well as everyday activities such as laundry, picking things up off the floor, or making the bed
Speeds recovery from injury or training
May reduce the chance of suffering an injury
Improves mood and increases alertness
As stretching has become part of the exercise norm, many questions have come up about how and when to do it. Let’s address them one by one.
Never stretch a cold muscle. At rest, there is less blood flow to the muscles and tendons, making them stiffer. Think of your muscles as rubber bands or bubble gum: If you stretch either of these when they are cold, they might snap. Stretch them when they’re warm, however, and they will stretch more easily. Same for muscles.
Stretch after—not before—a cardio workout or light warm-up. Again, you don’t want to stretch a cold muscle, and you’ll get the most benefit from stretching when exercise has increased the blood flow to your muscles.
Don’t bounce. Repeatedly moving up and down in a stretch can actually cause a tiny amount of damage (called microtrauma) in the muscle. Once damaged, the muscle works diligently to repair itself, which can create scar tissue. Scar tissue then makes the muscle less pliable, causing a decrease in flexibility. Stretch to the point where you feel a mild tug but no pain, and hold it there.
Hold stretches for 15 to 30 seconds. The greatest change in flexibility has been shown to happen in the first 15 seconds, and no significant improvement occurs after 30 seconds. Release, then repeat the stretch at least two times but no more than four times. More than that has not been shown to confer any significant improvement.
Stretch all major muscles. While some stretches feel better than others, it’s important to give equal time to all your muscle groups to keep the body in balance. This includes the hamstrings, calves, lower back, shoulders, middle and upper back, and chest.
Stretch for yourself. Don’t try to mimic what someone else is doing. Flexibility is very individualized, so listen to your body and challenge yourself within your own limits.
Don’t follow the “no pain, no gain” adage. Again, when you’re stretching, you should go until you feel tightness but not pain. If you feel pain, back off a bit. Back off, too, if you feel sore the day after stretching—you’re probably overdoing it.
consider taking a yoga or Pilates class. Both of these practices can help improve overall flexibility and strength.
The Plan, Part 2: Cardio
These days, aerobic exercise is more often called cardio, a nod to the fact that it accelerates your heart rate and improves your cardiovascular system. Cardio exercise not only gets your heart working harder, it also pushes your lungs to take in more air. By doing so, it ensures that your body can pump enough nutrient- and oxygen-laden blood to your working muscles to keep them going. It’s like filling the gas tank of a car for a road trip. This process (and I’m just giving you a quick description of a complicated system) requires a fair amount of energy, which is why cardio exercise is the type of activity that burns the most calories. And, as you probably know, the harder and faster you do a cardio workout, the more calories you burn.
The number of different cardio workouts available to you is endless. Just to name a few: brisk walking, jogging or running (treadmill or outdoors), hiking, swimming, road cycling, mountain biking, spinning, stationary cycling, rowing machine, running or walking stairs, stair-stepping machine, elliptical trainer, inline skating, jumping rope, hip-hop aerobic dance, jazz dance. They’re all good—although workouts that cause you to support all or most of your body weight with your own muscles (such as walking, running, aerobic dance, and stair climbing) challenge your body the most and ultimately help you burn the most calories. But that doesn’t matter if you’re not going to do the workout, so choose an activity that you like (or like enough to do regularly), is accessible (don’t choose cycling if the road near your house is covered with snow four months out of the year), and fits your schedule and current fitness level.
Some people cannot (or will not) exercise in any structured fashion. That doesn’t mean you can’t exercise. Get yourself a pedometer and count the steps you take during the day as you go about your regular routine, taking care to walk as much as possible by, say, parking far from your destination, taking the stairs instead of elevators and escalators, and doing your errands on foot. Your ultimate goal should be to work up to eighteen thousand steps a day. To get that amount under your belt, you will probably have to adopt a slightly more structured approach and actually go for walks rather than just depend on getting the steps in through your regular routine. Still, all those everyday steps will add up and shorten the distance of your more formal walks.
If you’re just beginning to exercise, check with your doctor beforehand. Then if she gives the okay, three days per week is a good starting point. But as you progress, and your fitness improves, add extra days. Working out more frequently not only increases the benefits, it also teaches you to make fitness a regular part of your routine, and that will help you maintain consistency. Be sure to exercise for at least thirty minutes. When you do so, you not only burn an ample number of calories but you also trigger more of the enzyme changes that boost your metabolism so that you burn more calories after exercises, too. Exercising for thirty minutes or more will also raise your core temperature, and that will most likely dull your appetite, making it easier to cut calories. If thirty minutes feels like an eternity, begin with fifteen minutes of exercise and then add two to three minutes to each successive workout. Within a few weeks, you’ll be up to thirty minutes. From there, concentrate on working up to the goals I gave you on pages 156–157. I’ll repeat them in brief here:
If you are aiming for weight loss or weight maintenance, 6 hours of moderately high-intensity exercise per week is the gold standard. For health benefits alone, 2½ hours of moderate-intensity cardio per week or 75 minutes of moderately high intensity per week is adequate.
Go back to chapter 4 to read about the details and some variations that might suit you.
The Plan, Part 3: Strength Training
Incorporating strength training into your routine will help you increase your lean muscle mass, a change that will benefit you in many ways. Muscle tissue requires more calories to maintain than fat. Therefore, with increased muscle mass, your body will burn a greater number of calories as part of its daily upkeep—even when you’re sleeping or sitting around doing nothing. Another benefit of increasing muscle is that it helps prevent the natural loss of muscle tissue that occurs naturally with aging. Strength training also reinforces the skeleton, helping to stem bone loss and reducing your risk for osteoporosis. Last but not least, strength training gives your muscles the ability to perform quickly and efficiently.
There are hundreds of different strength-training exercises, but don’t let the abundance of options confuse you. If you’re really interested in strength training, I encourage you to learn more about the various exercises. However, there are eight simple moves (I call them the basic eight) that provide a great fundamental workout.
Whether you’ve never lifted weights before or are an experienced exerciser who has never found the right strength-training regimen, you’ll find the basic eight straightforward and not at all intimidating.
It takes surprisingly little time to do these exercises: just about twenty minutes. All you need are a few dumbbells; or, if you have access to weight machines at the gym, all these moves (except for squats) have a machine alternative. Choose the size of your dumbbells (or adjustment on the weight machines) according to how many repetitions you can do. The weights must be heavy enough to fatigue your muscles after eight to ten reps.
Begin with one or two sets per exercise, eight to ten repetitions per set three times a week. (Take no more than 15 to 30 seconds between sets.) You may find that you can’t finish the eight reps in the second set, but that’s okay; it’s evidence that you’re working hard enough in the first set. As your strength improves, you’ll eventually be able to complete both sets. After about four weeks, reassess. If you’re making all your sets easily, add another set. Also check your weights. Are they heavy enough? If not, move up to the next dumbbell weight or adjust the weight machines. Keep reassessing every four to six weeks, and when you’re ready for a new challenge, add another day. Your ultimate goal: three sets of each exercise doing eight to ten reps every other day.