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Wellness Wednesday: My Specific Workouts

Do you understand the power of being specific ? Have you ever tried to give someone instructions and found that it didn't work?  It may have been because you weren't specific. 

Everything from parenting to counseling patients about fitness is easier when you are specific. Case in point: I have recently changed the way I counsel about nutrition. I used to tell people about protein, carbohydrates and fats. I told them about meals and snacks. Then I let them run with it. Not much changed. They would come back in, with no change in weight or inches. They were frustrated and disappointed, since they had made concerted efforts. 

Then I started asking people to do simple food journals over a couple weeks time. Most people used a paper journal. When they would return, I reviewed it page by page, which took surprisingly little time. I took a red pen to each page, and marked it like a paper for a class, with comments. Most particularly, I wrote in the changes I wanted to see. I even gave a grade, which everyone found amusing. After that feedback, they would go home with a very specific idea of the changes needed. This made changing very easy to accomplish. And it got great results every time, in terms of blood sugar, weight and inches. 

So today's Wellness Wednesday is devoted to some very specific fitness strategies. I have suggested cardiovascular exercise to people as long as I have been a doctor, but only a small percent actually keep a consistent workout regimen. But I have found that when I suggest specific workouts, adoption rates are greater. 

A workout is a very personal thing. A workout regimen is even more tailored. But to give you an idea of what one should look like for a healthy adult, I will present my favorite DVD workout which I use on a regular basis. 

As I indicated in a prior post, I think it is important to take one day off per week. Mine is Monday, since Monday is the beginning of my workweek and is generally challenging. Beyond that, I like to alternate harder workouts with moderate workouts. I like each workout to be for the whole body, but I like to vary them through the week, to be well rounded literally and figuratively. Finally all my workouts qualify as high intensity intervals since research shows they yield the best results in the shortest period of time. I go from 20 to 40 minutes a session, depending on the workout. That's not much time out of the day ! 

My current favorite workouts are from Beach Body. And while this series has a somewhat comical name, it is extremely well crafted, arduous, fun and comprehensive. It is, (drum roll please) the Brazilian Butt Lift Workout series. Among those, Sculpt and Rio Extreme are the Hardest, with Cardio Axe being the most fun. Tummy tuck is the most time efficient at 20 minutes. 

Jillian Michaels does a great job at crafting a balanced workout which is hard and fun. She is also very encouraging in a drill sergeant kind of way. I like her workout series Ripped in 30 (days) and the sequences are only 24 minutes long. Her cardio yoga DVDs like Yoga Inferno are very cool but not for the faint of heart. 

Zumba is fantastic if you like a dance type workout. Zumba is generally of lesser intensity, but Rush and Ripped can give you a respectable workout. 

Chalean Extreme is for those who want to increase their resistance part of their workout. Hip Hop Abs is for those who can dance hip hop. 

Cardio Burn Sculpt by Gaiam is one of the best for getting back into exercise. It can be done at any intensity and is very well rounded, with a warm up, a cool down and attention to both upper and lower body. There is even an express version. The teacher Tanja Djelevic, is very soothing and encouraging. 

Finally on those days when yoga is required, the GAIAM DVD Am and Pm Yoga is the best. It is relaxing, thorough and quite brief at 15 minutes per session. For a really creative and moderately hard yoga exercise, try any DVDs by Shiva Rea. I do the Daily Energy and Vinyasa Flow Yoga. 

I pick from these like a smorgasbord. It keeps all kinds of things going well, like my mood, joints, muscle mass, bone density, and energy. If you check with your doctor, and carve out some time 6 days per week, you too will be rewarded when you do appropriate and consistent exercise. 

To learn more, see our sections below : 

Fitness

The Quantified Self 

 

 

 

Structure Sunday: What I do to stay healthy

I am 53 and I have lupus. But I am pretty darn healthy, thank goodness. People often ask me what I do to stay healthy. It's really no mystery. So today's structure Sunday is about the structure of my week. 

Sunday- the beginning of my week

  • Breakfast with family
  • Team clean - ( Housecleaning) especially laundry
  • Clean desk, pay bills ( which I have recently mostly automated yay ! ) a big stress reducer
  • Grocery shopping 
  • small scale recreation 
  • longer workout 
  • family dinner 
  • Prep for the workday per usual routine- down to packing lunch and snacks, and picking morning outfit ! ( a stress reducer and time saver ) 

 

Monday -workday

  • The usual routine of am protein drink, midmorning snack, second breakfast, lunch and midafternoon snack. Daytime intake must include one large glass of water, one large bowl of ground green tea, and one small cup of kefir, a probiotic.
  • pm- break from workout 
  • family dinner per usual routine 

Tuesday- workday 

  • usual routine 
  • longer workout 

Wednesday - surgery and chores

  • grocery shopping 
  • shorter workout 
  • entertain if possible 

Thursday workday 

  • longer workout 

Friday - workday 

  • shorter workout 
  • special family dinner
  • evening outing 

Saturday - 

  • family breakfast 
  • longer workout 
  • larger scale recreation 
  • entertain 

 

Everyone thrives on routine, from adults to children.  It gives your system signals of peace and plenty. With a reasonable routine, stress hormones decrease and everything from thinking to healing improves. 

You can also use routine help with taking medications and supplements, and to regulate your sleep schedule. If you are having a tough time meeting your health goals, just build a routine. Routine can make hard things easy. 

People say they do not have the willpower to eat well and exercise regularly. Here's the newsflash: It's not so much a matter of willpower as it is engineering. You simply schedule your healthy habits and stick to the schedule, no questions asked. 

Wellness Wednesday: Learning to Work Out

As the years go by, I have become increasingly regimented in my life. The reason for this is that I like things to be easy. If I simply decide what I need to do, and pick a time for it to be done, then I all have to do is stick with the schedule and things happen as they should without much additional thought. This is the case even with things most people find challenging…like exercise.

I have read widely on the subject of habit formation and it appears that it takes considerable longer to form a habit than most people realize. Instead of the usual three weeks that most people hear quoted, it is actually more like three months. So this is relevant because it helps people have realistic plans and expectations.

I tell people that after a time, working in regular exercise begins to feel natural. The act of beginning to get ready to exercise does not feel like a chore. The internal debate about whether to actually do it eventually ceases. In fact, you begin to feel psychologically uncomfortable if it does not happen at the proper time. This comes after the three month mark. Before that, you must persist by discipline and device.

What devices can you use to get yourself through those first three months?

1.     Get an exercise buddy for accountability. Pick someone your same gender and fitness level if you can.

2.     Keep written or electronic calendar and schedule your workout as though it were a meeting or an appointment.

3.     Restrict your time to somewhere between 15 to 30 minutes. The most important number at this stage is not minutes per session. It is sessions per week. It is possible that once you are a seasoned exerciser, you can get what you need for an hour four times per week. But to establish your habit well, begin with one short session six times per week.

4.     Vary your workouts, but not too much. You may and should be using some DVDs at home in addition to walk-jogging or gym workouts. Any routines which you may be learning need to be done often enough so that they become second nature. It will not be helpful to have you struggling through a routine.

5.     Be realistic in your choice of workout. Take into consideration the weather, your present fitness level and factors like cost. Set yourself up for success.

6.     Make your first three months of exercise very manageable and pleasant, perhaps even less vigorous than you could be doing.

7.     Finally I suggest reading about personal performance. The book “ The Power of Habit “ would be a good start. Concepts contained in such books can be inspiring and useful in many areas of life.

Enjoy your workout !