Let's get physical!

Hello! How are you? Awesome, I hope. I hope everyone has had a great week!

So far, we have looked at the first two components of a healthy lifestyle: not using tobacco, and consuming alcohol only in moderation. This week, we are focusing on the third component, and it is one of my favorites.

The Third Commandment: Thou shalt exercise 30 minutes on most days!

I am here to tell you that I love to exercise! Working up a good sweat just makes me feel more alive and is my favorite way to start the day. Now, I can hear some of you all the way from here yelling, "Not me!" To that I can only say, you must be doing it wrong! But seriously, there are so many fun, creative ways to get exercise. And what if I told you that a quite minimal effort is all that is required to produce some pretty awesome results? It is true, I promise.

Why bother?

There are so many benefits associated with regular exercise, I hardly know where to start. Regular exercise:

• Improves your mood


• Combats chronic disease


• Helps you manage your weight


• Boosts your energy


• Promotes better sleep


• Promotes a better sex life (ahem)


• Prevents (or helps manage) high blood pressure


• Improves cholesterol, both by raising your "good" cholesterol, and lowering "bad" triglycerides


• Prevents diabetes, osteoporosis and certain types of cancer


• Can be loads and loads of fun!

Not convinced? Then how about sixty more benefits? Yet only 22% of Americans consistently get a minimal amount of moderate exercise. Let's see if we can change that!

Just 30 minutes. Or 20. Or even ONE!

So let us talk a little bit about the amount of time required for exercising. This seems to be one of the obstacles that prevent folks from exercising like they should. How does one hour per week sound? There are 168 hours in a week, so could you commit to investing much less than 1% of your time to drastically improve your health and your life long-term?

Because yes, that will do nicely. If you spend twenty minutes per day, three days per week, engaging in vigorous exercise (such as running), you will reap the lion's share of the benefit of regular exercise.

But what's that you say, you are not in great shape, so you are not too sure how excited you can get about vigorous exercise, or if you can even do it? That is perfectly okay! Moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, can do the trick too. No, you do not have to work out like they do on "The Biggest Loser", that is a TV show.

But there is a trade-off: if your exercise intensity is only moderate, then the recommendation duration is thirty minutes per day "most days" of the week (usually interpreted to mean weekdays). To be honest, all days is even better. Yes, there is a "dose dependent" relationship between the amount of exercise you do and the benefits you receive. In other words, this means that doing even more than the minimum recommended amount of exercise provides even greater protective benefits to your health. So sixty minutes is better than thirty, and ninety is better than sixty.

So it's all or nothing, then?

No, nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is, any amount of exercise you do is going to provide some benefit, so anything is much better than nothing. One minute is better than zero minutes, so if the thought of more than that overwhelms you, then start there. Start anywhere. But do start.

As in many things, starting is often the most difficult part. Once you get going, do not be surprised if momentum kicks in and carries you right along!


The bottom line is that there are many important factors in an exercise program, but the most important factor, far and away, is consistency. Whatever you need to do to get yourself out there most days is what you need to do.

Doing ten minutes a day, even though that is less than the minimum recommendation, is still better if you do it most every day, year in and year out. It's better than doing an hour a day for a month, then quitting and doing no exercise at all the next month. So do not hesitate to make small, sustainable changes. Take baby steps.

But with that said, aim toward that minimum recommendation. It is a very realistic goal, and is not that tough to do. Most of us spend more than 30 minutes a day watching TV. To help insure that you carve out the time to exercise, schedule it on your calendar just like it was an appointment with someone important. It is, so keep that appointment! The two worst excuses for not exercising are "I don't have time" and "I don't have the energy". I promise you, if you exercise you will have more energy, which will give you more time. It really does work that way, I swear!

But I HATE exercising!

Really? Are you sure? Because there are lots of fun ways to get exercise! Take a nice walk in the park! Ride your bike on the greenway! Go out with a buddy and knock around a tennis ball, or a volleyball, or throw a Frisbee! Play with the kids! Dance! The important part is to move. If you get bored, then try something else.



When the weather is crappy, have a plan. Either brave the elements (which can be fun in its own way), or move indoors. Find an indoor track. Or use a treadmill or exercise bike. Yes, they can be a bit monotonous, but watching TV or listening to music can make it much less so. And there are all sorts of other exercise machines designed to help you work up a sweat: stair-steppers, elliptical trainers...the list goes on. You can even walk or jog in place, or do jumping jacks. Take a fun class at the Y. Exercise along with a DVD, tape, or TV show. Skip rope. Punch a punching bag.

With a little thought and planning, one can incorporate lots of exercise into one's everyday activities as well. Take the stairs. Park at the end of the lot. Pace when you are on the telephone. Go to a co-worker's office instead of sending an email. Walk to the store. It all adds up, and it all counts. One can buy a very inexpensive pedometer to keep track of how many steps you take in a day. 10,000 is a great goal.

If it gets your heart beating and your sweat beading, then you are on the right track. Resistance training (weight lifting), stretching/flexibility exercises, and core exercises are also great components of an exercise program, which will be discussed in more detail in future articles. (If I forget, remind me!) Here are some more great ideas for workout routines.

Fine, but I STILL hate exercising!

You are one tough nut! If you really find it that hard to get excited about the actual act of exercise, then try why not try focusing on the many benefits of exercise?

You will look better. You will feel better. You will have more energy. Your risk of premature death and disease will be greatly reduced. If you could get all that from a pill, would you find a way to choke it down? Well, it does, it just takes twenty or thirty minutes to get this particular pill down. Fitness guru Jack LaLanne even admits that he is not crazy about exercise. Even though he still works out two hours, every single day without fail, as a young whippersnapper of 95. What keeps him doing it? "I love the results," he says.

Here are some other ideas for "exercise haters".

There is just no other way to say it: the human body was built to be in motion, not in a chair or on a couch. When you rest, you rust!

LET'S ROLL!

To summarize the main points about exercise:

1) The benefits of regular exercise are almost too many to name.

2) Consistency is key. An easier, sustainable exercise program is far better than an overly ambitious one that ends up abandoned.

2) Though even more is better, one gets the lion's share of benefit from a very doable length and intensity of exercise. As little as an hour per week!

3) Anything is better than nothing.

4) Just get off the couch, get started, and see how far you end up going!

So that is three of the cornerstones of a healthy lifestyle, only two to go! Next week, we will look at #4. Hint: you will not find it at McDonald's.

Do you have an exercise question, comment, story, strategy or statement? Do you need motivation to get started? Strategies to keep you going? Help tackling obstacles? Then leave a comment! I will personally answer it!

Until next week, take good care of yourself, and make it happen!