Shape Up Your Life

SHAPE UP YOUR LIFE
By Luigi Gratton, M.D., M.P.H.

Anytime is the right time to get outdoors, get in shape and renew our commitment to a healthy lifestyle. Here are some helpful hints to keep in mind as you shape up.

1. TAKE TIME TO WARM UP
Spending 5 to 10 minutes warming up prepares your body for exercise. Walk before jogging. Jog before running. Just warm up at a pace that gradually gets your heart beating at 50 to 60 percent of your maximum heart rate. And don’t forget to stretch. Moving from side to side warms your muscles and prepares them for exercise.Warm muscles allow for a greater range of motion for your joints and make injuries less likely as well.

2. THINK VARIETY
Have you ever started a fitness program and then let it fizzle out? The reason could have been boredom. A program that includes several fitness activities–for example, walking or biking on Mondays and Wednesdays and playing tennis or swimming on Fridays and Sundays–will help maintain your interest and keep you motivated. Need a change of scenery? Try varying the place you exercise with a new route for walking or biking. Having different options can allow you to pick the one that suits your mood and keeps your fitness program feeling fresh.

3. GET YOUR ANTIOXIDANTS
Don’t forget about the important role that proper nutrition plays in achieving an active lifestyle. Since exercise can increase the formation of free radicals, it’s always good to have some extra protection. Antioxidants, such as Vitamin C and beta-carotene, may play a role in preventing cellular injury and delaying muscle fatigue. Try to get at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, as they are packed with powerful antioxidants. Our targeted nutrition products also provide key antioxidants that protect muscles and joints against exercise-induced oxidative stress. So, remember to add antioxidants to your diet and get the most out of your fitness program.

SEVEN WAYS TO LOOK GREAT
Target These Major Muscle Groups

What is the easiest way to work the whole body? Very simply, I developed what I call “The Simple 7”–the seven main muscle groups we work on throughout the week. The Simple 7 includes:

1. Chest
2. Biceps (Front of arms)
3. Triceps (Back of arms)
4. Abs (can be worked daily)
5. Back
6. Front of legs
7. Back of legs

Generally, I split a workout between alternating days: The first day I will work upper body, the next day lower body. Again, work abs every day to help strengthen the core. Doing some healthy cardio means a good 15 minutes of elevated heart rate. There is plenty of evidence to support the notion that 15 minutes of cardio daily has profound impact on heart health.

Don’t worry about trying to spend an hour on a treadmill; the added benefit is minimal and may actually work against you.There are approximately 260 muscles in the body. So, why just work on seven, and why these seven? Well, it’s all about getting the most bang for your effort. When exercising, it’s best to work on large muscle groups. It’s as if you are fine-tuning a regular car engine as opposed to an engine in a toy boat. The larger the muscle, the more metabolic benefit, and the bigger the payoff when it comes to weight maintenance. The Simple 7 group consists of the fewest number of muscle groups one has to work on to achieve maximum benefit in an exercise routine. You can exercise with more or less, but if you attack these particular muscles, then you will achieve maximum benefit. Also, it’s important to realize that the body is a balanced machine, and you must work the lower with the upper, and the back with the front. The seven muscle groups provide total balance in an easy way.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU WORK OUT?
How much you work out depends on your schedule, but I recommend three to five times a week. I work out daily, but I incorporate tremendous variety into my routine for a number of reasons. One reason is to always keep it interesting. Another reason is to move the stress around the body. You don’t want to repeat the same exercise every day, because that will wear on the joints, bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments.

I generally recommend splitting up the week. For those of you who can only work out three days a week, which I consider the minimum, either rotate Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Or you can do Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. This allows one day in between for rest. This rest time gives the body an opportunity to grow and repair from the damage caused by exercise. Within those three days, you can rotate exercises, so Monday would be upper body and abs, Wednesday, lower body and abs, then Friday, upper body and abs again. The following Monday, you could rotate so that Monday is lower body and abs, Wednesday is upper body and abs, and then Friday is lower body and abs again.

This allows that necessary rest time between exercises for optimal muscle health. Three days a week is the basic minimum routine. On each day, the workouts should be split between cardio and resistance: 30 minutes of each is perfect. The cardio exercises should be rotated as well, so that Monday is the treadmill, Wednesday is the bike, and Friday is the elliptical. This again allows variety so that you’re not bored, and it spreads the stress around the body’s tissues so as to avoid overuse injuries that are so common.

If you prefer to exercise more, then five or even six days a week is recommended. With more days, you can split up your workouts more. For example, Monday, instead of just doing upper body, you do very specific upper body such as chest and biceps with abs. Remember, abs are done every day to strengthen your core. Then Tuesday you could do specific lower body such as quads, calves and abs. Going on to Wednesday, you’re back to upper body so that you’re doing upper back, triceps and abs; Thursday, hamstrings and abs. Then Friday you can repeat your Monday workout so that you’ve come full circle and have given your body ample time to rest. This is the best workout for the individual who does not have time to spend two hours in the gym every day.

The cardio exercise should be done after your strength workout. I prefer this for a couple of reasons. First, you will not be as tired for your strength training, for which it is important to be well rested. A second reason is sweat. After running on a treadmill or stair stepper for 30 minutes, your body’s sweat and salts are coming out of your pores, which makes for a more challenging weight workout. The bar may be slipping from your grasp; you’ll be sliding around in the machines, and so forth. So try to do weights first, then cardio. The only reason I recommend some people start with cardio is that those individuals are very tight and tell me that their muscles are cold in the morning. For these people, I think cardio beforehand may actually improve their workouts. It tends to make them more limber and gets the blood circulating around the body.

Remember: 10% is Genetics, 10% is FITNESS and 80% is NUTRITION. Go to Rosie.Herbalhub.com to find out more about great Cellular Nutrition
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