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In fitness, as in war, you want to be
on the offensive, not the defensive and this means that
rather than reacting to maladies as they occur, far better
to be in good general physical condition; preventive
maintenance is preferable to remedial effort every time. One
general rule of thumb I use is energy is the basic coin of
the fitness realm and without it is damned difficult to
mount any kind of serious fitness effort.
To obtain energy to power through workouts is the first
order of business: if you are tired all the time, exhausted
by life and unable to get it together physically or
psychologically, I would suggest two immediate lifestyle
changes -- cut back on the amount of food and begin walking
every morning. Overeating is an energy-sapping culprit. Too
many calories, particularly the wrong kind, the type that
cause insulin to spike or the type of nutrient that converts
easily to body fat, will drain energy faster then leaving
the car door open all night and keeping the lights on. Early
morning walking, particularly done out of doors, is
invigorating. Plus early AM power walking elevates the basal
metabolic rate. The rate at which the body oxidizes calories
is kicked up by cardio in general and most particularly by
cardio done on an empty stomach.
Another trick of the trade is to have a cup of coffee or a
caffeine-laced tea before the cardio walk. Caffeine on an
empty stomach taken in combination with exercise accelerates
the mobilization of trans-fatty acids. After an all-night
sleep/fast the body is low on glycogen, the emulsified form
of carbohydrate, when aerobic activity is performed the body
will burned stored body fat to fuel the cardio activity. If
you ever travel to a hardcore bodybuilding gym early in the
morning you’ll see all the hulking bodybuilders performing
cardio. They are there to take advantage of this particular
physiological anomaly and burn off body fat via
pre-breakfast cardio.
In addition, hitting an aerobic-style exercise session
before breakfast elevates to metabolism for hours after the
conclusion of the session and elevating the heart rate in a
systematic fashion improves heart and lung functionality and
food digestion. Perhaps the strongest rationale for early
morning cardio is that by doing it 1st thing it GETS DONE!
Life has a way of throwing obstacles galore in our path as
the day’s events unfold and by hitting a walk around the
neighborhood 1st thing, daily events and cumulative fatigue
will not derail the session. Start with a comfortable walk
at a comfortable pace and add one minute per session. If you
power walk five times a week and start off with a 10-minute
session, at the end of a month the session will be up to
30-minutes.
At that point, 30 minutes five times weekly, keep the
frequency and the duration and consciously seek to increase
the intensity, i.e. walk faster. This creeping
incrementalism eases you into the game. In conjunction with
the walking, cut back on the caloric intake. After calories
are reduced, clean up the food selection. Again all this
flows together in a loose momentum building effort. More
walking, early morning walking, fewer calories, better
selection…your energy will skyrocket and the effort will
unfold in a sane rational fashion. After a month or two, add
in some progressive resistance training and you’ll be shot
from a proverbial fitness cannon. The nice summer weather
makes early outdoor walking a joyful experience and when we
truly enjoy an activity we seek to repeat it –- this melding
of enthusiasm with exercise is the long-term secret to
fitness success.
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