Fitness, Exercise, Movement you name it will look into it.

My Exercise Program

Exercise Step 1

     Last time we went over some very broad regions and talked about exercise in the past and the present, now lets talk about the future. Some of this information I’m sure you've heard before, some is probably new in this context and some of it may be brand new regardless. Last month I went over some of my background, in addition to explaining that I am not a professional Exercise or Sports coach. While I have exercised more years in my life than I haven't, that just makes me an experienced beginner.

      However a very good friend of mine who IS a certified body and fitness coach, specializes in the Body Groove system was explaining, over Thanksgiving dinner no less, what her view of one of the key ingredients to fitness and good health is, she explained that it not really a secret, but it doesn’t really fit into the TV/Couch lifestyle that so many of us may have adapted of late. In her view, its all about MOVEMENT, she further explained that the underlying theme of her system is that it keeps you moving, constantly. I recently finished a great book called “Living with a Seal” that talks about the author who hired a USN Seal to move in with him and train him. On their first workout together SEAL performed a 6 mile run, but his difference was that every mile he would stop, drop and perform 20 push ups. As a matter of fact even though they started in a private full service gym every morning, SEAL never actually went near the “workout equipment.”

Turns out SEAL was a big fan of ‘Dynamic’ Tension, even though he never referred to Charles Atlas directly. When questioned about his aversion to hardware his response was simply, “What happens when you're out in the middle of nowhere and you need a workout, but none of you fancy machines are around?” and we wont go into his thoughts about resistance bands, were trying to keep this G rated.

Now lets say that you;re in a situation similar to mine. You have kept a decent weight, you eat pretty well, and your health in general seems pretty middle of the road and then something BIG happens. Big is a relative term and can cover anything from you break a hip, or 2, and need 3 months of bed rest,OR a new medication is discovered to have great results in your situation, but as a side effect yu eat everything in reach. Now several months ;later you're overweight, out of shape and you hurt in places you haven't injured yet, what now?

     In the positive column however you have discovered the single pivotal source for your weight gain. For example, here’s my TWO and they are progressive and related. First my Primary put me on a prescription regimen to help strengthen my bones that had several side effects and he went over them carefully, most of which I knew, however there was one that was so very obvious I guess he never felt the need to mention it: With all the good side effects will come the idea that you will eat anything placed in front of you, so be careful what you make available. It took me gaining 50lbs in 3 months before I figured it out. So I discussed it with my Dr. and knowing that it was doing what we wanted it to do I did NOT want to stop the script, so instead I just exerted massive willpower and slashed my daily intake.

The second item I discovered while losing that initial weight gain. I honestly thought I was doing everything I could I was exercising I was taking the right supplements, but I finally reached a point where nothing would move the needle. Out of frustration I talked to my Dr about it and she put me on a food journal for a month. That's where you write down everything that goes in your mouth as well as whats in it (nutritional information) and finally WHEN youre eating it. I have always been taught that breakfast is your most important meal, and making it your largest meal is not a bad idea. Now I didn’t go that far, BUT I did increase my calorie intake, after all I was working 40+ hours a week, and volunteering at my sons school and trying to be a decent husband. In order to accomplish that it meant getting UP at 0430, after all I started work at 0845, so I….was stuffing myself with calories and then not really requiring much of myself for the next n4 hours, other than my exercising…

When I understood THAT, I changed it, instead of having (for example) 800 calories that consisted of a dixie cup of sugar, I went to 399 calories that had almost zero sugar, and didn’t change anything else in my day. I dropped another 12lbs over the next few months.

     Now about that exercise, after all that's kind of what were here for, you can exercise at home, in your garage, in a park, at the YMCA or even at a local college or HS if they're close enough. But as my fitness coach says you HAVE To do it, and if you're NOT moving every chance you get you're probably costing yourself something. Knowing that we as a community have certain unique situations that can hinder that idea, lets understand were starting ut slow. VERY slow. Soon we will have a video walking you through these exercises, but I promise I will do everything MI can to explain them completely here.

     Sometimes I hurt so bad that just the idea of moving is enough to discourage me, I know, Ive had so much inflammation in my knees (because of what I was eating) that I would think long and hard about how much I really “needed” to go to the bathroom in the office. It was a LONG way from my desk. Today I wake up get my shoes on and take the dogs out, were back inside typically by 0840, at which point I have my breakfast, at 0555 my sons alarm will go off and if he doesn't turn it off andf get in the shower by 0615 I get up and wake him. . When I come in with the dogs I will sit down on the coach with my food and my drink and watch TV fo a minute. My wife joined me one day when she was off work, and observed that my sons alarm went off before I had even opened my drink. “Yeah sometimes my hands hurt so bad I have to wait” So the idea of actually exercising is hard to swallow, BUT I can start my warm ups. Here’s step one:

     I’m a huge fan of Martial Arts and with my 3^rd hip replacement I had to face the fact that I would never execute another round house side strike again, in my life. That's when I stopped practicing Tae Kwon Do and started researching Tai Chi. Coincidentally the Grand Master of the Buddhist temple in our area was the focus of a Documentary and it explained that his wife and daughter both teach at the temple. His wife teaches Tai Chi and some of the Kung Fu regimen and then their daughter and husband do the rest. So my wife and I joined for a year, financial reasons are why I stopped, so part of my plan for this year is to return, But during my time researching and learning Tai Chi I learned SO many amazing things, some of which are not related to Tai Chi and that I will cover here.

1. My breathing is HORRIBLE: No really when I first started working out, by myself, I developed a horrid habit of holding my breath during a lift and release. My thory being that filling my lungs and then forcing my body to work from JUST that would help expand the environments in which I was safe. One day I noticed that I held my breath when I “ran” as well. You know what happens when you take a huge breath and run 6 blocks? Well at the end of block 1 you start getting light headed. Block 3 you start having little things flying in front of your vision and by block 6 if you havent passed out yet, you're panting so hard you cant catch you breath...not good. So I asked some of my Doctors and my Sifu about breathing and FOR ME it boils down to s simple set of movements. The following I do whenever I need to calm down or ‘take a minute’ today I can perform this standing in the yard waiting for the docs, but in the beginning I couldn’t do anything but focus on this:

A) Take a deep breath in, this is the kind of breath you probably haven't taken since you were a id, but this is not just about filling your lungs, but you fill your entire body cavity until your stomach feels full. You will also notice that inhaling properly will not leave you gasping for breath when you're done. Breath IN through your mouth, at the same time count to four.

B) Hold your breath, in your lungs and central cavity and count, at a normal pace to seven. In the beginning you will probably find your counts speeding up towards seven, but with practice you will EASILY make it to 8 or 12 or 20….stop at 7.

C) Almost done, now comes the exhale, but you want to do this in a very specific way, which we will explain. Breathe out through your nose, but not all in one sudden explosive exhale, instead breathe out slowly and cleanly and count to eight. Again in the beginning you will undoubtedly make that last minute gasp out and find that you're still only on six, but guess what you get to PRACTICE.

     How can I be so sure? Because its part of the exercise,see this is all about doing this no less than TEN times in a row, without any errors, because everything,e you make a mistake, you run out of breath at 6, you start over. If you're like me you will find yourself performing this 20-30 times the first few days. When I hurt my shoulder the last time I discovered I had developed a mild form of claustrophobia, rather than take drugs for it, I practice my breathing techniques like this one, over and over during the MRI exam until its over. I avoid the anxiety and don’t move around. I do still ask for an “open MRI machine” and that absolutely helps, but without my breathing I would be sedated just to get IN the machine. I wasn't always like this, used to have zero issues, but somewhere along the line my brain had enough.

My pain management doctor states that you can only hold one thought in your mind at a time. So if im focused on getting 10 clean breaths in and out, anxiety cant creep in, works every single time.

Dr. Gillian Biggers PhD in Early Childhood development and Psychology has been a dear friend and workout partner for over 40 years and is in far better shape than I am, and much better shape than most women with ½ her experience. She is a certified Trainer for the Body Groove health regimen. Feel free to leave a comment if you'd like to know more about her, her programs or anything we've discussed here.