You Either Grow or Regress

In the spring we plant and watch our garden grow over the summer, in the fall we take out the plants that have died and prepare the soil for the next year. Life’s a cycle of growth and decline. Exercise is the chief signaller to make growth outweigh decline. Laziness hastens deterioration and stifles growth.

Exercise and mood share corresponding chemistry. Our lifestyle choices and exercise choices send billions of messages to and from your brain to make you smarter, stronger and sexier, even as we age.  We know that 30 minutes a day of exercise is needed for seniors to maintain a healthy life, so instead of considering it as exercise, think of that 30 minutes a day as food for growth, agility, independence, looks and youthfulness.

Inactivity may feel good at first, but it makes me feel tired all day, every day. I know that exercise can seem tiring for a short time if done properly. But then I think it energizes you the rest of the day. Activity is in harmony with nature. Activity and exercise promote growth. Inactivity runs counter to nature. You can be lazy, tired and simply surviving—or active, energetic, and alive. It’s your choice.

And the best news? It takes much less effort to keep your gains than it did to achieve them. The brain can’t always accept that, but it’s the truth!

Genetically speaking, we are still cavepeople, that means we are hard-wired to move seven days a week and to be fit enough to cope with our environment. We are not used to having a lot of food or doing nothing for long periods of time. Abundance and idleness are foreign to our makeup. No matter what you think of exercise, we were still designed to hunt and gather. It’s embedded in makeup, but our ancestors rested more than you probably think.

To keep exercise fun and interesting, and to maximize results, do a variety of different exercises and intensities. And when activity is fun, it becomes addictive. Besides, not exercising is simply not an option if you want to be independent, well, pain-free, energetic and good looking.

If you have not been exercising always check with your medical provider before starting any program. Here is an idea, train like a caveman. Emulate hunting and gathering. Hunting was essentially high-intensity interval training (HIIT). It builds muscle and alertness.

Do HIIT 1-3 days a week, depending on your intensity. If you train to muscle failure, you may only need to do one set per week of each weight training exercise, because it takes a week or even more for your muscles to fully recover. And you may only need to do five exercises in each session; chest press, leg press, overhead press, seated row and pulldowns.

The secret is long, slow reps, each taking a MINIMUM of ten seconds. Five or more seconds on the positive and the same on the negative for 5-10 reps. This avoids injury and maximizes muscle and strength growth. Keep it up until you can’t push or pull anymore.

Total muscle failure on each set with as little time as possible between sets. It’s not easy, but the trade-off is maximum muscle growth in 12 minutes a week. For more detailed information, get a copy of Body by Science written by Doug McGuff and John Little.

The other half of the equation is gathering simulated activity or long, slow exercise which also burns fat and builds endurance. This could be anything that has you breathing hard while still being able to carry on a conversation for 45 minutes or so.

If you’re at 60-65% of your maximum heart rate, you’re in a good zone. This best life-extending range may be vigorous exercise, but not exhausting for most of your training sessions. Make sure you break a sweat and breathe hard. If not, you’re missing the biggest benefits.

We need to exercise 30 minutes a day as we get older because we start to break down. Some think the older you get, the harder it is to exercise. It really isn’t, and the rewards are over the top.