Your Body's Manual

I might be a little biased, being a personal trainer and all, but I am excited to get to my favorite part of health...EXERCISE. Our bodies are amazing machines. I do not know of any machines that actually get stronger, more efficient and better looking with proper use. But your body does. It was built to be used. But not used in just any way, but proper, efficient, smart exercise can do just that...improve your machine.

My great-grandfather used to say, "I don't need exercise, I WORK." That was definitely true at the time he said it. But we live in a different day and age. Much different than the millions and billions of humans that have lived before us. Sitting at a desk to make a living is a relatively new idea for humans. And thanks to the invention of cars and other transportation there is little-to-no need to walk anywhere other than down the aisles of your favorite grocery store. Heck, even washing your clothes 100 years ago was a workout and is now a chore that merely takes the turn of a dial and some marginal bending.

Why is this a problem? It's great that our lives are easier, more time to spend on the internet right? (JOKING!) Seriously though, OUR BODIES NEED EXERCISE. If your body came with a manual for peak performance, here would be the abbreviated version:

1. Take care of your heart. Get your heart rate up for at least 30-60 minutes a day, more if you can. How do you know if you heart is pumping fast enough? If you can talk in uninterrupted discourses you are not working out hard enough. You want to be able to speak, but in short sentences. Or, better yet, perform my favorite cardio exercise, HIIT (high intensity interval training.)
2. Stretch your tight muscles.
3. Give your body only Premium Fuel. (Remember the Basics.) Give it less than the best and you will get less than the best performance. Period.
4. Challenge your body. Every time you exercise go longer, harder or try something new. You body is smarter than you think. It is built to be efficient and adapts quickly to the activities you perform on a regular basis.
5. Keep your muscles and bones strong by lifting heavy things. This means WEIGHT LIFTING or body weight exercises like pull-ups, push-ups, hip thrusts, etc.
6. Move more. Walk when you can, take the stairs, play with your kids, garden, rake leaves, get out and enjoy nature.
7. Get 8 hours of sleep a night. You body recuperates and heals during sleep. Not only that, but in a recent study people who got just 80 minuets less sleep than those who got 8 hours consumed 500+ calories more per day. Keep that up over a week and you've already gained a pound. Continue that for a year and you're looking at a hefty 50 lbs gain in fat! Here's a link to that study.
8. Get a little vitamin D a day in the form of sun. In the case of inclement weather, take a vitamin D supplement.
9. Take an Omega 3 fish oil supplement daily. Make sure you buy pharmaceutical grade fish oil from wild caught fish so as to ensure that mercury and other contaminants are not present.