If you’re over the age of 40, exercise is absolutely essential. But if you follow the recommendations of most doctors and fitness gurus, you’re probably exercising too hard.
Yup! That’s right!
You Don’t Need To Exercise As Hard As You’ve Been Told
I’ve heard doctors say that you should get as much exercise as you can — up to one hour of intense exercise per day. For most people, that’s ridiculous! This is definitely a case where you can get too much of a good
thing.
In fact, I’m convinced that most people despise exercise because they’re trying to follow this kind of advice. Their bodies intuitively know that they shouldn’t work that hard.
Unfortunately, if these people don’t listen to their bodies, an overly intensive exercise program could seriously harm them or even kill them.
Most people who exercise, especially those who find it hard to control their weight, are actually exercising too hard for their level of fitness and genetics. Often they rely on calculated heart rate formulas that are way off when it comes to those who are too overweight or too thin. If you use these formulas to calculate where your exercise level should be, you’re either hurting yourself or wasting much if not all of your effort.
The Reason?
These formulas are all based solely on age, and fail to take your genetics, sex, body build, and level of fitness into consideration. If you’ve done any research on exercise, you’ve probably seen these formulas in exercise books or magazines. If you have consulted a trainer, odds are that he or she has used these very same formulas to advise you. I’ve seen some that are so complicated, they require a spreadsheet to figure them out.
I recently came across a study to determine the optimum exercise levels for a random group of 20 people. Oxygen uptake technology was used to measure the effectiveness of their exercise. The results were shocking! It was determined that the exercise formulas are useless at best. But most of the time, they are actually dangerous!
Of the 20 patients studied, following the conventional exercise formulas was harmful for 18 of them. That means that if you extrapolate the results that the exercise formulas could damage the health of 90% of the population!
On the other hand, the exercise formulas had the other two patients exercising at levels that were too low for them. Although the exercise wouldn’t hurt them, they were wasting their valuable exercise time.
How Can You Exercise Smart?
How can you make sure that you’re getting enough exercise without going too far and hurting yourself? It’s really very simple. All you have to do is listen to your body. It will give you signals that you’re going too
far. A good clue is to not exercise beyond the level of exertion that you’re at.
When you are You Exercising too hard to Be Healthy you will start becoming noticeably breathless. Simply exercise at a rate just lower than that. For example, let’s say you’re on the treadmill or eliptical. Start gradually increasing your speed. At some point, you will start huffing and puffing. At this point, determine your heart rate. The best way to do this is to buy a heart rate monitor, which you can find for less than $50 (some treadmills have them built in). But you can also just count your pulse. This heart rate will serve as the high end limit of your exercise. Then multiply that number by .6 to determine the heart rate that will serve as the low-end limit of your exercise. So if your maximum heart rate is 150, your minimum heart rate is 90. Once you have this figured out, you’re ready to exercise efficiently.
Your Optimal Exercise Regimen — It’s Easy!
The best form of exercise is to alternate intervals of exercise between your high heart rate and your low heart rate. Fitness experts call this interval training.
1) A typical interval training session begins by exercising hard enough to raise your heart rate up to your low-end limit for 4 minutes. This might be quite easy for you. In fact, it may just take a brisk walk rather than hard exercise.
2) Then, after four minutes, start exercising hard enough to bring your heart rate up to your upper limit, and leave it there for one minute.
3) After one minute.at your upper zone, go as hard as you can for 30 seconds. At the end of that 30 seconds, your heart will be pounding and you will be very breathless.
4) Then, after this “anaerobic burst,” dramatically decrease the intensity of exercise so that your heart rate comes down to your lower limit again.
Continue repeating the cycle of four minutes of lower limit exercise followed by one minute of upper limit exercise and 30 seconds of maximum effort for a 20 to 30 minute exercise period. Plan your schedule so that you do this about three to four times a week.
Harder Is Not Better!
Many people erroneously think that the only good form of exercise is hard and fast. That may be a great way to win a race, but it’s not the best way to stay healthy. Unless you’re a competitive athlete, it’s very important to always alternate between heart rates. Of course, as you begin to get healthier, you will find that your exercise heart rates may begin to change. As they do, you can safely tolerate greater levels of exertion. Even though it’s easier than exercising hard, exercising smart is much more effective. It’s also healthier, not to mention more fun!
This is a great formula for exercise and one you can tailor to your level of fitness. Use it for health!
Yours in Love and Health
Dr. Jack Belitz DC
PS February is Give the gift of Health Month
All month long if you have a loved one who is in need of help, you can send them in for a free exam, and consultation. Maybe they have back pain or headaches, maybe stomach pains or shortness of breath. Possibly they are taking steroids or anti depressants and want to find a way to get off those drugs. A computerized exam and consultation will often tell us what we need to know and what is possible for them . The gift of health is one of the most loving and powerful ways to help a loved one out.
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