1. Invest more energy.
Movement is a vital nutrient to your body, just as much as food, water, nerve supply or oxygen. Your genes and every cell in your body expect energy expenditure because our ancestors were extremely active. If they didn’t stay active and functional, then they did not survive - plain and simple. Your ancestors would have laughed hysterically at the concept of running on a treadmill to burn calories. Unfortunately, times are very different and most people are relatively motionless for the majority of the day. In order to adapt you need to spend more energy to maintain health.
• Action: Add activity everywhere in your life, everyday. It’s now Summer, and the excuse of “it’s too hot outside” doesn’t work anymore. Park your car farther away. Take the stairs. Walk every chance you get. Pick up the dog poop or rotting leaves in your yard, clean the gutters, rake the grass, etc.
• Action: Add activity everywhere in your life, everyday. It’s now Summer, and the excuse of “it’s too hot outside” doesn’t work anymore. Park your car farther away. Take the stairs. Walk every chance you get. Pick up the dog poop or rotting leaves in your yard, clean the gutters, rake the grass, etc.
2. Time for summer training.
This is not a choice! There is no pill, shot, or magic bullet that can replace a little sweat equity. If you don’t like it, then you can blame your ancestors who were forced to perform daily physical activities just to ensure their survival. Exercise is a supplement to your already active life, and it is not used as a treatment for being out of shape or sick. You can either be in the pain of investing in some exercise or you can be in the pain of getting weak, sick, and broken down. The choice is yours.
• Action: Exercise daily for 30+ minutes. Make the time to walk, run, bike, join a softball league, check out Crossfit, do some zumba at the YMCA, etc. Do whatever moves you. This is also a great way to meet new people and revisit something that you used to love doing.
• Action: Exercise daily for 30+ minutes. Make the time to walk, run, bike, join a softball league, check out Crossfit, do some zumba at the YMCA, etc. Do whatever moves you. This is also a great way to meet new people and revisit something that you used to love doing.
3. Ramp-up your intensity.
Intensity is the key to gaining maximal health benefits and energy expenditure. Here’s one case where efficiency is not a good thing. More steps and more movements are what you’re after. If you don’t have a sweat on when you’re cleaning the bathroom, you’re slacking! Whether you’re cleaning your bathroom or simply walking the dog, if you are not breaking a sweat, then you are not getting the maximized benefits you can achieve from your efforts. If you can carry on a conversation comfortably while running or working out, your heart is probably not working any harder than it did when you watched one of the Yankees (;-)) hit a homerun from the comfort of your couch. Obviously, if you are putting the effort in, why not get the most out of it by going outside and picking up a bat and ball yourself? When you ramp up the intensity of your activity, you boost the set-point of your thermostat (AKA your metabolism), and your body torches calories even hours after you cool off.
• Action: Pick up the pace. We atrophy without stress, so make the half-hour that you dedicate to moving your body a sweaty one. Do some of your spring cleaning chores for time (as fast as you can). It’s in the stretch zone where the good stuff in life comes from - including exercise. 3-2-1-go!
• Action: Pick up the pace. We atrophy without stress, so make the half-hour that you dedicate to moving your body a sweaty one. Do some of your spring cleaning chores for time (as fast as you can). It’s in the stretch zone where the good stuff in life comes from - including exercise. 3-2-1-go!
4. Move like your ancestors did.
There are movements that mimic motor recruitment patterns that are found in everyday life. Others are somewhat unique to the gym. Squatting is standing from a seated position; deadlifting is picking any object off the ground. These are both functional movements. The bulk of isolation movements are non-functional (like calf-raises or pec-flies). Natural movement typically involves the movement of multiple joints for every activity. Leg extensions and bicep curls, for example, do not have equivalents in nature. The importance of functional movements is two-fold. First, the functional movements are mechanically sound and therefore safe, and second, they are the movements that elicit a high neuroendocrine response for building strength and improved fitness. Consider the loss of strength and functional movement is what puts people in nursing homes. Everyone is an athlete, so nobody is exempt.
• Action: Use functional movements in your daily exercise routine. Set up a consult time with one of the doctors to learn how to squat, do a pushup, or deadlift properly. Chop wood, fetch water, get on the floor and scrub, or go flip a tire down the street. Your neighbors will think you’re nuts, but after seeing your new beach muscles and energy, they’ll soon join you.
• Action: Use functional movements in your daily exercise routine. Set up a consult time with one of the doctors to learn how to squat, do a pushup, or deadlift properly. Chop wood, fetch water, get on the floor and scrub, or go flip a tire down the street. Your neighbors will think you’re nuts, but after seeing your new beach muscles and energy, they’ll soon join you.
5. Get your spine and nervous system checked regularly.
Once you add more activity to your life, exercise daily with more intensity, and include functional movements, your spine and nervous system will rejoice. You will experience a whole myriad of spinal and neurological health benefits, but some of the most important are the activation of your neuroendocrine response, stimulation of proprioception, and keeping your spinal discs healthy with micro-movements of the spine called imbibition. Here’s why each are important to you: i) When you activate the neuroendocrine response through physical stress, there is a release of natural hormones in the body. Some side effects are increased muscle mass, bone density, better vascular health, improved immune function, as well as hundreds of others. ii) The stimulation of tiny movement receptors in the spinal joints, called mechanoreceptors, sends positive body signals called proprioception to your brain and charges it like a battery. As a result you have improved memory, mood, energy, balance, sex drive, and all kinds of other health bonuses. Have you ever noticed that you feel great after exercising? This is part of the reason. iii) Your spinal discs have no blood supply of their own, so the only way that they stay healthy is by receiving oxygen and discarding toxins. This happens through the pumping action of the discs from movement and exercise called imbibition. But guess what? None of these health benefits are possible without proper joint mechanics and nerve function. Subluxations, or vertebrae jarred out of their healthy position, must be removed regularly to attain overall body health and optimal function.
• Action: Get adjusted regularly, and get your friends and family checked so they can experience 100% health and function, too!
• Action: Get adjusted regularly, and get your friends and family checked so they can experience 100% health and function, too!
6. Watch your posture.
Stand up straight, pull your shoulders back, stand on both feet, suck your gut in, and don’t slouch! Yeah, yeah, you’ve heard this a hundred times from your mom and your chiropractor. But do you listen? Maybe it’s time to own the consequences of what happens if you sit there with forward head posture sniffing the computer screen all day, or sit in your car with a toxic posture for two hours straight without a break. Your spine deteriorates, your nervous system becomes stressed, your body breaks down, and you get sick suffering.
• Action: Audit your work station: Keep your computer screen at eye level, sit with your butt to the back of your chair, and use a firm chair or a body ball to sit on. Check out www.postureminder.com – It’s a computer program that uses your webcam to monitor your posture and reminds you when you’ve been sitting with bad posture for a while.
• Action: Sit with perfect posture in your car and adjust the mirrors accordingly that way you’ll need perfect posture to navigate the road.
• Action: If you don’t know the life extension exercises yet, ask your doctor about them and use them hourly!!
• Action: Audit your work station: Keep your computer screen at eye level, sit with your butt to the back of your chair, and use a firm chair or a body ball to sit on. Check out www.postureminder.com – It’s a computer program that uses your webcam to monitor your posture and reminds you when you’ve been sitting with bad posture for a while.
• Action: Sit with perfect posture in your car and adjust the mirrors accordingly that way you’ll need perfect posture to navigate the road.
• Action: If you don’t know the life extension exercises yet, ask your doctor about them and use them hourly!!
7. Rest and repair.
One thing piles on the next, the stress mounts, you’re on over-drive and lack of sleep for too long, and BAM – you’re down for the count for a few days. This is your body’s way of telling you that you’ve pushed past your limits, and it forces you to shut down for a while. You should never wait for your body to force you to take a break. Rest and repair is NOT a luxury – it is a NECESSITY.
• Action: Get to bed before midnight and get the sleep you need. You should never have to wake up to an alarm clock. If you need an alarm to wake up, chances are that your body isn’t getting enough sleep.
• Action: Take 15 minute naps during the day. Shut down for a few minutes during the day. You might be surprised how energized you feel from a mini-nap.
• Action: Schedule a vacation. Vacations are healthy… take one before your body forces you to.
• Action: Get to bed before midnight and get the sleep you need. You should never have to wake up to an alarm clock. If you need an alarm to wake up, chances are that your body isn’t getting enough sleep.
• Action: Take 15 minute naps during the day. Shut down for a few minutes during the day. You might be surprised how energized you feel from a mini-nap.
• Action: Schedule a vacation. Vacations are healthy… take one before your body forces you to.
