Hello Dear One!
Ok!
Summer is coming, and whether you’re intent on creating some bigger change within a tighter timeline – OR you simply want to get more bang for your buck when you ARE working out…
Check out this approach.
As someone who’s realizing she really ONLY speaks to the over 40 crowd (myself included) – I thought to highlight an approach to exercise that might serve you all your live long days.
HIGHER INTENSITY LOWER IMPACT.
If you’d like to reduce your waistline FASTER – creating a feeling of challenge is useful.
The biggest thing to remember is that HARDER is NOT ALWAYS BETTER.
Just doing something as fast, and as difficultly as possible can end up being FOOLISH as it can cause cortisol to spike (stress hormone – raises blood sugar, and insulin, potentially breaks muscle down), reinforce a sugar burning mode (get hungrier), AND often either make us super sore (keeping us away from exercise in general) or even get HURT.
The smartest way to approach this desire is to do exercises in a way that causes us more cardiovascular challenge while not actually being additionally more taxing on our joints and potentially muscles.
THIS is the way to work out as we get older.
You don’t need to be relegated to arm chair yoga (which can be GREAT for certain populations) or never feel the satisfaction (and endorphin high) that WORKING in a way that’s CHALLENGING affords.
So how do we do this?
We choose things that are NATURALLY hard, and modulate our speed/rest.
A few great examples of this would be instead of running/jogging to increase challenge and caloric output – WALK but increase the incline of the treadmill.
Make the PITCH of the surface create more challenge while actually going SLOWER and working HARDER.
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It’s SO much easier to control exactly how something is impacting our body when we go SLOWER and potentially REST LONGER.
This is also why using the stair climber is a great move.You could do this with increasing the resistance on an exercise bike (or road/mountain bike), or increasing the incline AND resistance on an elliptical machine.
** You can even recreate a bit of challenge as a rule in life by making a point to consistently take stairs TWO at a time vs one.
Any sort of calisthenics (for resistance training) can also fit this bill.
Push-ups and pull-ups are HARD!
And you don’t have to do many to find that out.
Or to start to create progress!
Plus these are exercises that can be modified up the wazoo (push-ups on the knees, Australian pull-ups = feet still on ground+++).
Additionally you could also add pulses/holds at the bottom of your lunges/squats to create SO much more challenge without adding more weight or going faster.
And for ALL of these moves that feel tough – you can up the intensity (but not the impact) by simply sticking with a shorter (but reasonable) rest period, and then jump right back into it.
Lastly I thought to bring up the QUEEN of HIGH INTENSITY LOW IMPACT fitness equipment…
The KETTLEBELL.
Kettlebells are the QUINTESSENTIAL tool for jacking up our heart rate with ease while not overly taxing our muscles/joints.
They make us WORK HARD in a manageable way, and then we REST briefly.
WORK HARD and then REST.
They’re a tool I believe everyone should consider using for life as they’re SO PRACTICAL for a MILLION reasons (size, versatility, create a pliable body, generate strength, FAST conditioning, help with balance, awareness in space, while making you better at ANY other activity/sport/endeavor).
Plus they won’t stress the crap out of your joints (if you’re using them correctly!!!) EVER.
(Check out this short workout I made for a 2 session Kettlebell Intro client who simply wanted to learn the basics.)
So if you want to either speed up the results you’re creating:
Choose HIGH INTENSITY LOW IMPACT EXERCISES.
AND if you want to make sure your body feels comfy and stays injury free for all your live long years:
Choose HIGH INTENSITY LOW IMPACT EXERCISES.
If you need any additional guidance/training/expert kettlebell instruction to get going with this miraculous tool – please be in touch, check out a program, or set up a call to talk it out.
And LASTLY – if you REALLY want to lose some weight before summer is officially here (and keep losing following) please check out Fat Burning PRO.
Diet will ALWAYS be #1 in the weight loss effort so if that’s REALLY your desire – please start here.
To getting you clearer on how the body works, and how to make it work for you.
xox, M