OVER 40 EXERCISE
DAY SIX of the Over 40 and Ripped Program:
When it comes to exercise, the most I am going to do at this point in the program is to give some great starter hints for beginners, and elaborate much more on these concepts in future emails. The topic is such a large one, I can go on for countless subchapters explaining the science and techniques that I have been reading about for decades, that have held up over the long term offering really decent results. For now, if I can offer some brief but great tips, it is my hope it will be enough to enable you to at the very least begin to get motivated, in hopes of helping you avoid injury first and foremost, then go into much more advanced concepts later on.
I would encourage you to study what I’m offering regardless of your level of experience with exercise. A lot of what is learned originates from “Bro Science”…that “science” that is talked about at the gym amongst gym members as each discovers what works and what does not. This often eventually gets coupled with some real studies at some point, and we have ourselves techniques that can be relied upon with much greater confidence.
The very first place I will start is on STRETCHING:
The latest-greatest for a long time now has been the idea that PRE exercise stretching is a “NO.” Static stretching, whereby we are remaining still and extending our reach into a stretch, has been shown to somewhat tear muscle tissue to the point of our disadvantage once we’re prepared to exercise. Exercise itself, especially that of weight or resistance band exercise, both of which I will elaborate on in the near future, requires that we tear down muscle tissue in an effort to then rebuild it. This is the nature of toning and building muscle. This applies to both men and women, and this muscle we will develop to either tone the female body, or tone and build the male body to each gender’s preference, will in turn *burn fat on a 24/7 basis EVEN AT REST*.
Light warm ups are instead what is desired. This would be akin to “dynamic” stretching, as compared to “static.” This can amount to simply mimicking the motion we are about to engage in, or any movement resembling it, just to get the body or a specific area of the body warmed up as compared to instantly shocked into a demand it is not ready for. NOT warming up is a great way to almost ensure an injury of some sort, and is one of the most common ways injuries happen.
That said, some general get-started ideas for obtaining results with exercise:
The “Hi/Lo/Hi/Lo” tactic I’ve used is a modified version of high intensity interval training. If I was excessively overweight and wanted the fastest results possible, I may engage in these ten-minute-maximum sessions up to three times a day.
I used to get razzed by my friends that such a short duration of work would never give me the results I wanted…and yet it was, consistently.
If there was no other place to start, I would consider this technique a great one, and if I were starting all over again from square one, I would implement this tactic as a first into my exercise routine as a starting staple towards my goals. It can be modified and reduced over time as results came, such as starting with doing this up to three times in one day, and braking it down to just once every-other day or a mere one to two times per week once our goals are achieved in the near future.
Here’s Morgan demonstrating the Hi/Lo/Hi/Lo on an eliptical. The way I would do my warm-up for this exercise is to get on the machine and simply put it at a very low setting for a minute or two of warm-up. Then I would do as follows:
Doesn’t Morgan look amazing for an over-40 lady?!? (Joking)…she’s just a kid. 😉 She is a friend of the family and volunteered to provide video for me, so “Thank You Morgan.” 🙂
After understanding how the Hi/Lo/Hi/Lo works, I would focus on doing two to three muscle groups worth of resistance exercise (using the weights and/or bands) on an every-other-day basis (much more on this coming in future emails), so that I was doing a specific body part once to twice per week maximum (generally doing 2 to 3 muscle groups will lead to hitting that group just once per week). This gives each muscle group worked at least several days, and up to a week, to recuperate and rebuild.
AN ASIDE FOR THE LADIES: Please do not worry yourself about the notion that your muscles may get too big. They will not, unless you resort to using steroids or other hormone-enhancing drugs.
The necessity for *some form* of muscle development is a key component to shaping our bodies and maintaining a low fat content. Reread that as many times as it takes to make sure you grasp it as a near-100% fact. Muscle is “THE” fat-burning furnace of your body. And again, to you ladies out there, the vast majority of slim, fit and toned women with low body fat levels have those low levels due to the musculature of their bodies (which also happen to give them that amazing form). I had to emphasize this again, because of the stigma that still exists surrounding women and muscles. The fact is, these women have muscles! And as you an see, they do not look like female versions of the Incredible Hulk. They have feminine, attractive bodies.
Here’s an example of what a woman looks like who hits the weights and/or resistance bands hard…note that the level of intensity she puts into her workouts could build huge muscles on men doing the same; but that it instead just gives her a very feminine, toned, low-fat look:
Please ladies: No fears about hitting the weights! You’ll be glad you did. I’ll cover much more on that soon, AND will give you tactics that will give you a similar look to hers with what I’m betting is about half the work (or less) she puts in!
A day’s rest should be taken after a day of weight or band resistance exercise. If I’m doing certain muscle groups on Monday, I am not doing *any* weights or bands on Tuesday. The one exception is doing one muscle group, such as my easiest one, the day after a weight/band day just to give myself a little less work the day before. The general rule however is to always give yourself at least one day’s rest off of weights/bands so your body can recover.
And in my opinion, doing a full-body weight or band resistance exercise every other day (all muscle groups every other day) is overworking and outright counterproductive, as well as likely to cause injury.
If you do not have access to an eliptical machine as Morgan demonstrates in the video, the Hi/Lo/Hi/Lo tactic can be applied to absolutely any form of physical activity that enables you to be aggressive and stressing for a phase to near-exhaustion, then toning the activity down just enough to recover your breath and re-engage the high-intensity activity again. Enough to complete several cycles worth over a five to ten minute period.
Use running or biking as a simple example. Start out walking to warm up the body for a couple minutes, then break into an all-out sprint for as long as you can…as fast and hard as you can…then bring it back down to a jog or walk to catch your breath. Lather, rinse, repeat…for about another five to ten minutes. That’s IT!
The science is solid on this form of exercise, with a huge side benefit of not causing our metabolism to adjust itself down as readily from an hour to an hour and a half of lower intensity aerobics, the kind that are advertised in so many places and continue to be used in so many classes around the world. Personally, I would much rather get the rush from a very short five to ten minute session, then spend an hour of my day that I don’t have doing something (one of the few things) that I consider “boring” (I am the kind of person who never gets bored) only to achieve LESSER results. There is no competition for me. The Hi/Lo/Hi/Lo kicks old-school cardio’s ass.
Many more videos coming soon will give on-going exercise tips to show you what I’ve done to fine-tune things a great deal over the past many many years including specific tactics and really great injury recovery methods.
STILL TO COME: HUGE info on using CARBS and SUGARS. Ya won’t want to miss these little gems!
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