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Aerobic Training
Othon Molina, Ph.d.c, LMT
First of all I want to make it clear that this information is not to diagnose nor prescribe, and it should not take the place of the advice of your doctor. This is intended to complement conventional medicine, not to replace it. Consult with your doctor before starting any kind of nutritional or physical program.
To start your aerobic training program;
Consider first setting your goals, make sure they are realistic. Start easy, be kind to yourself. Many of us start out joining a gym and saying to ourselves now we will train every day! Six out of ten people going to gyms drop out in the first month. ThatÕs a staggering 60% of the people. The numbers are just as high that buy exercise equipment and donÕt use it. So you need several key ingredients, not necessarily in order of importance, most importantly because you want to be successful, in your training.
1. Desire or motivation, thatÕs from a positive source.
2. Energy; This means you need to start eating better. No matter where you are in nutrition we can always get better (see nutrition for details). You need nutrients as well. Vitamins, power foods, high technology nutrition is available you just need to make the effort.
3. Set your goals and make them realistic.
4. Make the time; create a loose schedule, with alternatives, if need be.
5. Stick to it. Remember consistency, is more important than intensity.
6. Understand the basics of biomechanics, even for walking (posture, the muscles, the stretching, the meditation and imagery) to get the most from your efforts.
7. If you are in a family or relationship, you need support and encouragement not grief for leaving them alone so often. Get them to start with you (ThatÕs really tough sometimes). ItÕs always easier if your partner is doing a similar program with you, or on her own.
8. If you smoke and want to quit, start making an effort to cut down. Use coltsfoot an herb you can buy in health food store and smoke it. It will cleanse your lungs, and help you to get off tobacco. You will find the desire will slowly fade away as you get healthier. JUST DO IT! QUIT
9. If you eat more than a plate at a sitting, just start, eating less, limit snacks to fruit.
10. Maybe itÕs some of the food you eat. Cut down on fats, sugar, liquor, canned food, and packaged food full of hidden fats and sugars. IÕm sure you already know the stuff, that doesnÕt really help your body, as most of us have more fat than our body needs. As you add lean muscle to the body the metabolism gets better and the whole system works more efficient.
11. Eat more of the good stuff, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole foods, grains, etc.
12. Drink more water, read more books, and have more fun in your life. Why not?
Of course there is more, but this is a great start. Remember when you work holistically you have a better chance at success. You will be working on several levels of health, at the same time.
A few days you make it, then you miss one, and eventually another. I know and IÕm a professional trainer, it happens to me. Life is always changing, thatÕs the beauty. That does not mean we give up, just go with the flow. Set some realistic goals, and know that you will miss some days. Make it up again, and donÕt beat yourself up about it.
The majority of people drop out of their health programs, mainly because it is very hard to get motivated. There are a few myths about motivation for working out, that knowledge will do it, or maybe we feel guilty because we are overweight, but the key is if you donÕt have the energy none of that will matter. Its really about metabolism, once you get older if you donÕt exercise, your own body will start to think you donÕt need the hormones and energy. Basically it starts to shut down. When you do exercise itÕs hard and your body feel like itÕs really stress and not very pleasant in fact it hurts.
To really increase the energy level and have your body and brain work with you, you need to take the nutrients to get your body working again. The food you eat needs to be better and higher servings of natural fruits and vegetables. If you are eating junky food there is no way your body will be able to have more energy (See nutrition for more detail) to keep on your training program.
You need to consider antioxidants, vitamins and some form of either DHEA (Growth hormone) you canÕt take very much of this as it turns to testosterone and you need medical advice. There is also IGF1 (Insulin like growth factor) a precursor to human growth hormone, itÕs deer antler extract and very effective for improving your metabolism (see web page for more information about this and other nutrients)
Most doctors, donÕt recommend very high doses of either of these nutrients, get professional advice. A small amount can do wonders for the human body. These nutrients increase metabolism, build muscle and help the body to get anabolic (Building and repair). This is the key to not be catabolic (destructive down cycle) any longer. If you can get Oasis products, they are good. As they are doing the research necessary to take the vitamin and nutrient business to its highest level. Your success in a fitness program is dependent on your nutrition program and vice versa.
The minimum goal for an aerobic activity is five times a week for over thirty minutes. Ideally even up to sixty minutes if you are only going to walk. Not three times a week like we have heard. That doesnÕt mean it has to be all running or all walking. You can play tennis, golf and walk brisk, take a nice walk with the family. Families that train together stay together. Play ball with the kids, the key for this to be effective and considered an aerobic activity, you need to do it over a half hour. By then you start to burn some fat. As you increase this ability to burn some fat your brain says hey! This person is active, they arenÕt a couch patato; letÕs improve its metabolism.
As you exercise you also decrease your appetite so you eat less. This is when your body will start to create more hormones, endorphins, and pain-reducing hormones called antefolins, to help you feel better. Remember you have to get over the hump before you feel good from exercise. Then weight is not a big problem as you will slowly and naturally level off to your natural weight. This all helps to reduce your stress as well as helping you feel more successful and some enhanced self-esteem. Balancing your body this way also, helps reduce the risk of heart disease as well as diabetes.
It helps you create more of HDL, which is the good cholesterol, and reduce the LDL & VLDL the bad cholesterol. A moderate exercise program, always helps you sleep better as well, it also enhances digestion, and the lymphatic system circulation (cleanser of the body tissues). All this well help your body to work at the ultimate level. Remember this is going to take time. Diets or any fast way, will not last. We now by now that when you diet, or change anything too drastic, your body goes into shock. Then the next time you eat, it holds on to it. You gain all the weight back. So best to not focus on the weight, when your body is operating at its optimal level, you will be at your correct weight. It all depends on your body type anyway, you could still be heavy and be incredibly fit and healthy. IsnÕt that the purpose, of all this.
A sample for the very beginning fitness enthusiast
1Day one, take an easy twenty-minute walk, at a nice brisk pace. (Walk ten minutes from your starting point and turn around) Find a nice place to walk away from tons of cars if your neighborhood is good great. If not take the extra time to drive to a park, beach, pasture or the country. No sense huffing and puffing more carbon monoxide. Living in LA is like smoking ten cigarettes every hour (Cherniscki). You need to be able to keep up a conversation. Because if you are in oxygen debt you wonÕt burn calories as well (FAT) in fact you will burn sugar and muscle, actually loosing out on the benefits. Upon returning, spend about ten or fifteen minutes stretching (see pages).
Consistency is more important than intensity, if you donÕt do it regularly the brain thinks well this body doesnÕt need much energy we can store all this extra calories in the thighs or butt. But if you start with some regular activity, just every day stuff can contribute the message to the brain saying hey we need more energy, the brain begins to think this body is active we need to increase the metabolism. Every two hours do something for at least 10 minutes. Then your brain will, take you to a higher metabolic level. As you increase your exercise program you will have more by products called free radicals. More the reason for us to work with nutrition as well, because you need to increase the anti-oxidants to keep the body healthy.
2Day two just stretch, ten to fifteen minutesÉIf you are near water, maybe swim for ten fifteen minutes.
3Day three walk briskly for twenty-five minutes. Stretch for fifteen, or if you have it down it could only take ten minutes to get a good stretch.
4Day four swim or stretch for at least twenty minutes and ten respectively.
5Day five you might miss oneÉ
6Day six walk a good deal faster, for twenty-five minutes. If you feel tight walking stop after you have broke into a light sweat and stretch for ten minutes, the legs and gluteus muscles, (see lower legs).
7Day seven, if you didnÕt miss one an easy walk, swim or stretch, maybe something with family or friends. If you got sore at all then rest, and just stretch.
Continue this program, until you can walk twenty-five minutes without loosing your breath at all. This can take two weeks to four weeks for some people. If it takes you longer stay with twenty-five minutes for two months, then move into the next level. It can take most people up to six but no more.
2weeks
If within two weeks your body serves you well and you can proceed with the next level.
We will have an easy day and a hard day for the rest of training; if you miss an easy day donÕt worry about it, if you miss a hard day, switch the next training to a hard one.
Continue with the following day with a brisk walk for thirty minutes. Now we will start to burn some fat. From now on you workouts should last about forty-five minutes, if you are walking. So if you give yourself an hour for the works you can work it into your day.
As you get stronger, your easy days can get to be like your hard days when you first started. Walking can increase to five times per week within the first few months depending on your body. You have to listen, and pay attention. If you can get the advice from a certified personal trainer, please do. It never hurts to have more information. At this level itÕs not as critical as to when we start the strengthening program. Using weights or strengthening exercises.
6 or 8weeks
Most bodies will start to enjoy working out from here on. After six or eight weeks start your strength-training program, once again listen to your body. If you donÕt feel quite ready at six take eight, whatÕs the rush you have your whole life ahead of you. Here is where I recommend the use of a certified personal trainer.
You can go two directions with this addition, with many levels of intensity depending on your body and your abilities. (See laws of training).
If you are able and willing to run, for your particular goals. You may now start to run, and start with easy jogging for twenty minutes, every other day, and weight training every other day. Running at this time should be at least three days a week, the same for weight training, however there is some evidence that we could get by with two days of weight training (Solid whole body sessions) and if you want to do that itÕs ok. With one day of rest, the day you rest could be a very easy workout either stretching or family fun.
For weight training; we need to start just as easy, many of us think that weight training will build large muscles. We see all these big body builders, and although some of us admire the dedication it takes to build that kind of body. This is not necessarily true. It all depends on how you train, how much you train, your age as well as the system of training.
We know that by stressing any muscle naturally (exercises) or unnaturally (weights) see law of irritation and adaptability. Basically this means the body will adapt to irritation. Adapting can mean size of muscle as well as functioning of the muscle. Adapting also can mean the heart and lungs adapting to more stress and improving the functioning of this system (aerobic conditioning). The irritation could be considered the stress exerted on the body (Heart and Lungs) by running or walking more and increasing time and duration. Then we consider strength in the muscles by more and more progressive exertion (making the body work progressively harder). By doing more and more pushups, or other body type exercises. Now in using weight training for increasing strength, as well as burning more calories we would have to build by, lifting more times and more weight.
There is another way to use weight training to develop both strength as well as duration or endurance. This system works on the premise that using progressively more weight builds size and strength. Whereas starting with more weight and progressively reducing the weight and longer repetitions we build endurance in the muscle and not bulk.
ItÕs also widely known now that for older women weight or resistance training is beneficial to stave off osteoporosis.
A sample for the very beginning weight-training enthusiast
This chapter is not to take the place of any medical advice. I recommend that you speak to your doctor before undertaking any kind of exercise program, especially weight training. See a professional, it will be a good investment in your body. This is just a very general training sample not intended to be used without help from a professional. It is intended to give you a glimpse of the process of basic weight training. My approach is the it needs to be specifically designed for each individual, in my opinion see structural balance as well as other books by Molina.
1Day one, take the time to get educated or be prepared to get professional help.
Sample training program for maintenance this is sometimes called Pyramiding down:
Basically means reducing the weight as compared to pyramiding up which is increasing the weight.
1. Get an analysis of your body. This means find out what muscles are out of balance and where your weaknesses are. This could save you time as well as a lot of pain down the road.
2. Always start with a warm up of some kind (Stationary bike, treadmill, aerobic class), get your body sweating and warm.
3. Stretch before, if you have the time, if not for sure stretch at the end.
4. Always start with the biggest muscle groups first and work your way down. Work each muscle completely then go on to the next one. Never go back and forth to different muscles, as you will not get the most from your workout. Exhaust each muscle group then move on to the next one.
5. Start with about 75 to 80% of your maximum weight, something you can comfortably do between 10 and 12 repetitions. Then progressively drop ten pound each set. Do as many repetitions as you can in each set. As you drop the weight you increase the repetitions. This is less dangerous as you get more and more exhausted, you have less and less weight on. There is less chance of injury as you work with less weight. I have found that this way, you build endurance type of strength and not as much bulk. It helps trim your body as well as it burns fat and creates more muscle.
6. For the upper body, start with the back muscles latissimus, trappezius, and shoulders, pectoralis group (chest). Lat pulldowns, rowing machine (pullies) Bent over rows, reverse flies etc. Once again my philosophy is that the chest muscles are always stronger than the back, in the shoulder area that is. Especially around the shoulder joint. So I concentrate extra on the back area compared to the pectoralis group. Militaty press, and less bench presses, there should be twice as many exercises done for the back of the shoulder muscles than pecs.
7. Work towards the arms, biceps and triceps. Using dumbbells, and or bicep bar (curved bar for arm work). I prefer free weights to machines, as they tend to build all the support and peripheral stabilizing muscles. The machines do the supporting and thus you only exercise the major muscle groups. Machines are generally safer, if you are working out alone, and ok, for basic maintenance or to start building a base.
8. Get a buddy or join a gym where you can get help, eventually you want to be using free weights. They are the best and itÕs important to have the knowledge as well as use proper form, for reducing injuries as well as better results.
9. For the lower body; start with the gluteus group (Butt muscles), either in a squat machine, or a squatting rack. Continue with the quadriceps, hamstrings and claves. You can do lounges for all around leg muscle and stability.
10. This workout can be done moderately in one full hour. The key is not to rest between each set, move from one to the other. If you sit there and talk it could take hours. Remember we have to build a base, or we are inviting injury. I work out my abdominal muscles in between the upper body and the lower body. Make sure you know how to proper crunchies, and do the Rectus Abdominals, Transverse as well as both Obliques. Do as many as you can do without pulling on your neck, and double that number, proceed to do the same with each group.
Go easy even some personal trainers may take you over the edge, you have nothing to prove, if you canÕt walk the next day it was too much.
Some soreness is bound to be there, you may not get it the next day as bad as the following day (48 hours after). I recommend that you stretch for twenty minutes after weight lifting of any kind. Swimming or running the next day may be tough, however it is better to keep active, than not, so go easy. If you canÕt run after the weight training, it was too much. If the soreness lasts more than four or five days you tore some muscle fibers, RICE (See injuries) may help; thatÕs Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. This will be especially beneficial if you have specific painful sites. If you hurt all over maybe the Jacuzzi will help or some massage. However in my experience not much will help including aspirin, it will just take some time.
2Day two;
Try and stretch, ten to fifteen minutes after a warm upÉIf you are near water, maybe swim for ten fifteen minutes if you are sore (lucky we live Hawaii). If itÕs your day to run or walk and you can do your aerobic training then go for it!
3Day three;
If you make the time itÕs great to warm up the body before weight training. Get on a bike for ten or fifteen hard minutes and break into a sweat. ItÕs ideal to do a bit of stretching before, but far more important at the end.
Start your routine:
Same as day one.
4Day four swim or do your aerobic activity respectively.
5Day five, you might miss oneÉor could be sore.
Get a massage that may be beneficial, however if you are sore and you get a deep tissue massage it will hurt. Soak in a hot tub, and get a massage anyway itÕs going to help regardless of the pain. I think this is where that ŌNo pain no gain Ō expression comes in. Be careful, pain that does not go away after a couple of weeks may need some medical attention.
4-6-weeks
Within four or six weeks, if your body serves you well, you can proceed with the next level. This is the time of adaptability, where your body will adapt to itÕs stress. If yours has not adapted stay in this workout for six or if necessary eight weeks.
Using weights for strengthening the body requires dedication. In our experience consistency is more important than intensity. That means if you miss a day donÕt try to make it up all the next time. Four weeks may be the hump for many people. By this time your body is not getting as sore, as it was the first few days.
You have built a base and your body can continue to grow. You may start at more weight, by now, you may also do a few more repetitions in each set. This could increase the time somewhat. However if you increase the intensity you could still do it in an hour. You may be sweating and breathing hard. Once again, monitor your breathing if you are gasping for breath you are working a bit too hard to get the most out of your workout. You can get an aerobic workout with weights in this method. Many people think weight training is only anaerobic (without oxygen) as compared to aerobic (with oxygen). ItÕs this combination in the workout that gives you the endurance.
8weeks
Now training becomes part of your routine. If you can stay with it this long you will be at the point where you start to see some of the benefits. You may be stronger, sooner but at this time your body starts to look different. Your energy level will be better, and your weight may increase. WHAT ! yes donÕt be surprised if your weight goes up just a bit. Or maybe you havenÕt lost any at all. Since muscle weighs more than fat, as you build muscle, and loose fat you may gain some weight.
DonÕt worry, itÕs at this point that the weight you are carrying looks a lot better than the old weight you where carrying around. Eventually you will loose excess weight if you where over weight before. The holistic approach will help you to find your ideal weight. Depending on your body type, family traits, eating habits etc. On and onÉkeep training
For more detailed information on how the body works see sports massage and advanced training programs.
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