Fit For Death

I hope by entitling this article the way I did I was able to get your attention.  As Summer begins this week, many of you will be motivated (or I will encourage you if you haven't already started) to go out and begin to exercise in an effort to help shed that excess weight you amassed over the Winter.  But before you go off and try to make up for lost time, I wanted to help you appreciate how you can actually hurt yourself and create less health by exercising.  This occurs of course when you begin to exercise in an inappropriate fashion.  For it has been seen that too many people, with good intentions, end up creating bad results that lead to injuries and poor health through exercise.  For there have been plenty of instances where an Elite Athlete suffers a life ending Heart Attack while training or competing.  Yet how is that possible with an Athlete who trains all the time?  This, and other injuries occur because very few people, including your trainers and athletes, seem to truly appreciate the importance of creating health while improving their fitness levels.  Watching Sports Center, like I do every morning, there is a commercial for a new channel on Direct TV called "Fit Channel" which is devoted to programs related to improving your fitness.  And I'm sure there are various guru types who lead the different programs offered who have great looking physiques and magnetic personalities and do everything they can to motivate you to exercise.  And ideally, this is a great idea.  Unfortunately, the concept of improving ones fitness level before developing a proper base of health could lead to serious health consequences.  As mentioned above, if one exercises too hard, and the body isn't healthy enough to support the effort, conditions such as a Heart Attack can occur.  This is because most people think of Fitness and Health as synonymous, or at least closely linked.  I'd like to help you appreciate the difference between the two, and then give you some pointers on how to Improve Your Health, While Increasing Your Fitness at the same time.

Fitness can be defined as "the ability to perform physical activity."  As long as you can complete the desired activity, you can be said to be physically fit.  The more you condition your body to perform the physical activity, the better your body will become at doing it.  This doesn't necessarily mean that you are now healthy because you can do the specific physical activity.  Health on the other hand can be defined as "a state of optimum physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being, and not merely the absence of sickness, infirmity, or symptoms."  And if you appreciate the definition, one can be quite healthy, yet be unable to perform some physical activity in an efficient manner. 

Picture someone who lifts weights all the time and has big bulging muscles.  Obviously that person is physically fit related to lifting weights because they lift weights all the time.  Now ask that same person to run 3 miles, and they aren't able to do it.  And you ask, why is that so?  It's simple.  The person's body is conditioned to lift the weights, as the body has been trained to do that activity.  Yet when you ask their body to perform a different activity, such as running 3 miles, the body is unable to because the body is not conditioned to do so.  Now, you could have the same person who lifts weights all the time and has big muscles, yet they eat crappy food, drink alcohol regularly, and maybe even smoke.  Or perhaps that person also participates in using performance enhancing drugs.  That is a person who obviously can lift the weights and has a great physique to show for it, yet their body really isn't healthy on the inside. 

Likewise, picture a person who eats organic food, drinks only the most natural spring water, and doesn't participate in putting anything into their body that isn't natural, and has a perfectly balanced blood chemistry.  One could say this person is quite healthy.  Then ask them to go out and run 3 or 4 flights of stairs and see that they are gasping for air at the top of the second flight.  This person has plenty of health, but no real fitness.  It becomes a question of balance.  But how should one create that balance?

If you truly want to get your body functioning in both a healthy manner and a more fit manner, you will have to do the following.  Begin by doing the physical activity that builds both health and fitness.  Ideally you would have wanted to have started this earlier then now, but it's never too late to begin.  The activity I'm writing about here of course is walking.  Walking as an exercise is an activity anyone can do, and it helps to build both.  You will want to walk on a daily basis for a minimum of 30 minutes, but more ideally 45 minutes to an hour.  Maybe you will have to start out doing it for only ten minutes or less due to poor health and fitness.  The point is, begin by getting used to the activity of walking on a flat surface.  Don't worry about trying too much too quickly, as you will set yourself back, rather than moving forward.  And as you feel your body improve, you can add more time first, rather than speed.  Speed is the last thing you should be considering when you first start.  I can't emphasize enough that you simply want to get the time in, which will translate to distance, and worry about the speed after you have established a good base.  This will usually take a good 6 to 12 weeks for people who are beginning.  And don't be down on yourself because you are beginning.  If done properly, you will improve faster and eliminate the need for soreness and injury.   

 Once you have accomplished doing the walking for a minimum of 30 minutes for at least 6 weeks, you'll want to now get an idea of how you are doing, and if you are building both health and fitness.  This is done by employing a heart rate monitor.  If you utilize a heart rate monitor during your walking activity, and pre-program it to monitor your specific heart rate zone (designed to help you create more health while building fitness), a funny thing will happen along the way.  You will actually lose weight.  That's right, you will start losing all the weight you could ever want.  All of this is explained in my audio program, "Strategies To Restore Your Health And Wellness Through Understanding Nutrition And Exercise."  In the program I outline specifics for determining your personal ideal heart rate zone, and how to feed the body so you can eat more and lose weight.  I also cover the reasons why you are fat, why people get infections, why you crave sugar, along with how to read a label properly and how to properly shop for foods. 

As offered before, I will be making my audio program available for anyone who wishes to purchase it at the introductory rate of $75.00 through the month of July.  But you must act fast.  As of August 1, 2008, the price will officially return to $90.00.  Appreciate that the cost for this program is the same as a 1/2 hour consultation, yet you will be getting over 4 hours of "Strategies To Restore Your Health And Wellness Through Understanding Nutrition And Exercise."  In this I will walk you through the necessities for determining your specific "Fat Burning Rate," as well as help you to understand how you will have to begin eating more if you want to maintain that weight loss.  And once you have that understanding, you can then not worry about exercising and causing yourself health problems.  No more soreness or exercise related injuries because you will have the new understanding of Improving Your Health While Creating More Fitness.

So if there is anything here that interested you and you would like to begin exercising your way to improved Health and Fitness, call the Office at (845) 561-BACK (2225) and tell her you'd like to purchase "The Real Deal: Strategies To Restore Your Health And Wellness Through Understanding Nutrition And Exercise."  Don't be Fit For Death!  Begin your Summer by starting to exercise the correct way, and start creating a new you.