Training For a Healthy Life

Fitness Training for a Healthy life

Hi again, if your reading this, I hope you enjoyed the last few instalments of having a Healthy life.

 I have had a busy day today, so I am writing this last part pretty late on.

Well, so far we have covered;

1. How to take control of your life.
2. Sleep For a Healthy Life.
3. Nutrition for a Healthy Life part A & B

So the final part in the Jigsaw is Training for a Healthy life.

Part 1.

As I have said in the last few instalments, that if you get your sleep and Nutrition right you will be 70-80% there, you will feel more energised and you will look and feel a lot better, without any training at all.

However, if you are going to put all the other stuff into place, then it would be silly not to stick the icing on the cake don’t you think?

When I am talking about training, I do not mean hours of hard cardio work or lifting massive amounts of weights on a daily basis, or having to splash out on Gym membership and Personal Trainers. Of course that is unless you want to.

I am talking about in the simplest form of just going for a brisk walk for 30-40 minutes a day, if you can find a few hills in that walk even better.  Just this simple act will give you another boost and make you feel even better.

But if you can, a little bit more effort will get you looking and feeling awesome and set you up for when you get older. 

Let’s look at the Human Body, it is an amazing machine and the way it adapts to its surroundings and the physical demands that you may place on it are incredible. We have evolved to be able to survive, that means we can walk, run, Lift things, climb things and fight things if we have to. The human body needs to be stimulated to keep it in shape to be able to do all those things.

Unfortunately in today’s high tech society, where manual labour is getting less and less, these stimuli seem to be waning too.  Our body was not designed to sit in a chair in an office all day and then get home and sit in a chair and have a remote control to do everything for us. In fact the most effort, many people have in their daily lives, is to walk to and from the car, switch off the lights and walk upstairs to bed at the end of the day. Unless you have kids of course, then there is more physical effort required, but that doesn’t last forever.

 NOW TO THE CRUX OF THE MATTER

If you do not put any physical demand on your body it will break down at some time, your muscles will Atrophy (waste away) Your Heart rate at rest will rise, meaning it has to beat more to get the blood around your body all day, your Metabolism will fall, so you will end up storing more fat. Your Arteries do not get the cleanup they need, to get rid of waste products. Your joints start to stiffen up, because they do not get lubricated by Synovial Fluid which is released into the joints when you are mobile. As you get older you will find it harder and harder to move around, because your strength is affected through your loss of muscle mass,  balance and stability. How many older people do you hear about falling over and breaking bones easily?  A lot of these problems can be avoided through a few simple strength exercises.

As I previously stated just the simple act of going for a walk will help you.  It is great for your Heart and Lungs, unfortunately it does very little for strengthening your muscles and this is where the problem lies when you get older. Especially for females who tend to suffer from Osteoporosis in later life.  If you had the choice of giving up 30-40 minutes of your day to do a bit of training or to see yourself in the future being in pain, not being able to get around very well or falling over whenever you became just slightly off balance in later life, I am sure the Training option would be a no brainer.

So what I am saying here is that using your bodyweight as resistance exercise is vital to you being mobile as you get older.

There are simple, easy to do movements that you need to practice 2 – 3 times per week, that will stave off the problems I have spoken about.  As you become more familiar with them, you may want to keep with them, or as you start to enjoy training and your body starts to adapt to its new imposed demands, you may want to advance your training a bit.  That is your choice of course and there is plenty of quality information out there, for you to be able to do that.

Worst case scenario:

You are at home, and wake up in the middle of the night; you have to get out of the house because it is on fire (normal size house with an upstairs and downstairs). You are upstairs, and find that ½ way down, the staircase has collapsed, and you only have the option to jump the gap. Do you have the Strength, right now, to nail the landing without really hurting yourself? Can you quickly get out of a downstairs window (Agility)? Could you drag your husband / wife through the house to get them out if they were unconscious through smoke inhalation?

 Well I hope this never happens to you, but I hope you get my point.

So I am not just talking old age problems, but possible disaster situations, that many people have had to deal with in their lives, and you can never say you will not meet with a demanding situation yourself at some time or other. By becoming physically active again, at least you can increase your chances of being able to cope with these sorts of situations.

What about the Kids and Grandchildren?

If you remain active you will be able to run around with your kids, for longer, and if they have kids when you are getting into old age, you will be able to have more physical input into their development, not only that, but you are setting standards for them to keep as well throughout their lives keeping them healthy and fit.

Isn’t the pay off for 30-40 minutes of being slightly uncomfortable doing some bodyweight strength training worth it??? I am sure it is.

I am not going to go into exercise programmes or the exercises you need to do in this Part 1.

Tomorrow I am going to give some simple movements that you can do 2 or 3 times per week that will improve your strength and mobility.  Also how to boost your power and really ramp up your calorie burning capabilities at rest.

I want you to know I am passionate about this subject and hate to see people just wasting away, young or old, when it only takes a little effort to make a great difference to their lives. So please put all the information that I have given you to use, just try it out, it’s free and you will see and feel a great difference in your daily life very quickly and you have nothing to lose. Well only fat and lethargy!!!

Have a great day!

Steve