First!
Exercise is not about losing weight.It’s about making you feel better in your body. If you want to feel better, get moving. Sitting is the new smoking. Think about it. How about this for an idea: don’t exercise, just move, whenever you can.
Second!
If the idea of doing exercise fills you with anything but interest, start tapping right now!
There are three kinds of exercise I want you to test for. You may test “yes” for all three. If you’re not confident with testing yet, just read through this page, and try something. Assuming you don’t have a medical issue, none of these will hurt you! If you do have medical issues, please get your doc on board!
- High intensity training (HIT)
- Chi enhancement exercise
- Strength training
High intensity training is something you can do on your own, anywhere, any time. You don’t need any special to do it, except perhaps the timer on your phone. Here are the details: do a few stretches, then, for 20 seconds (hence the timer!), do whatever it takes to pump your heart rate up high enough that you have trouble talking while you are doing whatever it is you are doing (jumping, running in place, rapid sit ups, you get the idea!), then, for at least 10 seconds, rest and do nothing, then do the 20 seconds of push again, perhaps with another muscle set, for a total of 4 minutes. If you really want to change your body more quickly, do it more than once a day – but not more than 4 minutes each time.
What I like about this is that the basis is that you do whatever it takes to get your heart rate up high. For some of my clients, that would mean walking around the outside of their house without stopping, or walking up one flight of stairs without stopping. If that is you right now, just start your timer, and walk hard (for you!) for 20 seconds, and then stop for 10, and walk hard for another 20 seconds. That may be enough for you right now, try it again later today! Tomorrow, do it again! In a few days, you may see that you are walking farther in 20 seconds, even if you are still gasping a little. That’s the point! Keep going! And then tap for your fears.
If chi enhancement is a yes, then please look for rehab yoga, tai chi or chi gong classes. Find a teacher that feels right to you, and then plan to stick with it for a good while. If you do not have access to a good teacher, check out videos until you find one that fits.
The third type is strength training. There is amazing research on strength training. It does not matter how old you are, strength training will help. A group of 80 year olds got muscle back by starting strength training.
Another important piece of research: diabetes is more affected by strength training than food changes! Obviously doing both will make fabulous changes for you, but I hope you get the idea, this is very important. You can do strength training at the gym or at home. You probably already know which one will be easier for you to start. For some, going to the gym and having someone walk you through how to start is the best. For others, it is easier to pick a muscle group and stress it for a bit, then moving to the next muscle group and stressing it. For example, you could start by sitting on the couch, putting your feet under the heavy coffee table, and trying to lift the table, just enough to feel the muscles contract in your stomach. Hold for 20 seconds, rest 20 seconds, do it again. And again. Then pick another muscle to stress. After you’ve done this, give yourself a day off, and do it again. Repeat! It will not take too long before you see results.
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