My Fitness Program

Now that I understand that exercise is responsible for only 20% of body composition (with food being the 80%), I've scaled back the amount and types of my (admittedly not very consistent workout routines) that have started and stopped over the years.

My week consists of the below 3 milestones, which can be completed in any order and as I feel the energy to perform them - just so long as I make sure to get them all in during the 7 day period:

Move Slowly / Play / Rest - 3 to 5 hours per week

• Moving Slowly simply means moving (walking, hiking, biking, etc) at 55% to 75% of your max heart rate (easy pace) for 3-5 hours per week. It can be done all at once on a long Saturday hike or can be broken up into blocks along the week. Walking from the farthest parking space to the door counts The key is movement, not miles or speed.
• Playing is just that, throwing the frisbee, football, etc around, playing tag with the children, snowboarding, etc. Make time for it as play is an important (and mostly forgotten as adults) aspect of human interaction.
• Rest - probably the easiest one for the already tired population... I rested on the beach yesterday for a few hours in the sun.

Lift Heavy Things - 2 times a week
No gym, no olympic weights in the garage, no equipment necessary except for a way to do pull-ups and chin-ups. Each of the 4 movements use body weight only and are designed to be full body, full motion movements that mimic real life. I don't isolate any individual muscles during these workouts.

• Pull-ups - Target for men is 12 unassisted, I'm at 6 and then I drop a leg to a stool for 10-12 more
• Push ups - Target for men is 50 standard push-ups although when just beginning: its acceptable to start out in standard position for as many as you can do, move to an incline by putting your arms on a chair or even drop to knees to get the 50
• Squats -Target for men is 50 squats (butt just at or slightly below the knees)
• Planks - 1 minute:30 seconds straight, 45 seconds each side. (If you do them properly and engage your core, they really suck)

Sprint Once in Awhile - Once each week to 10 days
I tend to do them every Sunday, or sometimes Saturday which means I'm sprinting one time each 7 days. 6 sprints at 50 yards each with plenty of recovery time to catch your breath in between. The key here is all out maximum effort for a brief period of time. When starting out, jogging to faster jogging is fine. For some folks, walking 50 yrds just might be an all out effort... I take a few warm up runs at 50 yrds with some bursts of full speed mingled with running. I also run barefoot if on the grass or sand and in Vibram Five Fingers elsewhere.

That's it. No grueling 10 mile runs. No hour long spin classes. No wasting away life at the treadmill, no 'chronic cardio' or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) from overexertion at the gym.

Yesterday was Labor Day. We went to the beach where we were able to get multiple milestones in during our 4 hours watching the children play: We moved slowly by walking the beach for an hour, sprinted, played, rest, and got adequate sunshine. Oh yeah, I also got in a cold water plunge as this lake is runoff from snow-capped mountains All in all it was an incredible day - 'fitness and exercise' has never been so enjoyable nor provided the type of results that we're seeing.

I also don't have a chair at my office anymore but use an Ergotron stand up workstation hooked to my desk. Counting my 20 minute drive to work each way, I think I only sit for ~2 hours a day.

 

Definitely more vigorous than my routine.

Drag myself off the couch and walk to the kitchen for another beer...

 

Lots of simple stuff helps too. I park as far away from the entrance to a store as possible to force myself to walk further