FIX THE SEVEN BIGGEST FITNESS MISTAKES

You’ve heard me talk about the FOUR FITNESS PRINCIPLES to change your body from the thrifty, storage-oriented type 2 metabolism to the leaner, fitter metabolic health you deserve. Do you have a copy of The Blood Code: Unlock the secrets of your metabolism?    If yes, check out Step Five, but if you need the summary, I Wrote about The FOUR Metabolic Fitness Recovery here

But in the more recent years, I have some other rules I import to all of my fitness activities and I know this will help you too. Here are my BIG 7 FITNESS RULES

1 – Get enough sleep. Strenuous workouts cause your body to break down and the recovery process occurs overnight. You release growth hormone and build lean muscle while asleep, not when awake, at work or drinking coffee. Eight hours, this is not a cliché, it is a rule in my life.

2 – Form, Form, Form. I am over fifty, and like most of us, I have accumulated twists and injuries over the years. My posture and form are critical during workouts to creating a body that is strong, metabolically active and remarkably resistant to injury.

3 – Don’t settle for a plateau. Every six months to a year, I am typically in a rut with the same exercises in my repertoire. To add resistance and create an effective workout over time, find a coach, workout buddy or trainer to help you creatively strengthen where you are weakest.

4 – Sometimes the workout is the wrong thing to do. There are times when rest is the best medicine. This occurs when I stack too many high-intensity-interval activities into a week. To me, a long walk makes a great “day off”. Walking and very short workouts, like 7 minutes or less, are good day-off activities.

5 Have a plan. Even if it is made up in the minutes prior to my workout, I prep equipment, to move from one exercise to the other with little break in between. I plan on covering the whole body in most workouts. Four exercises in a row will cover a push exercise, a pull, a squat or lunge, and core. Trainers are a great resource—Jeff Eckhouse and I created a few perfect metabolic recovery workouts here: 

6 – Have a warm up. I, like many of you, sit when working at a keyboard. In the past, I used to mock the need for a warmup, but now I assure at least 5 minutes of any activity to “get the blood flowing” before introducing my first exercise.

7 – No comparisons – No excuses. Yvon Chouinard said “To do good, you actually have to do something.” This is my adage when it comes to fitness and metabolic health. Even 7 minutes is something.