So, what’s the best way to get exercise?
Today (finally!) we are going to talk about exercise, aka “working out.” There are lots of ways to workout, and as a matter of fact it’s hard to look around the fitness world without seeing someone who’s selling the latest version of “get shredded quick” or “7 minute abs” or whatever else gets views these days.
There are gyms on every corner, tons of fitness apps and celebrity endorsements, and of course countless YouTubers and Instagram Influencers trying to get you to buy their programs. Now some of these are legit and may work very well, but you certainly can’t do all of them. Most people that I talk to just want to get in better shape, lose some weight, and hopefully look and feel better as a result. So, what’s the best way to workout?
Well some might say the best form of exercise is the one that you’ll stick with. There’s some truth to this, although I’d add that you should enjoy it and it should make you feel good. But, just because you’ll stick with something doesn’t mean it’s going to give you the best possible results.
Here’s are just a few of the “workout” methods that I’ve tried in recent years:
Do you know which of these worked?
All of them.
Seriously, I got great results from all of them. Now you have to understand that I love exercise. I exercise almost every day, and I get very annoyed when I cannot. I’ve also been exercising my entire life and have been studying exercise and performance for almost 30 years.
Side Note: Parents, this is a great reason to be a model for your children. I grew up watching my dad lift weights regularly and play basketball several times a week, while my mom played tennis almost every day. When I was old enough I joined in, and I probably developed my interest in physical performance by reading dad’s “Muscle & Fitness” magazines. If your kids watch you spend most of your time on Facebook or mindlessly watching stupid TV shows, that’s what they will do as well. Your choice.
Now I understand that not everyone is like me, and most people just want to look and feel better in the least amount of time possible. Well I’ve got some good news for you, it’s completely doable!
As we’ve explained before, Americans are working out more than ever, but yet we’re the fattest we’ve ever been in the history of our nation. Something’s clearly not right. We’ll dig more into the why over our next several posts, but for starters you absolutely must get your nutrition right.
If you’re new to our blog, please start with our first post titled You Are What You Ate and work your way through each post to understand the problem with our modern food system and to learn how to get your diet right (For a list, go here). You can exercise all you want, but if you continue to dump toxic seed oils, etc into your body you will never get the results that you’re looking for.
Second, you must get your sleep dialed in. We are chronically “under-slept” as a nation, and all of the magic from exercise happens during recovery. If you’re not fueling properly to nourish your body AND not sleeping properly to allow your body to rest and repair, you will never optimize your results We’ll cover sleep in a later post, so stay tuned for that.
But, if you do those two things to start and then workout in an appropriate manner, you can get great bang for your “buck” and be very efficient with your exercise program, provided you avoid the common mistakes that most people make. We’ll cover those next week.