Healthy Life Prescription 101

Suggested Exercise Prescription for the New Year

Here we are at the start of another year, and I know that everyone has decided that this is the year that they will finally make permanent changes in their lives concerning their health, right? And, this year will be different because you finally have everything in place. The kids have their schedules set, you have planned your meals, and you even have a good exercise buddy to set off the New Year with a bang. Accountability is everything!

So, what is missing? What are the key ingredients to making and keeping those life changes that will resonate with good results the entire year and for years to come?

Hold on and don’t fret. I have your first prescription for the new year.

The Prescription is Exercise

Before starting any exercise program, it is essential to implement a good stretching protocol. A lot of people are unaware that stretching IS a form of physical exercise. Specific muscles or tendons (or muscle group) are deliberately flexed or stretched to improve the muscles’ felt elasticity and achieve comfortable muscle tone. The result is a feeling of increased muscle control, flexibility, and range of motion. This can make great contributions to increasing muscle output during exercise; especially strength training.

How to Stretch:

Start with stretching, every day prior to performing a single exercise. Whichever muscles you want to use that day, stretch them first. For a 20-second interval, hold with light, slow stretching is best as you take the muscle to its end range (the place where you feel the most resistance within a comfortable range). Three-to-four intervals of 20 seconds should do nicely. You can easily find videos of stretches online, along with exercises for each muscle group.

Next comes the Strength Training:

As you know. I am a heavy proponent of packing on pounds of muscle to shave off pounds of fat. Most strength-training workouts burn only a modest number of calories compared to aerobic activities. However, increasing the intensity of your strength training program will pay great dividends in the long run. Half an hour of moderate weightlifting burns about 112 calories if you weigh 155 pounds, and 133 calories if you’re 185 pounds, per the Harvard Medical School.

In contrast, vigorous weightlifting burns 223 calories for a 155-pound person and 266 calories for a 185-pound person. ‘What is vigorous weight training,’ you ask? Basically, performing strength training with multiple joints with higher impact and less time interval rest breaks. Example: Squat hops, with should presses. (You can look it up online.)

Weighty Alternatives:

A half-hour of body-weight exercises like pushups, dips, and pullups burn 167 calories if you weigh 155 pounds, and 200 calories if you weigh 185 pounds. Perform these at a more vigorous intensity (less rest intervals with added weights) and you can burn 298 calories at 155 pounds and 355 calories at 185 pounds.

Keys to results? Heavier Weights:

Lifting weights just five-to-ten percent heavier than the ones you currently use may help you burn 500-to-600 more calories per strength training session. Heavier weights with which you can perform only six-to-eight repetitions are a better option than light weights with which you can perform 12-to-15 repetitions. Using heavier weights boosts your metabolism more post-workout than using light weights.

Start off with three sets of 15-20 repetitions with low weight. This will build muscle quickly and decrease the risk of injury. Then, gradually increase the weight over time and do less reps (8-10) while increasing sets (3-5). On a weekly basis, it is good to do arms one day, chest back and shoulders another, and then legs one day.

Over a five-day period, try arms, chest back and shoulders two days a week and legs one day, for people trying to build muscle and redefine their bodies. For those trying to lose weight, try arms, chest, back, and shoulders one day a week and legs two times and week, along with a mix of cardio activity (45-60) on the same days.

And there you have it–the prescription you need for healthy success. Hope this helps. Keep the focus!