The Hottest New Exercise?
copyright 2002 by Greg Landry, M.S.
Now wait a minute! I know what you're thinking.
You're thinking I'm going to write about some
new fancy smancy exercise that will magically
tone you up and trim you down in five minutes
a day. Right? :)
Folks, give it up - caloric expenditure and
metabolic changes are directly related to your
exertion. There are no magical new exercises
or exercise gadgets! You've just got to do the
work. There are no short cuts!
But, I do want to talk about a long forgotten
"exercise" - good old hard work! Here's what
led me to thinking about this. I'm helping a
friend tear down an old shed and we're working
pretty hard at it! He's a daily exerciser, yet
he's constantly complaining about having to do
this work and always looking for ways to make
it easier, like moving the wood with a truck
rather than carrying it 50 yards.
My point in all this is that we have had to
develop "artificial activity" (exercise)
because most people's daily lives no longer
require enough physical work. But, the ironic
thing is that we will avoid as much work as
possible not realizing that it's "exercise".
for example, my yard is big enough that many
people would use a riding lawn mower to cut
the grass. But wouldn't it be silly for me
to ride a lawn mower rather than push one
and then go out and walk or jog for
exercise?
I think we've forgotten the best "exercise" of
all, the original "exercise", - work! Think
about ways that you incorporate physical
work into your daily life. plant a garden with
a shovel instead of a tiller, rake your leaves,
push your lawn mower, sweep, swing a hammer,
cut some wood with a hand saw, chop with an
ax rather than a chain saw, walk as many places
as you can, park way out in the parking lot at
Wal Mart and hike to the store, climb ten
flights of stairs, etc. Look for the difficult
way to do things - the way the requires the
most physical effort!
Also, don't forget that you can get physical
activity "playing". Get out and run around
with your kids, play some full court
basketball, play tag, ride your bike, dance,
etc.
We obviously don't have the need to do as much
work as our ancestors did, but do as much as
you can and then supplement it with "artificial
work" - exercise!
Author and exercise physiologist, Greg Landry,
offers FREE weight loss success stories and his
"Fast, Healthy Weight Loss" newsletter at his site:
Fitness
copyright 2002 by Greg Landry, M.S.
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