Exercise Tips

1. Never do weight training exercises for more than 45 minutes at each session. This is the maximum time you should “overload” your central nervous system. If you go beyond this your body becomes overstressed and starts producing cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that shrinks your muscles and increases your body-fat. THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU WANTED; RIGHT?

2. When you do resistance training, you actually damage, create little tears in your muscle fibers. Growth in muscle size and strength occurs during recuperation, not during your training session. The body says “hey this guy is really putting a lot of stress on me, so let me prepare myself for the next session by becoming stronger.” SO GIVE YOUR BODY ENOUGH TIME TO RECUPERATE. THIS MEANS AT LEAST 48 HOURS BETWEEN TRAINING SESSIONS. If you don’t, you’ll be laying yourself open to the cortisol problem mentioned above.

3. Forget about what protein powder manufacturers are trying to push on you, i.e., before, during and after protein powder consumption. Don’t eat or drink any carbohydrates for at least one hour after your workout.

4. You should warm up for about 5 -10 minutes before you start lifting, so as to get your blood circulating and taking oxygen to your cells. I warm up on a rebounder (trampoline) for 7 minutes. Why? You ask. You not only warm up, but also get your lymphatic system to work on getting rid of all the metabolic waste in your body. The cardio vascular system has the heart to do the pumping, but the lymph system needs assistance, as there is no “pump”. Working against gravity (jumping on the rebounder) does this.

5. You have probably seen a lot of stretching going on before “bodybuilders” start working out in the gym. DON’T DO THIS, AS YOU WILL BECOME VOULNERABLE TO INJURY. Stretch after you finish your resistance exercise. Stretch your biceps after you finish working out your biceps. Search your shoulders after you finish your shoulder exercises, etc.

6. Don’t be a fanatic about your workout schedule. It’s OK to skip a day. Listen to your body; sometimes it will tell you that it doesn’t want to work out that day. Relax and enjoy a day of laziness.

7. Don’t continue with the same resistance-training program for more than 6 weeks. Your body get’s used to it and no longer feels challenged. Your progress may slow down or, indeed, stop.

My last tip has to do with drinking water. Most of us older folks remember that there were no people with water bottles in their hands strolling down main street 30 years ago. And I don’t remember any incidences of dehydration in those days either. It is obvious that the water bottling industry has done a hell of a job of brainwashing people that they have to walk around with plastic bottles in their hands. Unethical as it is, they have even recruited MDs to push their products; “you should drink 2 liters of water every day”.  God gave us a sense called “getting thirsty”, so drink water when you are. If you don’t trust your “thirst” instinct, examine your pee, it should NOT have a dark color, it should be light colored and clear. This doesn’t work if you are taking B vitamins as this will give your pee a dark color, but it still doesn’t mean you’re dehydrated. AND older people sometimes loose their “thirst instinct” therefore should examine their pee periodically.