Exercise

Exercise

I would strongly recommend that you start a structured exercise program to include both aerobic and isometric exercise. Exercise improves insulin sensitivity and facilitates weight loss and maintenance.

You should exercise aerobically every other day. Examples of aerobic exercise include walking, running, bicycling, swimming ect.

The aerobic component of your exercise should last at least 30 minutes initially and should be increased by 2-4 minutes every 2 weeks when you feel comfortable. The degree of exertion should be somewhat hard (13) on a Borg scale (see below) or to 65% of your maximal predicted heart rate (which is 220-your age *.65). The initial 15 minutes is just to warm up and only burns carbohydrates. By the time you complete the warm-up you should just be breaking a sweat. Save your energy for the time after the first 15 minutes where the fat burn begins. The key component to an aerobic exercise program is exercise duration followed by exercise intensity. The aerobic component of exercise burns calories during the exercise. A variation of aerobic exercise is the HIT (high intensity training) where you exercise after the first twenty in intervals of one minute of 70% of maximal heart rate and then 30 seconds of mild exercise, or run followed by walk. Ideally this is the segment you progressively increase as your program progresses.

An excellent site for information regarding exercise is www.exrx.net.

The isometric component of your exercise should include weight lifting to exercise every major muscle group. This can be achieved by doing upper body one day and lower body the following time you are scheduled to do isometric exercise in order to obtain adequate rest and allow recovery. The isometric component of exercise increase muscle mass and because muscle has a higher metabolic demand than fat, causes one to burn more calories at rest.

You can find an upper and lower body split regimen on WWW.exrx.net by going to exercise instruction and clicking on weight training, then click on instructions. At the bottom of the page you can print a workout template and fill in the exercises depending on the equipment you have available. I recommend a two day split regimen. In place of exercises requiring a bench I would suggest an exercise ball available at any fitness store, the internet, or even Sports Authority. The exercise ball helps you strengthen your core muscles while you work the main muscle groups. Start low and go slow to avoid injury, and ideally have a certified trainer work with you to establish your starting weight loads. By exploring the site you will find the principal of progression whereby you constantly increase the load either by increasing the weight by small increments or by increasing the amount of repetitions. However, only two sets are required according to the American Society of Sports Medicine with the first set being a warm-up set at 50% of thee workout weight and the second set being 100 % of the workout weight. Additional sets offer little benefit (approximately 5% improvement). When you are able to perform 12 reps of the workout weight you should increase the weight.

The biggest mistake in weight training is “overtraining” which result in overzealous exercise providing inadequate time for the body to recover causing increased risk of injury and suboptimal results.

Progression is important in both types of exercise to avoid the training effect. In isometric exercise you progressively increase the weight or repetitions in the isometric exercises at every session. Once you are able to do 12 repetitions you increase the weight. In aerobic exercise you gradually increase the duration by about 10% every two or three weeks until you reach either one hour or your maximal allotted time for exercise, after which you increase the intensity of the HIT peak intervals.

Below is an example of an exercise schedule:

Week 1 Week 2

Monday: 30 minutes on a treadmill 30 minutes on Treadmill

Tuesday: Upper body weight lifting program Lower body workout

Wednesday: 30 minutes on a Bicycle 30 minutes on Bicycle

Thursday: Lower body weight lifting workout Upper body workout

Friday: 30 minutes on elliptical trainer 30 minutes on elliptical trainer

Saturday: Upper body workout Lower body workout

Sunday: Off Off

Borg Perceived Exertion Scale

The Borg Perceived Exertion Scale gives you an idea of how hard your exercise feels. If it feels light (less than 12), you should increase the pace of your exercise, walking, biking, swimming, etc. If the exercise feels hard (14 or greater, you need to slow the pace. Exercise should feel somewhat hard (12-13). Borg's Scale:

6
7		very, very light
8
9		very light
10
11		fairly light
12
13		somewhat hard
14
15		hard
16
17		very hard
18
19		very, very hard
20