Vital Male

With Knowledge Come Results

Exercise

Working Out

 

For most of us in our society working out is a reality we must face if we want to maintain our health and sanity. The sedentary nature of our existence may be the most overwhelming force which actively deteriorates our health on a day to day basis. Sadly many men are misinformed and discouraged about working out and so participate sporadically or avoid it completely. We need to ascertain what we are trying to achieve by working out and then how best to do that.

 

Please remember that looking good is a benefit of working out not the goal. Working out is to get strong, fit, healthy, it is to feel good. Take time to appreciate the aesthetic results of your efforts but do not obsess. Get fit, look in the mirror; that is what the healthy you looks like. Don’t start with a conception of how you should look. Just like Vogue models are not healthy or happy women, the guys on the cover of Men’s Health (sic) magazine have issues, serious issues.

 

Working out is not easy but it should be fun. Try to enjoy it for what it is. Do not try to distract yourself. Watching TV or obsessively listening to music while you are working out will slow your gains and can get you injured. Grimacing and grunting while you work out may look good in the movies but it is wasteful and counterproductive. Grimacing tells your body you are not enjoying what you are doing, it sets up a negative mind frame. Focus on what you are doing. Get in your body completely and use it completely. Work to create a sense of connectivity that permeates your body from head to toe while you work out. This will make you more effective, increase your gains and make what you are doing more fun.

 

But first let’s debunk some myths:

 

Myth #1: More is better. As fitness iconoclast Rob Faigin says actually better is better. There is a surprising law of diminishing returns associated with working out. Long workouts often do more harm then good because the stress they exert on the body counteracts the benefits gained by the actual exercise. The same applies to the number of reps a person does. High intensity low rep training is far more productive then so called cardio workouts.

 

Myth #2: You must do cardio to burn fat. Using cardio to burn fat is not only a waste of time but may in fact be counter productive as it elevates blood cortisol levels thereby impairing the production of growth hormone and testosterone. Muscle burns fat. The more muscle you have the more energy is required to maintain it. Build muscle and you burn fat all day long just trying to maintain it.

 

Myth #3: High intensity workouts make you bulky. I am sorry but taking anabolic steroids makes you bulky and screws with your endocrine system horribly, high intensity workouts make you strong and yes muscular. I suspect most people saying this are just too lazy to exert themselves. Increased muscle mass keeps the fat off and elevates testosterone and GH levels, this is good.

 

So now that we have some of the more important facts straight lets look at what needs to get done. It turns out that many of us will find we don’t get to workout as much as we want when we do it right. This is great as it is hard to burnout on something you don’t get to do as often as you would like. Working out for 30 to 45 minutes 3 times a week may be the best for those trying to accelerate muscle growth and avoid injury. Once the stage has been set more frequent workouts will be okay but over training still has to be avoided.

 

In order to get the most out of the thirty minute window we have to be efficient. High intensity is the key. Free weights are good, kettlebells are fun, body weight is the cheapest and most versatile and a combination of all of the above will prevent boredom. Gyms are a waste of time and money, unless you are single and then …well you know. Working out at home is cost effective and leaves little excuse for not getting it done. Who doesn’t have 30 minutes 3 times week? Really?

 

Body weight exercise is a mainstay for anyone who wants to get in shape. Hindu pushups, hindu squats, pull ups, and back bridges alone constitute an effective exercise regime. Matt Furey’s book Combat Conditioning is full of fun and exciting ways to work your self over. One armed pushups and one legged squats take it to a whole new level and really help to maximize intensity, see Pavel Tsatsoline’s the Naked Warrior, and read all his books.

 

Free weights are also pretty damn fine. Dumbbells are very effective and versatile. Kettlebells are an excellent tool but they can get expensive and almost everything you can do with a kettlebell can be done with a dumbbell. Pavel is a great source of original full body exercises using free weights and kettlebells.

 

Let’s take a moment to talk about abs. You want tone right. Well then make sure your really working them. Get on an exercise ball or roll up a towel and put it in the small of your back. Now contract your glutes, press down with your lower back and now draw your sternum towards you groin and feel the burn. That is what it feels like to work your abs. You may be surprised at how weak they are depending on how well you have truly worked them in the past. Most exercises that claim to target the abs are mostly working the hip flexors which are, it turns out, antagonists to the abs in terms of good posture so be careful.

 

A simple regimen is 50 hindu squats, clean and press <5 reps, 30 real crunches, hindu push ups, back bridges, pull ups repeat this set 3 times. Do you still think you need cardio? You can wait until you catch your breath to answer. If you lack the motivation herbal supplements can provide a boost to get you in the mood (to work out).

 

Change up your regimen regularly and stay away from machines. Repetition is the greatest source of injuries. Machines force your body to repeat the same exercise exactly the same way each time. This causes two problems one is repetitive stress injuries and the other is isolation. But wait you say “I thought isolation was good?” think again. By isolating muscles we are creating strengths in our body which do not have the appropriate synergistic muscular strengths to support those actions in the real world. So you are fine as long as you stay on the machine but once that strength is really applied something is going to give.

 

It is important to remember the importance of relaxation. Before and after every exercise regimen take the time (5 minutes or more) to breathd deeply and remove the tension from your body with a quick qigong set or the wave exercise.

 

The wave exercise derives from Systema, a Russian Martial art. Standing in a relaxed posture (or lying on you back) slowly and gently breath in as you tense your body starting at the feet and working your way up to the head and hands as you reach the end of the inhale. As you exhale actively relax your body from the head and hands all the way down to you feet. Do this a few times. Allow this practice to increase your awareness of the tensions in your body so you can start to let go of the habitual tendency to hold stress in those areas.

 

This approach to working combined with your new caveman diet will burn away excess fat, increase muscle size and strength, clear the cobwebs from your brain, improve your libido and more.

To contact us: Tao Health Center

512.799.4186

Devon@TaoHealthCenter.com