The Main Assignment is to CLIMB, LIFT and EAT WELL... (everything else is extra credit, but not a substitute)

Most people are very busy trying to juggle family, careers and personal lives with very limited time left over to devote to quality exercise let alone any type of exercise at all. With this in mind, please read the following carefully. The human body was not designed to spend extended amounts of time in flexion (sitting or displacing body weight onto hands). The popularity of being in the position of a praying mantis for extended periods of time has backfired (you know what I am referring to) and has wreaked, and will continue to wreak, havoc on both the male and female pelvic areas. In addition, this activity DOES NOT promote bone mineral density. In fact studies done on professional road cyclists including those only in their thirties, have proven that these athletes have very low bone mineral density and are prone to more breaks and fractures than the general population. It would serve cyclists well (as well as the general public) to CLIMB onto a revolving stair machine and LIFT weights! While so many people think that getting your heart rate up is all that matters, they are completely missing the point. Rather, it is HOW YOU GET YOUR HEART RATE UP THAT MATTERS. You can watch a horror film and get your heart rate up but chances are you are sitting while you are watching. Get the point? The way you MAXIMIZE THE CARDIOVASCULAR BENEFITS is to let your large muscle groups, namely your hips, thighs and gluteus muscles do the work! That means you need to stand on your own two feet with shoulders back and down and lift each leg WITHOUT HOLDING ON TO ANYTHING! Allow your cardiac muscle to do its job as you work against gravity to keep your body erect and moving onward and upward as you CLIMB! 

In addition, EVERYONE MUST ENGAGE IN WEIGHT-LIFTING USING CHALLENGING YET SAFE EXTERNAL LOADS. Body weight exercises are fine but only IN CONJUNCTION with serious weight-lifting. The majority of your weight-lifting routine should be done while standing (except of course for the bench press exercise) so that you further engage the entire core musculature! Think logically, if the goal is a strong core in addition to FULL BODY muscular and skeletal strength, how can it be ideally achieved while sitting and lying down? It CANNOT! When you start to think about how the human body was designed to function it will become clear. Mat exercises are a great warm-up or cool-down but hardly constitute the MAIN ASSIGNMENT! Think of them as EXTRA CREDIT! Stand on your own two feet, learn to hold a pair of dumbbells, a curl bar and an Olympic bar and LIFT!


Finally, now that you know you must CLIMB and LIFT, you need to also EAT WELL in order to achieve optimum health and fitness. The final part of the equation is to eat a healthy plant-based food plan consisting of a variety of fruits and vegetables, lean protein, non-fat or low-fat dairy and whole grains. Of course you must not smoke and you must drink plenty of WATER and limit or eliminate alcoholic beverages. Do consult your trusted physician regarding any and all exercise programs as well as any changes to your meal plan. 

As always,


CLIMB, LIFT AND EAT WELL...