Ask the Doctor: Getting Back into Shape

The featured question this week comes from Chris:

I'm currently trying to get back into shape. What are some things I should cut out or add to my daily habits to help reach my goals?

There are a lot of things we do on a daily basis that can delay us from reaching our fitness goals, so let's take a look at some of those things first.

• Nutrition - This is one of the biggest factors when it comes to getting into shape, no matter what your goals are. As I've mentioned in another article a couple weeks back, food should be fuel for our body. We can't run effectively on Twinkies, Oreos, and McDonald's. The 'cleaner' our fuel is, the better we will function and feel on a day-to-day basis. So, limiting (I would recommend cutting out entirely) any fast food or packaged fuel is essential. 'Clean' food is fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, and protein. If you're not a vegetarian, protein is easy to get. If you are a vegetarian, make sure you're getting protein from multiple sources - different legumes, plants, seeds, and nuts. 
• Over Exercising - Yes, there is a thing as too much exercise. Make sure any workout routine incorporates rest days (1-2 a week) and possibly a day of exercise that is a bit lighter. Not only is this important mentally, but physically as well. We need time for our body to repair itself from the exercising we do. Exercise not only burns fat, but it breaks down our muscle tissue with intense exercise. It takes about two days for our body to fully recover from high intensity workouts. This is why the common advice for weight lifting is to not work the same area of the body two days in a row. Too much exercise can also lead to injury, which takes you out of the game for a little while.
• Using Exercise as an Excuse - I've done this one before - 'I exercised pretty hard today, so that gives me an excuse to sit on my butt the rest of the day.' This is not good. Several studies in the past couple years have concluded that even if you exercise 45-60 minutes a day a few times a week at high intensity, sitting the rest of the day doesn't necessarily protect you from heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes. So it's important to find ways to still stay active throughout the day, even if it's doing some light yard work, cleaning the house, playing with the kids or the dog, or just going for a walk around the neighborhood. Unfortunately, for those that have a desk job that requires sitting for 6-8 hours, you have to find a way to keep moving through the day. Standing desks have become more popular, and even just taking breaks every 30-45 minutes and walking around your office is a great way to keep moving.  

Here are some ways to maximize your workouts:

• Keep it Varied - Keep changing up what you do. Your body gets bored doing the same thing all the time and because humans are genetically geared to figuring out a way to conserve energy, the same exercise routine all the time will eventually create a plateau in your progress.  Mentally, keeping your routine varied will create more of a challenge.
• Find Something You Enjoy - If you hate running, I don't recommend training for a marathon. You'll hate it and not keep with it. On the other hand, if you love running, create some goals and challenges to keep yourself motivated. If you like yoga, racquetball or cycling, make sure that it is somewhere in your routine each week. Engaging in some of the more fun recreational activities will also help trick your brain. If you enjoy it, it becomes easy to do and doesn't seem like 'just' exercise or another workout to get through.
• Cardio and Weights - Both of these are equally important to incorporate. Weight or resistance training helps burn more fat and build muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn in the course of a day.  Strengthing your muscles also helps to strengthen your bones and joints.  Cardio training through running, cycling, or rowing is also important to maintain heart health and increases your capacity to do work.
• High Intensity Interval Training - More commonly known as HIIT, this is a great way to get a workout in a relatively short amount of time. If you find yourself short on time once or twice a week, you can get a great workout done in about 20 minutes. You can use walking, jogging, running, cycling, or rowing for HIIT, but I will stick with running to keep it simple.  Basically, you perform 6-8, 30-second intervals at high intensity with 90 seconds of rest in between. If you are a runner, you're going to sprint all out for those 30 seconds, then you get 90 seconds to recover, which can either be a jog or a walk, depending on your endurance.  If you can't sprint or are just easing into things, make it a jog for the intervals and walk in between. HIIT is effective because those 30 seconds of work should get your heart rate elevated to a point that during the 90 seconds of recovery, it may come down, but not so far down that it's close to your resting heart rate. What's great about HIIT is that it can also accomodate any skill level. So even if you can't jog at all, walk faster for 30 seconds.  HIIT can be very grueling, so please be careful and ease into it to avoid injury and to make sure your body can handle it.
• How to Recover After - It's important to rehydrate after any workout.  I've read many different recommendations on when to incorporate carbohydrates and protein into your diet after working out.  From some of the information I've gathered, I would say delay your carbohydrate intake for at least 30 minutes after a workout.  This gives your body a chance to keep burning off the glucose stored in the muscles and fat. This, of course, has some exceptions; listen to your own body. If it's been a really hot day and you went for an hour or two run, maybe get some sugar back into your blood stream. 

All this said, everyone's body works a little differently. What my neighbor does may not work for me. Listen to your body. I've learned from experience, that I have a hard time working out in the morning. I'm sluggish, slow, and I really don't want to do it at that time. My best time of the day to workout is mid-afternoon to early evening. I have more energy and I work harder, making my workouts far more efficient. Also, don't train through pain. If your foot hurts every time you take a step, it's not wise to train for a marathon. Find other ways to exercise.

I hope that helps, and thank you for reading. If you have a question you'd like featured here next week, please submit to the comments or email me directly at QureshiDC@gmail.com.