YOU on a diet - Chapter 11

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Here's the next chapter. It deals with the fitness routine. I strongly recommend you get the book, as you will see throughout what I post. FORM FIT: HOW TO EXERCISE THE RIGHT WAY Look out at eye level or above to spare your neck and keep you from rolling your shoulders forward. Assume the Botox pose: Keep your face relaxed and tension-free Relax your shoulders and lift up your chest. Pretend the top of your head is being pulled up by a string to elongate your spine and keep you from rolling forward. Count your reps for each exercise out loud; this counting will help you remember to breathe continuously and keep you from holding your breath. Keep your abs tight and pulled in to support your lower back. (Practice sucking in every time you enter a car, bus, train, plane, elevator, escalator0that way it becomes automatic.) Keep your knees

slightly bent, so you don't lock them. When doing shoulder exercises, make sure you could always see your hands (if you wanted to). Breathe. Many people hold their breath while doing strength training. Keep moving in between exercises to keep your heart rate fast, or move directly to the next exercise. If you're unable to hold a conversation, you're exercising too hard. If you can keep a conversation going and are able to fill the listener in on all the details, you may not be going hard enough. As you get stronger,go longer rather than harder with cardio exercises, and stronger with weight exercises. That is, do more repetitions of any non-weight-bearing exercise. That will help prevent injuries from overexertion. If you really feel weak, just hold the exercise position without moving and slowly work up. It's more important to follow perfect form and do fewer repetitions than to do a lot of repetitions with

form that's sloppier than spaghetti in a high chair. PREPARATION FOR PERSPIRATION Before beginning an exercise program, you need more than a Lycra top. Exercise isn't dangerous, but you risk of injury will be less if you live with a few principles to protect your muscles and your entire body. Warm Up. Before beginning any exercise, warm up your muscles for about five minutes to prevent injury. (the YOU twenty-minute workout includes a warm-up, but if you're doing another activity, follow these guidelines.) Remember, your muscles are like spaghetti strands; they're pliable when they're warm, and more injury-prone if they're not. Jogging, brisk walking, cycling, or doing exercises with light weight or no weight will help prepare your muscles for activity. One good rule: Do the same exercise you will be doing but at a slower

pace or with lighter weight. Your goal is to move your joints through the same range of motion as they will do with exercise-to raise your heart rate and to increase the temperature of your muscles, which will make them more viscous and less likely to be injured. Some advocate that at the end of exercise, you should cool down with a light jog, cycle, or walk, but there's no evidence that a cool down will reduce injury or muscle soreness more than just stretching at the end. But if you are doing intense cardio exercise, you do need to do a cool down, rather than stopping abruptly at the end of the workout. For a cool down, do the same activity, like running, at a much slower pace than you were maintaining during your workout. Focus on Your Muscles. Take spec ail notice of where you tense up. You want to release tension in your body, not shift it somewhere else. Most commonly,

people shift their shoulders and the foreheads. Notice this, breathe, and focus on the muscles you are working. Listen to Your Body. Throughout stretching, make sure to keep breathing freely and slowly. If you ever feel pain during stretching, stop. (That's different from a little discomfort as you're loosening up; actual pain should be your warning to stop. We want burning in the muscles.) Wear the Right Shoes. You'll need to invest in a good pair of lightweight running shoes for walking (the strength workout you should do barefoot). They're well cushioned and designed to handle the heel-to-toe movements for both walking and running. Best option: Go to a specialty running store, where the often underpaid salespeople are the experts; ask the pro there to analyze your stride and match up the best shoe for your

feet. Basic Training Sometimes choosing a trainer can be like buying a car-it sure does look nice, but do you really know how well it runs? While a personal trainer isn't required, many people like working out 0ne-on-one, specifically because of the trainer's knowledge and the accountability of having to regularly report to him or her. To make sure you get one who's qualified, take these steps: Make sure trainers are certified by a reputable organization like the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the American Council on Exercise (ACE), the national Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), or the National Academy of Sorts Medicine (NASM), as well as having Institute certifications. Check to see if they practice full-time, and aren't just doing training between acting jobs. Make sure their motivational

style (including the voice) matches your workout style; some trainers are more vocal, while others are more soothing. If they're inspiring to you, you'll push yourself to get results and to show up, which is nine-tenths of the battle. If cost is a problem, try out our free program with New Your City trainer Harper or Hafen on www.oprah.com delivered to your doorstep monthly by visiting pushtv.com Top of the Morning Coffee, roosters, and shock jocks aren't the only things people wake up to. Many people enjoy starting their day with yoga's sun salutation: a series of movements that strengthen, stretch, and energize your body. Consider it your caffeine-free way to start the day. Do the sequence twice, switching legs on the second repetition. I recommend that you get the book in order to see the graphics that goes with the directions. Sun Salutation Stand with feet touching. Bring your hands together, palm to palm, fingertips pointing upward. Make sure your weight is evenly distributed. Exhale. Raise your arms upward. Slowly bend backward, pulling your abs in and up, stretching arms above the head. Relax your neck. Inhale. Exhale while you slowly bend forward until your hands are in line with your feet, touching your head to your knees if possible. Press your hands down, fingertips in line with toes (bend your knees if you have to), and touch the floor. Maintain a slight bend in the knees to take pressure off your back through your hamstrings, and extend and elongate your back, rather than arching it, to avoid lower-back issues. Relax your neck and shoulder;

let them dangle down toward the ground. Use their weight to stretch your spine. Move into an up push-up position with your hands and toes on the floor and your back straight. Lower your body to a down push-up position with your elbows bent and your body remaining in a straight position from your legs to your head. As you inhale, raise your head and bend backward as far as possible. While straightening your arms. To go deeper as you lift, arch backward and pull the top of your head up and out and come onto the top of your feet as lift your pelvis off the ground. The four points would be your two palms and two tops of your feet. Keeping your arms straight, raise your hips into down dog, pressing your armpits toward your knees, and align your head with your arms. Exhale throughout movement. Keep your legs straight, raise your right leg so it stays in line with your spine. Raise the left leg on your second time

through the sequence. Return transiently to down dog position. Lunge your right leg forward. As you inhale, keep your hands and feet on the ground, with your right foot between your hands. Reverse legs the second time through. Raise your head and lift your hands straight up to the sky while maintaining the lunge position. Open your hips by turning left and outstretching your arms right side forward and left side back so that they're parallel to the floor. Bring feet together and stand up straight. Keeping your legs straight, bend at the waist and lower your upper body. Touch your head to your knees if possible. Exhale. Return to position 1 by slowly rising, straightening your back into a standing pose. Stretch your arms above your head as you inhale. Exhale and then repeat the sequence so that you can work the opposite muscles. Exercise anywhere, Anytime! Practice perfect posture-while sitting, standing, or walking-by tightening your abdominal (suck your belly button to your spine). Visualize a straight line from the top of your head down to your hamstring muscles in the back of your legs, making sure to keep your neck and shoulders back and relaxed down away from your ears. Visualize a string pulling you up from the top of your head, elongating your spine. Engaging in good posture not only will strengthen your core but will also add a small extra-calorie burn because you're working slightly harder to maintain the position. If you find your shoulders rolling forward, practice interweaving your hands behind your butt as you talk to people. Picture this: To remove every possible excuse from your repertoire, the YOU Workout is summarized in three pages that you can post wherever you need to facilitate

exercise. Remember, your body is your gym. Note: This is where the three pages of the "YOU WORKOUT ACTIVITY" starts. In order to get the pics, you'll need to get the book. Are You Well Equipped? Hooked on sweat? Then consider these add-ons to your physiological gym. As You Get Stronger: Weights Though you can use household objects for resistance exercises, it can be worth investing in a pair or two of dumbbells to use for lunges, squats, and other exercises as you get stronger. Weights usually cost about fifty cents per pound. Great Addition to a home Gym: Exercise Ball Once you establish a fitness foundation, these large, inflatable balls are wonderful to use for crunches and any other exercise in which

you sit on the bench or floor. They help you develop balance and work your stabilizing muscles in your abdominal section. They are also great stretching devices. See www.realage. com for examples. For the Traveler: Bands Resistance bands allow you to increase resistance as you get stronger, and they're also small, so you can take them as you travel. For Balance and Agility: Jump Rope They're cheap, and easy to use. While raising your heart rate, they'll also test and improve your agility. For At-Home Cardio: Rebounder Once you progress to doing cardio exercise, you can jog, swim, row, cycle, or do whatever you like to get your heart pumping. If you're one of

our highly coordinated readers, one of the easiest ways to work your heart is with either a jump rope or a minitrampoline called a rebounder. You know about the jump rope, but for a rebounder, you can store it under your bed, pull it out, and do min joint-safe cardio sessions by hopping and jumping on it for the allotted time. (Take a quick lesson before using it, so you can learn the safety rules.) Versatile Bonus: Weighted Vest This vest carries extra weight to give you Resistance (many are adjustable so you can change the weights in one-pound increments), and you can use it for all of the central exercises, like lunges, squats, crunches, and push-ups. FACTOIDS: You can have 100 percent strength gains within a few months, but it also works in reverse: By not doing strength training every week, you'll start to lose some

muscle mass and your strength by up to 50 percent in three months and by up to 80 percent in three years. Look at exercise the way you'd study Spanish-the more consistent you are, the more consistent your results will be. Your muscles forget, just as your mind does. In any ab exercise, pull your stomach muscles in. If you push your stomach out, then that is your your muscles will form. Relax your face and don't furrow your brow. This can also help avoid a future plastic surgery consultation. You can add a balancing element to almost any exercise by tweaking it slightly. Try doing two-legged exercises on one leg, or do an exercise lying on a stability ball instead of a bench. We now have one more chapter (the You Diet) and one more appendix to have this book complete.