Muscle Centric Design
I break down lifestyle design to 3 components:
A-Spiritual Base
B-Building Bulk
C-Sustainable Nutrition
(Note the design of my logo. With interlaced Yin/Yang and 7 Chakras)
Spiritual practice looks different with everyone, every patient, every trauma (spiritual trauma)
Nutrition practice essentially boils down to macros/volume/timing/ upbringing and current medical challenges. With all those variables
It’s still easy (initially) to direct change.
Movement / Exercise / METs / Free Time / Age / Hormone Levels / Latitude / Knowledge
Base / Prior Injury / Cardiovascular Fitness / Lung Disease….to me
more complicated to engage in an average patient …
BUT
…even with all the variables, just deploy short trials without commitment for a lifetime. I feel when a coach allows entry level investment im a new routine, in case “it hurts”, it’s too complicated, “they’re too expensive”, distance is time consuming, “it flares up my knees”…you can see an endpoint and the investment doesn’t take a large commitment of resources!
Don’t think it will always be entry level. Short term goals of tasting more and more intensity is a necessary evil. Human musculoskeletal systems are the best at adapting. Digestion can ramp up insulin based on how you indulge. Hormonal glands can turn on secreted messengers in milliseconds in times of fight flight flee events. All the systems can adapt and ramp up production of peptides however the muscies are a different beast.
Muscles are structural, propulsive, storage depots, and externally located compared to all other body systems. The more signals of energy expenditure you challenge the system with, the more youthful and disease/age reversing the entire body behaves! No other system short of the nervous system and improve as you age and grow. (Muscle can grow no matter what age AND brain grows as you study and calm! “Mind Muscle” blog coming up in the near future!)
I was blessed to have the genes that love movement and challenge - structurally I’m shorter but faster. I figured I was quick in grade school and due to some inborn talent I capitalized on speed during spring months (track & field + running) I can still run at 60yrs of age and definitely love sprinting (short intense run swim bike climb). Consequently I love the delayed onset muscle soreness that emulates from regions after exercise.
In planning initial routines (taking into consideration the challenges listed above) is fairly easy. Decreasing all cause mortality requires about:
1-150minures weekly of mild to moderate exercise
2-75minites weekly of intense exercise.
Full Stop!!!
Now introducing a step up approach starting from physical limitations and building up from there at a pre-set duration of time really is all you need.
Choosing cardio vs resistance …well it should be both. The data is showing 2 sessions per week of resistance and 3 sessions a week of cardio are the suggested endpoint. A well versed personal trainer, exercise coach, athlete can mix many different elements into your templates assignments.
Second biggest consideration is how the current body will react, flare up, recover from said template. That too can make or break the morale of the investor to change and we need to avoid associating a relationship of SUFFERING DISABILITY with start up. Developing dread will uncouple motivation and NO ONE can sustain the journey. (Then back to couch surfing)
Soooooo…. Easy but Hard. Be forgiving on yourself. Understand it may hurt but just disperse the severity over an appropriate time frame. Conjure up images of youth and happiness to keep you engaged. Target feeling young!
Bottom line is the longer you postpone the more shit you will accumulate to make it even harder to start in the near future.
DrRic
