Moderation.
It’s something that’s a little out of fashion
at the moment.
Everything has to be ‘extreme’ in order to
sell.
Diets that will help you to lose ‘up to 30lbs
in 30 days’…
Exercise DVD’s that will turn you into Jean
Claude Van Damme in the comfort of your
own lounge…
The list goes on…..
The truth is that the old saying of ‘everything
in moderation’ is very true.
It may not sound exciting or make a good
infomercial, but it’s true all the same.
Taking anything to an extreme can be bad
for us.
Any of my clients would tell you that I’m
a firm believer in weight-training. It helps
improve posture, builds strength, improves
body shape, strengthens bones and boosts
our metabolism.
However, taken to
extremes, such as Olympic power-lifting
and hard-core bodybuilding, then it can
lead to joint and postural problems in later
life.
Running is much the same.
It’s a great way of improving your cardiovascular fitness and getting some fresh air,
but taken to extremes it can play havoc
with the joints of the lower body.
I’m sure that we’ve all heard of carb22
restrictive diets, such as the Atkins. We’ve all
seen diets based around meal replacement
shakes or juicing.
All of them promising fast and ‘easy’ results.
None of them offering a sustainable, longterm solution to weight issues. If you lose
weight too fast and don’t replace those bad
eating habits with good ones, that weight
will soon pile back on. Usually with a bit
extra, just to prove a point.
So, what should we be doing?
As I said; moderation…..
The key with exercise is to keep your body
guessing.
Doing the same thing, week in, week out
will soon not only get boring, but will stop
yielding results within a few weeks.
The trick is to mix things up.
Make sure that you do some weighttraining. It’s your number one tool against
poor posture and the dreaded middle-age
sag.
Make sure that you do some cardio-vascular
training. Think of it as a workout for your
heart and lungs rather than something to
help weight loss. After all, your heart is
your single most vital muscle. We could
get by without a bicep, for example, but we
couldn’t get by without a heart!
Try to include some kind of mobility
exercise too. Yoga or Pilates are ideal.
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