THE EXERCISE WE DO, OR NOT…
“The only exercise some people get is jumping to conclusions, running down their friends, side-stepping responsibility, and pushing their luck!”
If you are looking to live a long and healthy life, then some form of exercise is absolutely essential. Exercise does not have to be a fully-structured fitness program or taking part in a highly-competitive sport but do some physical movement that increase your heart rate and stretches your ability a bit more than the usual day-to-day activity. Not only is it fun and helps you to de-stress, clear the mind for new ideas and feelings; it lets the body play and feel fully alive and express physicality in its most magnificent form. It also is necessary for many physiological reasons, such as to remove waste products from the body through the lymphatic system.
The lymphatic system needs physical exercise to function properly, it needs you to move and breathe more intensely than compared to just sitting down, because it does not have a pump of its own, by exercising you “pump the lymph” and strengthen the immune system and help the circulatory system in distribution of nutrients and oxygen. The most important function of the lymphatic system is to filter and excrete metabolic waste and toxins. If these toxins cannot be excreted properly then your cells will gradually deteriorate due to an acidic environment full of waste in which the cells live in. Imagine a pond with no flowing water, when the water remains still it will eventually become muddy and smelly and no plants or fish can survive in such oxygen deprived water. So whatever you do, do some form of exercise according your ability and mobility to pump that lymphatic system.
One of the best and safest types of exercise is rebounding (on a quality mini trampoline) as it shakes the body up and down and exercises you on a cellular level, the cells expand and retract as you jump up and down. It is also easy on the joints. Yoga is also excellent at any age due to its breathing, stretching and meditative elements. Martial arts are great if you like that, I personally actually like to do all three mentioned activities at various times. If you are more of a team sport person, go for it, have fun! It does not matter what exercise you do, as long as you move more than the distance between the TV and your refrigerator to pump that lymphatic system and move those arms and legs.
Exercise activity strengthens your muscles & bones, and improves your heart and circulatory activity. Exercise improves your immune system and mental and emotional balance. It will help your digestion, inner cleansing, weight control and new cell development. Exercise allows you better sleep, increased overall well-being, performance and energy. The list of reasons to do exercise is endless.
We know we should do exercise but often we do not do it because of being too busy, too lazy, not motivated, no time, too tired, too old, too young, having eaten too much, nobody to do exercise with, or there is something better on the TV that evening or the exercise you once did was actually costing you too much in energy, money and time or the type of exercise was too complicated, too time consuming and un-motivating.
The key here is that you find something for yourself that matches your values and interests and fits into your daily life; time-wise, energy-wise, financially and most important that it is fun and invigorates you. Have a creative look at your day, what you can do? Maybe a brisk walk in the fresh air during your lunch break will do? Maybe start a completely new type of sport instead of doing a fitness routine which you have done for years on and off and which is not stimulating you anymore. Maybe start a team sport for the social aspect. If swimming does not suit you, try cycling. Whatever works in your environment, whatever fits into your day that distracts your mind, whatever is fun and activates all those body processes for maybe 10 minutes or an hour or as long as you feel like it.
Apart from doing the exercise itself, the recovery and rest period are equally important. Before exercise make sure you have some fuel in the engine, eat at least an hour before, some fruit 20 minutes before is also fine as the fruit sugar is easy to absorb and readily available to use within minutes. During sport drink plenty of fluids; after sport the recovery approach makes all the difference regarding how you feel the next day.
Always start any exercise gradually with a warm up and do stretching after the exercise. Do a routine of a few easy stretches of the main muscle groups by extending your muscles to your furthest reach possible without pain and hold for 10 –15 seconds, this is great for recovery and general muscle health and development. Make sure to drink plenty of water during sports and exercise. After the exercise make sure to replenish the energy used during sport activity within the first 90 minutes after exercise. If you do intensive exercise such as weight training you definitely would need to take an additional protein rich shake. Try out some superfood protein such as hemp or raw sprouted whole grain brown rice protein powder.
An important point I want to make is that the quality of the nutrition consumed in the first 90 minutes after exercise is the biggest influence factor on how you feel and perform the following day. Assuming you do have a good night rest of course. Sports nutrition, meal planning and performance are interesting subjects, which can be looked at more into detail during a one to one coaching session.
Whatever exercise you do, remember to bring your water bottle and take a pinch of Himalayan crystal salt for every litre of water you drink to replenish the loss of salt due to sweating.
Remember, whatever exercise you do: “Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate”
If you are not sure what activity you want to do or if you are looking for something new or something that fits better into your daily schedule or ability, then I would like to suggest rebounding. Rebounding is one of the most optimum forms of exercising you can do at any age and stage of your life. Jumping up and down on a mini trampoline is easy, safe, fun and gives a full body work out with the added benefit that you just cannot help but smile.
From small baby bounces which improve circulation to high jumps to focus more on strengthening the muscles. It can be done as a full exercise routine or on its own, or as part of improving your physique, ability and control for uses in other sports. People in their 90’s use it (with a bar for balance) to stay healthy and flexible without it impacting on the joints and ligaments too much. People can use it to relieve pains in joints and muscles with small gentle bouncing, body builders can use it for defining and toning muscles, martial artists can use it to improve balance, co-ordination, flexibility and control.
It can be used to increase stamina, weight management, targeted body enhancement, improved digestion and elimination, to tighten up all body areas and even create a natural face lift. A mini trampoline, or rebounder, is a true versatile piece of exercise equipment. Whether you are a sports person, housewife, pensioner or a child, all can benefit by using a rebounder and it gives the best value for money in the long term. The great thing is you do not need to go anywhere as you can do it at home listening to your favourite music or in the garden. Just 10 minutes a day gives you more result than any other exercise can possibly give in that timeframe.
Rebounding exercises your body inside and outside with the least impact on your body for maximum results, it is in fact exercise on a cellular level, which is why it is so effective. You actually exercise trillions of cells at the same time, as you jump up and down your cells flex nearly 100 times per minute in 10 minutes per day. Go straight to where the action really happens and that is at the cellular level. Real strengthening, flexing and cleansing action in your body starts with the cells. So when you jump up and down against gravity, and you are weightless for a short moment, you actually make the cell membranes squeeze and release. By doing this, you exercise and strengthen yourself at a cellular level where your muscles grow, and at the same time the squeeze and release motion works like a sponge to release toxins and suck in clean cellular fluids.
The rebounding works in several ways at the same time; such as Isometric for toning and uplifting from the inside out. Isotonic for building muscle mass and bone density, it is weight bearing on every cell by natural G-forces. By whole body bouncing you automatically also target all specific areas at once including cellulite. It is at the same time an aerobic exercise that works at conditioning and oxygenating the cells and strengthening the heart and improving lung capacity. Due to the bouncing movement the cell tissue becomes more flexible and so do the related body parts too, by doing this you become flexible without actually doing any specific stretching exercises.
There are a lot of benefits to mention and if you are looking for a type of exercise that is fun and really works to improve health at any stage of your life then rebounding in combination with healthy nutrition is definitely the golden combination.
I have tried several rebounders and there is a big difference in price and quality. If you buy a really cheap one then soon enough you might notice wear and tear and excessive squeaking and maybe even dangerous breaking and accidents, which we all want to avoid. If you buy a better quality one, that first of all is safer to use, then it is important to consider the quality of the bounce, a hard sturdy one could actually cause you to damage your back, joints and ligaments over time. A quality rebounder has a gradual easy bounce, spread out over the whole jumping area with specifically purpose designed springs. You will clearly notice the difference if you try out a few different rebounders to feel which ones have a hard bounce and which ones just seem to lift you into the air like a feather.
For some rebounders the price might seem high, but it probably the best investment you can make in your health when it comes to exercise equipment and on a year basis much cheaper than the average gym membership.
Myself, I like to use the rebounder in conjunction with other forms of sport and exercise because I like variation in what I do. I very much enjoy using the rebounder and I’m so convinced of its benefits that I now recommend and promote it in any health improvement plan. In the past I frequently had problems with lower back, hip and pain going in to the leg, probably caused by wrong sitting postures in office jobs. At times that pain and stiffness can come back if sometimes I work out too intensely with weights or if I might have slept in a wrong position, but I noticed that by gently doing the small baby bounces on the mini trampoline, not jumping, just with a gentle up and down motion the stiffness just seems to get shaken loose, the pain reduces and I’m back to normal much faster than in the past.
There are different brands available on the market at different price levels, so shop around and look for the qualities I described. In the beginning of this book there is a photo of me on a rebounder but to be correct, it is not just a rebounder it is a “Cellerciser” by David W. Hall (cellercise.com) that it my personal favourite “rebounder”. If you do not have a rebounder yet, go and jump on your bed for a while and see how much fun you will get! But seriously, whatever type of exercise you prefer, should it be walking, cycling, wrestling or rebounding there is one piece of advice which I would like to give, that is; do something about it NOW.
“Do it Now!”
Napoleon Hill