Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy
body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.
—JOHN F. KENNEDY
One day, many years ago, I was working with my client Jody in the gym, carefully watching as she did her circuit on the weight machines. Her eyes suddenly widened; then she shook her head and said, “What a waste.”
“What do you mean?” I asked her.
“I mean that lady over there, on the bike,” she said, tilting her head toward the rows of recumbent bicycles. There sat a woman, barely pedaling while deeply engrossed in a magazine. “Why does she even bother?”
It was an excellent question, and one I’ve often gone back to as I devised the exercises in this book. What I wanted to do was create an exercise routine that would always engage your attention, so that you’d never just be going through the motions as that woman on the bicycle was doing. Every time you do a circuit, you’ll be sweating and your heart will be pumping, but you’ll be exercising in a precisely controlled manner so that you’ll experience maximum cardiovascular benefits as well as burn the most fat in the shortest possible time, without impacting your joints. And since these exercises are progressive, you’ll not only maintain your strength but keep improving without ever getting bored.
Combining high repetitions with low weights gives you the best of both worlds: an aerobic workout as well as strength training during your circuits, as you’ll see in part 2. Circuit training is one of the most effective ways of reducing body fat while increasing lean muscle mass, which raises your metabolism and automatically burns more calories. Plus, if you follow a strength-training program that alters your body fat, you’ll get the body you’ve always wanted, and you will not put the weight back on!
There are many unique elements to the Super Body, Super Brain program, so read on for details about what makes it so special.
About Balance: The Importance of a Strong Core
Core is one of those exercise buzzwords thrown around with a lot of misperceptions. Most people erroneously think that their core consists of their abdominal muscles, and that endless crunches will get them a nice flat belly (if they’re a woman) or a six-pack (if they’re a man). Sadly, doing crunches and not much else for your core will get you some aching muscles in your belly and a stressed-out neck and lower back. In fact, I see crunches as strictly old-school training that will hopefully disappear along with “feel the burn,” to be replaced by a more integrated approach that treats all the core muscles as a whole.
I’ve seen this with nearly every one of my clients, who come to me with a weak core even though many of them have been exercising for years. Because their core muscles were actually underdeveloped, they felt this weakness on the opposite side of their body: in their lower backs. They often felt a tightness there, sometimes so achy, with the ache even radiating down their legs, that they had to lie down to make the twinges go away.
Your core is actually a much larger area, running from your breastbone down to your pelvic area. And it’s not just your front; instead, it should be thought of as three-dimensional, including your sides and your back as well for a total of twenty-eight different muscles.
Think of your core as your body’s powerhouse. It gives you solid strength. That’s why those who do exercises that give them a strong core usually find that their lower-back pain disappears along with their soft bellies.
Balance and Your Core
If you’ve done crunches to no avail, you already know how tricky it is to develop a truly strong and toned core. Frankly, having a six-pack is no indication of core strength, either—only of well-developed muscles in the front of your body.
One easy way to see if your core is strong is to bend one knee and lift that leg up, then touch your stomach with one hand. What do you feel? Is it hard? In that position, your core muscles are engaged because they need to stabilize your balance.
Another way is to stand tall, arms spread wide, and then bend your left knee and touch your left ankle with your right hand. Can you do that without losing your balance?
Instead of crunches, try balance training. Anytime you incorporate balance exercises into your workout, you’re automatically engaging all your core muscles at the same time, as you need them to stabilize your body. All the Super Body, Super Brain exercises are a variation of a powerful strength-training movement combined with balance movements, whether you’re at Level 1 or Level 4 or beyond. Advancing to a higher level is a sign of core strength more than anything else is!
And don’t forget that one of the most important aspects of balance is the amount of brain activity that it stimulates. Balance is an instant trigger of the proprioceptive receptors of your sensory system, as you learned in chapter 1. Every time you train your core properly, the information flow to and from your brain kicks into overdrive.
Coordination and Timing
I use the word coordination a lot because it’s another one of those exercise buzzwords that is sorely misunderstood. Coordination is not something that only trained athletes like dancers, gymnasts, and figure skaters possess. As you know already, if you can walk, you’re coordinated! But most people I’ve trained are convinced they’re hopelessly uncoordinated, when of course they aren’t. They just think they’re incapable of putting deceptively simple movements together in an effective sequence because they’ve never been taught to do so.
indran’s story
Simply put, coordination is anything that you do requiring different muscle groups and parts of your body to work at the same time or with specific timing per your mental instructions. It can be as simple as raising your arms when you move your legs to stand up to give a concert pianist a standing ovation. It can be walking. It can be playing a sport that involves hand-eye control, like tennis, golf, or playing catch with your kids.
andrea’s story
Coordination is possible because it is an essential brain function. In addition, the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and vice versa. Whenever you lift your left arm and your right leg, you’re doing a coordinated movement that involves the transmission of information between both right and left brain hemispheres. In other words, you’re using your entire brain.
Proper breathing improves the quality of the movement and also increases the oxygenation that sends blood to your muscles. You’ll learn how to breathe more effectively later in this chapter.
Timing is also an essential element of coordination. Timing involves precision of thought as different parts of your body move in simultaneous yet different sequences toward a goal. (This is why tennis looks so easy until you try it for the first time and can’t even hit the ball.) When we incorporate timing, we force our brains to process the intention, plan the movement, and then execute it with precision—all in a matter of milliseconds.
You don’t need to be an athlete to have superbly coordinated timing. Every time you get in and out of a car—or open a tube of toothpaste, squeeze some out, then brush your teeth—you’re using motor skills, timing, and coordination to get the task done seamlessly.
Flexibility and Strength
When I tell my clients that flexibility and strength go hand in hand, they usually look at me as if I’ve just sprouted another head! To them, flexibility means being able to stretch themselves into a human pretzel in yoga class, or some magical quality that gymnasts have as they do triple flips in the Olympics. It’s something they’re convinced they’ll never have (like coordination).
Flexibility is one of the most powerful elements of fitness in our lives—and one of the most overlooked. Put simply: it means that you’re able to have a very wide range of motion so you can activate a specific muscle group on command and extend it where you want it to go without feeling tension or tightness. A muscle is in perfect shape if it’s firm and taut, both extremely flexible and extremely strong.
Muscles are meant to be used; as a species, humans are wired to be in constant motion. (Think about this the next time you’re unconsciously tapping your fingers or swinging your legs during a boring meeting.) Our muscles are bundles of wide muscle fibers that need to be strong and pliable in order to work effectively. Activate them and they expand like an inflated balloon, which is a good thing. If you’ve ever seen a drawing of your muscles in an anatomy book, they look strong and lean.
But for most people, that depiction is inaccurate. Without regular use, muscle fibers change shape, start to atrophy, and shrink into a knotted, dense ball, since they’re no longer getting the extension and contraction that should be keeping them flexible.
Without flexible muscles, your joints are far less protected and gradually become more prone to injury. When a professional football player gets tackled, the more flexible and strong the player’s joints, the less likely they are to break with each impact. It’s like a tree bending in the wind. Even the strongest tree will break if the force upon it is too strong, but a tree that bends and moves is able to absorb and dissipate the shock. Eventually, though, the less you use your muscles, the more they atrophy until you get to the point where it’s actually hard to move, and the less they can surround and protect your joints and bones, making a fall more likely to result in a fracture. Fortunately, anyone can regain some degree of flexibility in their muscles with regular use, no matter what their age. I always tell my clients that the less flexible their muscles, the more that will speed up the “shrugging process”—what happens to people, particularly in their fifties, when they store mid-body fat, jiggling whenever they shrug. If, however, you activate the oblique muscles, they expand, and eventually the shrug will disappear. Not only that, but strong and flexible obliques make you taller, because you will be standing much more upright with their firm support. One of my clients, who was the same height as I am when we started working together, is now taller than I am—which he is fond of mentioning whenever we meet!
Your goal with Super Body, Super Brain isn’t to be a gymnast, but to have your body function in the way it’s supposed to and always allow you to perform the tasks you ask of it. Every Super Body, Super Brain movement has been designed to improve your flexibility; every movement consists of shortening (muscle tension) and lengthening (flexibility). With, for example, a simple semi-squat plié with an upper-back extension, first you contract (shorten) your legs and bend (shorten) your arms, and then you extend (lengthen) arms and legs to increase your flexibility, making your muscles longer and leaner through repetitions in a specific range of motion. That’s true flexibility.
Only after regaining flexibility will you be able to see rapid improvement. When my clients start to work with me, about 70 percent of the work I do with them is to improve flexibility, and 30 percent is to develop strength. After about two weeks, the percentage shifts to about 50–50, eventually ending up at 70 percent strength and 30 percent flexibility, which I believe is the perfect ratio. That’s because your muscles can’t be strong until they’ve been trained to be flexible. My Super Body, Super Brain program takes you on this same path to strength and flexibility.
flexibility stretches
• Stand tall, legs wider than shoulder width apart, arms out to the sides at shoulder height, and then reach down to your knees. Stand up and stretch your arms backward while looking up at the ceiling and saying a huge “Ahh.”
• Stand tall, legs wider than shoulder width apart, and then place both hands behind your neck and lean completely to one side while breathing normally. Hold for ten seconds, and then repeat on the other side.
Progressive Training: Train Like the Pros
When I was a child growing up in Spain, basketball was my passion. One concept that has stayed with me since my basketball days is the idea of mixing up training routines: my team was always coached to work out differently at the start of the season than during the ready-to-win-the-championship push at the season’s climax. Our coaches knew that we had to mix it up—to do specific, progressive exercises to constantly challenge our bodies, to keep our muscles strong and our brains focused on the game.
In the preseason we would start slow, with long endurance sessions to condition our hearts and muscles. Gradually, we moved on to more interval and power training as the season progressed. At the time, one of my coaches made a deep impression on me. “Don’t think all this training is just to make you strong,” he said, “because it’s not. It’s to keep you from getting injured. If you’re going to play a high-impact sport, you need to have a progressive conditioning program so you’ll gradually get stronger and stay strong so you won’t get injured.”
I became determined to apply his same philosophy to the Super Body, Super Brain program. A structured progression is essential. After all, progression is how we learn and master any new skill so our neuromuscular system will adapt to it. Teachers have a curriculum for the entire year, because they know that their students won’t be able to read unless they first learn the alphabet, then little words, then sentences, then paragraphs. Everything you learn builds upon your prior knowledge. I don’t really understand those programs that have no progression and just promise long-lasting results with a set of exercises.
Another important reason to mix things up is that gradual change is sustainable—and as you know, Super Body, Super Brain is a program for life. Sure, gyms are supercrowded in January with exercisers determined to live up to their New Year’s resolutions. But how many of these gymgoers are there four months later?
With these exercises, the movements take place in a deliberately structured sequence incorporating balance, coordination, joint and muscular strength, and cardiovascular activity into one seamless whole. You’ll first master each level and then gradually move on to exercises that build upon what you’ve already grown accustomed to doing. Progressive training gives you powerful cardiovascular conditioning; it’s athletic training for nonathletes. (Or, if you are already an athlete, it will condition you in a powerful new way.) And it also primes your brain to be able to flawlessly respond to any new commands you’ll be giving it.
surprise your muscles, burn more calories
Stand Tall, Stand Strong: The Importance of Posture
I became obsessed with posture when I was leading a Walking for Fitness course run by the Central Park Conservancy in 2008. Dozens of people, of all different ages and sizes, mostly between fifty and eighty years of age, eagerly signed up, and off we went on a test walk so I could get an idea of how well they could move and what pace to set.
Well, the first thing I noticed was that they didn’t look at me, or even ahead to where we were going. They looked down at the pavement. They were so afraid of stepping in a pothole or on uneven pavement that they threw their entire postural alignment out of whack.
You have to think about your eyes being focused in a straight line forward.
Right then and there, I decided to change the way they thought about walking, to teach them about correct posture.
Posture and Alignment
I’ll bet you’ve seen and probably scoffed at photographs of young ladies walking around their deportment classes with books balanced on their heads. But that simple trick of balancing books on your skull is actually a terrific exercise in proper postural alignment, because it forces you to look straight ahead with your head up, eyes focused on the horizon. And that is the essence of good posture, since it properly aligns your neck with your spine. (For much more about how to walk, see chapter 11.)
Focusing your eyes on the horizon instead of on your feet automatically incorporates elements of balance into every walk. This is what sends signals, as you know, to and from your brain and the proprioceptive sensors of your sensory system. You’re working your muscles so they hold your body straight up, which is a lot more work for them than if you slouched, and you’re stimulating brain activity triggered by its need to keep you from toppling over.
Another incredibly important concept is that our bodies are designed to move forward. Every time you do that, however, you’re working the muscles not just in the front of your body, but on the opposite side as well in an endless stream of contraction and stabilization, whether you realize it or not. (It helps to think of yourself as a three-dimensional creature.) So, for example, when you bend your knees the quadriceps in the front of your thighs contract, the hamstrings in the back of your thighs stabilize.
In order to walk with perfect postural alignment, all the muscles in the front and the back need to be equally flexible and strong. But here’s the problem: as we walk, the muscles in the front of our bodies almost always tend to be stronger than the muscles in the back to compensate for the fact that we’re almost always moving forward. You can test this yourself if you try to walk backward and realize how hard it is—not just because we need all our proprioceptive skill to do an unnatural movement, but because our back muscles are so much weaker.
Doing the Super Body, Super Brain exercises will give you so much core strength that you will no longer have to think about engaging and contracting your muscles when you walk: your body will do it for you automatically. I had my Central Park walkers do a few quick circuits before we got going. In only a few short weeks, their posture, speed, and fluidity of movement had all improved markedly.
Good posture isn’t just about striding confidently with your eyes focused forward. It’s especially necessary if you work at a desk job or spend a lot of time sitting at a desk. Few people have their workstations ergonomically designed, with keyboards and monitors placed so that they enhance strong posture rather than forcing you to slump or hunch over. When you sit improperly during the day, by the time you’re ready to go home, your upper-body muscles have had to overcompensate so that you could get your work done. You’ll be stiff and sore and tired, with a neck that’s aching and a back that’s twanging with discomfort.
Be sure to place the center of your computer monitor at eye level. You should not be looking down at it. (I fixed mine by placing it on a sturdy stack of large, thick books.) Do your utmost to do a quick five-minute stretch every hour. Also be aware of how you sit when you talk on the phone. Leaning to one side will throw your alignment off, too.
Breathe Deep
Who knows how to breathe properly? Yogis, opera singers, clarinet players—and babies. A baby comes out of the womb knowing how to breathe—watch an infant’s belly move up and down with each correct breath—yet as we get older, our breathing shifts from instinctive belly breathing, using our diaphragm and abdominal muscles, to head breathing, either through our nose or mouth. Plus, most people do not use their full range of breath, as they breathe only into their midchest and neglect the lower and upper lungs.
Breathing correctly is a vital element of the Super Body, Super Brain routine. Using your diaphragm correctly allows you to bring much more oxygen not only into your lungs but to your entire body. If you think of your body as a machine, oxygen is the fuel that allows it to run. Wouldn’t you rather fill up with premium fuel than cut-rate junk?
Best of all, oxygen is free, and maximizing its power not only is extremely easy but makes you feel great. Proper breathing is just like any other physical process. Don’t take it for granted, and you can quickly become better at it with very little effort. Training yourself to breathe involves taking your lungs outside of their normal patterns of inhale/exhale and learning how to use your diaphragm rather than accessory muscles to take the deepest and most refreshing breath.
easy desk stretch
• Cup your hands behind your head, and then pull your elbows all the way back. Breathe deeply.
• When you feel a nice tension (not pain!) in the back of your shoulders, uncup your hands and stretch your arms gently up toward the ceiling. Hold for ten seconds.
• In the same position, look up at the ceiling while slightly moving your head backward and over to one side. Hold for ten seconds, and then repeat on the other side. It’s a very simple movement that can do wonders for your neck.
Conscious breathing usually slows down your heart rate and can instantly shift your focus away from whatever is upsetting you or engaging you. It’s hard to yell at a selfish driver who just cut you off if you’re concentrating on your breathing!
The children I work with love to be taught how to breathe. To them, it’s just another game, since they don’t have those self-critical little voices telling them that conscious breathing is for wimps. Together, we slowly breathe in and out, and I instantly see their eyes clear and their energy focus inward rather than outward. This helps calm them down after an energetic exercise session. It will give you a terrific sense of tranquillity after your workouts, too.
New York City yoga teacher (and one of my clients) Rebecca Victor-Hobert has shared her tips to help you breathe better and more deeply. She knows that proper breathing is so important because it:
• increases lung capacity and endurance
• helps maintain physical and mental focus during all types of activity
• gives you increased flexibility in your torso muscles
• can be used as a tool to raise or lower heart rate
• can be used to help you relax and/or meditate
Breathing Exercises
Each breath has three parts: inhalation, exhalation, and retention. You can do retention exercises on either the inhale or the exhale; it’s more mentally challenging on the exhale.
Try to do these exercises whenever you have the time, the more the better, in a quiet place to focus. I suggest you do them at least two or three times each week.
1. Explore Diaphragmatic Breath
A. Lie on your back on the floor and then place one hand on your belly around the navel and the other hand on your chest.
B. Take a deep breath in through your nose. If only your chest rises, you are using mostly accessory muscles to breathe, not the full range of the diaphragm. If your belly rises, it’s being efficiently activated. (In order to contract, the diaphragm pushes the organs of the abdomen down, allowing the lungs to inflate.)
2. Explore Lung Capacity
A. Lie on your back on the floor and then place your hands on either side of your torso around your lower ribs.
B. Inhale and exhale deeply.
C. Attempt to circumferentially expand your torso, from top to bottom, from side to side, and from back to front.
D. Flip over onto your belly and do the same. This time, feel your back open and expand as your belly releases into the floor. Try to create more space between each set of ribs in the back of your body. The front ribs are generally much more mobile and easily accessible than the back ribs; however, flexibility in the back ribs can be cultivated over time. Gaining access to the back body can even improve your posture over time!
3. Three-Part Breath
A. Lie down so that your abdominal muscles can relax rather than hold your torso upright. (After some practice, you can also do this exercise in a comfortable cross-legged position.) Place one hand on your navel and the other on your solar plexus region.
B. Breathe in through your nose, thinking only of inhaling into the hand on your navel, for a count of two.
C. Pause for one count. Direct the breath into the midchest (the hand on the solar plexus) for a count of two. Hold for one count.
D. Place one hand on the upper chest around your clavicle. Inhale there for two counts. Hold for one count.
E. Let it all out in one long, smooth exhalation.
Reps: 3–4
• Because your inhale occurs in three stages, make sure that you don’t take in too much air in steps B and C.
• As you gain experience, you can increase the amount of time for both the inhalation and retention. For example, inhale for a count of four and pause for a count of two.
• If you are pregnant or have heart and/or blood pressure conditions, do this exercise without the pauses.
4. Reverse Inhalation and Exhalation via Rapid Breath
This breath focuses on an active exhalation with a passive inhalation. It is the opposite of a normal breathing pattern, which comprises an active inhalation and a passive exhalation. The goal of this exercise is to force air out of your lungs by rapidly contracting your abdominal muscles.
A. Sit in a comfortable cross-legged position. Your spine should be vertical and your head aligned with the base of your spine.
B. In order to understand the role of the abdominal muscles in this exercise, place one hand on your belly around your navel.
C. Initially, use the force of your hand to firmly press your belly back toward your spine while exhaling through your nose.
D. Release, and allow the inhalation to be almost passive.
E. Either remain with your hand on your belly to aid in the exhalation or try to do the same belly contraction/exhalation solely by using the belly muscles, not your hand.
F. Inhale a deep breath through your nose, and then exhale through your nose, making sure that you completely empty your lungs.
G. Inhale to a comfortable level and then begin a round of short, sharp exhalations through your nose, using the abdominal muscles as described in steps C, D, and E. You will make a sniffing sound.
Reps: 30 rounds (that is, 30 exhalations and inhalations)
• As you get better at this exercise, you can speed up the exhalations.
H. After the 30 rapid exhalations, slow them down.
I. Inhale completely and exhale fully, and then sip the air in to a comfortable level.
J. Contract your pelvic floor in and up. Then drop your chin to your chest and retain the breath for as long as feels comfortable.
K. When you need to release the breath, relax the pelvic floor, and then lift your chin back up.
Reps: 3 (steps F-K)
•Notice what comes up in the mind during the retention. Does your mind tell you to breathe before you really need to take a breath in?
•You can try this retention on both an in-breath, as described above, and an out-breath.
•As you gain experience with this exercise, try to increase the amount of time you hold the retention.
About Meditation
For me, meditation is an amazingly empowering tool that builds upon the techniques of conscious breathing for a more potent, calming self-awareness. I always incorporate meditation into my training sessions because I see how well it works, every time.
When you do a short, sweet meditation before you start exercising, it sets your intention and helps focus your mind on the task at hand. Becoming more mindful and acknowledging what you’re about to do makes you more in tune with both your brain and your body. You can say whatever you like as long as it’s positive and uncritical—such as these words provided by Sharon Salzberg, cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society: “I don’t need to be impatient or judgmental to reach my goals” or “May I treat myself with kindness.”
And when you do a short, sweet meditation at the end of your circuits, it slows down your breathing and helps you bring your heart rate gradually back down to normal, leaving you energized yet refreshed and relaxed. Acknowledge your hard work, even if you aren’t particularly happy with what you did. (It’s OK to say something like, “Even if I feel I blew it, I can always begin again. And I will.”) It’s the ideal way to give yourself a lovely sense of tranquillity after a workout, since you’re flooded with endorphins and a marvelous sense of calm and accomplishment.
I have been very fortunate to have been tutored in the power of meditation by world-renowned Sharon Salzberg.
Sharon told me: “There is a common, mistaken idea that meditation is about stopping thoughts [it isn’t—it involves developing a better relationship to our thoughts, not about becoming blank] and people feel that they could never do that, and so they will fail. But actually, meditation can be done by anyone looking for more clarity and centeredness in their life. All you need is a little time, compassion for yourself, and your breath.
“What is the minimum amount of time you need to [meditate] in order to see results? I think that consistency is more important than a length of time each day. If you can set aside twenty minutes every day or nearly every day, that is perfect. But if you only have five minutes a day, it is definitely worth doing. The results usually begin to manifest not in our formal sitting practice, but in life (which is where it really counts). You might notice that you start to get anxious in a meeting, but then remember to breathe. You might find yourself more able to let go of a spate of self-judgment, and more able to begin again when you’ve strayed from a chosen course of action. You might notice that a simple thing like drinking a cup of tea is more pleasant because you are more aware and in the moment with the experience.”
Basic Meditation Instruction
Try your best to do this at a time and place where you will not be disturbed. This is your time for you. However, interruptions will happen. Don’t let them upset you or throw you off balance. It might help to set an alarm so that you have a sense of when the session is done without having to check the time.
Sit in any position that’s comfortable. A chair is fine, but do try to sit upright. You can also lie down and meditate. You can close your eyes or not, depending on how you feel most at ease. Feel free to change position if you need to, but try not to shift just out of restlessness.
Start by feeling your breath as it enters and leaves your nostrils. This is the normal, natural breath; do not try to make it deeper, or different. Rest your attention on the actual sensations of the breath. You may feel tingling, vibration, warmth, coolness; you don’t have to name these, but feel them. If you like, you can use a very quiet mental note, such as “In . . . out,” to help support awareness of your breathing.
If sounds or images or emotions or sensations other than the nostrils arise, let them flow on by. You don’t need to fight them or follow after them . . . you’re just breathing. It’s like spotting a friend in a crowd: you don’t have to shove aside everyone else, but your interest and your enthusiasm are going toward your friend. As in, “Oh, there’s my friend. There’s the breath.”
If something arises that is strong enough to pull you away, or if you fall asleep, or if you get lost in a fantasy, don’t worry about it. This is a moment to practice some compassion toward yourself, without harshness or self-condemnation. Let go of the distraction and simply begin again. Know that your mind will wander. Just notice where it went, and then gently bring it back to the breath—every time, over and over.
You will think and feel many things, both emotionally and physically, while you meditate. It is all OK. Just gently bring yourself back to the breath. Important insights may arise as well. Don’t worry: you won’t forget them. Above all, have patience with and compassion for yourself. Each of us faces our own challenges in meditation, but the rewards are well worth it if we are kind to ourselves and keep on breathing!