You will come to the grave in full vigor, like sheaves gathered in season.
—JOB 5:26
You can burn calories with any number of forms of exercise, but I’m here to tell you you’re not exercising in a way that’s going to really help you lose weight unless you are sweating. Sweating is one of the major ways your body eliminates acids. Moving your body to the point where you break a sweat promotes the pumping of the lymphatic system, which serves to remove toxins and acidic wastes from the tissues and fluids of the body and release them through the skin. Sweating opens up your pores to allow acids in both liquid and gas form to pass through. You’ve got 3,500 pores per square inch of your skin. That’s a lot of ways for acids to get out—if you give them room. Toxins in gas form also leave the body through the lungs, aided by increased rate of respiration with exercise.
If you don’t do it properly, exercise can actually make your body more acidic. That’s right: Exercise could be making you fat. Unless you know how to do it the right way. That’s where this chapter comes in. You’ll learn how to exercise to remove excess acids through sweating and respiration, build healthy muscles, and ensure you’re burning the right kind of fuel to power all this efficiently and effectively. It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than walking, but you still need to understand the benefits of exercise—and how to achieve them—to make whatever exercise you choose work for you. The second half of this chapter provides the details of a specific program—The pH Miracle workout—ideal for alkalizing your body, keeping fit—and losing weight.
I don’t have to tell you exercise is good for you. Or that you should consult your health care provider before beginning any exercise program. Getting and keeping your body in motion is famously good for your heart, and, of course, your muscles. It’s good for your bones and your joints. Exercise helps prevent diabetes. It reduces stress and improves mood. In fact, exercise is crucial for good health and critical to reaching and maintaining a healthy weight. Exercise does burn calories, of course (even if that’s not the main point: sweating is!). Moreover, it not only increases your metabolism while you are active, but also, by building muscle, speeds up even your resting metabolism. The key fact about exercise, often overlooked, is that it helps keep your body alkaline. But you have to do it right, or it will have the opposite effect.
BURN, BABY, BURN
One of the good things (even if it is not the main thing) about exercise is that it burns calories. The more you move, the more fuel your body burns. That fuel can come from your food—and it can come from the unwanted fat stored in your body. The more active you are, the more fuel you need. Providing your body with the correct amount of fuel (calories or, even better said, electrons) is one way to stay slim. Too many calories—and especially acidic calories (protons)—and your body will store rather than burn the excess fuel. The more fuel you burn (the more active you are) in relation to food you take in, the more stored fat will be burned off as fuel.
Muscles are the engines that burn the fuel. Exercise increases your muscle mass, and the more muscle mass you have, the higher your fuel requirement. The more muscle you have, the more fuel you’ll need and the more fuel you’ll burn—whether you are in motion or at rest.
Burning the right fuel, as well as the right amount of fuel, is important to weight loss. Using fat, rather than sugar, as your main source of fuel—especially during exercise—will minimize acidity, thereby increasing energy, strength, and endurance. Burning fat produces six times the energy with half the acid compared to burning sugar or protein.
As your body burns its fuel—food—to release electron energy, carbon dioxide, which is actually a toxin (an acid), is created—and then expelled through the lungs. At least, that’s what happens as long as you’re getting plenty of oxygen. Without enough oxygen the mode of energy production shifts from respiration to fermentation, creating a much more toxic waste product, especially lactic acid. Lactic acid can’t just be breathed out; it is expelled into the surrounding tissues. When that happens, you experience pain, irritation, and/or inflammation.
It’s this exact process that so many people seek when they exercise, believing in the “no pain, no gain” mantra so common in the fitness and body-building worlds. It’s unfortunate so many people aim to get to the threshold of physical pain in order to build strength, size, and/or endurance. For one thing, this is a totally unnecessary experience of pain. Even more important, it’s guaranteed to have exactly the opposite of the desired effect. Exercising in such a way as to make your body even more acidic will never make you lean, strong, and healthy.
Furthermore, it is important never to exercise to the point of exhaustion (that is, you feel exhausted and have soreness or pain in your muscles). Exhaustion from exercise can be systemic, or localized in a particular muscle or muscle group. When you feel that burning sensation in your muscles, you are over-exercising. Your muscles are exhausted, your body isn’t getting enough oxygen, and you’ll be getting more, rather than less, acidic as a result of your efforts. Signs that your exhaustion is getting more serious include tightness in the throat, reduced peripheral vision, light-headedness or dizziness, and, at the extreme, feeling faint, weak, or ready to pass out. Certain techniques or types of exercise—including long-distance running or swimming, excessive weight lifting, and spinning—can be very exhausting if not performed properly. Doing it right means never doing it to the point of exhaustion. Moreover, if you exercise to the point of pain, that’s a key sign you are burning sugar rather than fat—and acidifying your body as you go.
The key to healthful exercise to provide an alkaline internal environment is to keep it aerobic, pain-free, and fat-burning. You can choose from a variety of light aerobic exercises, like walking, easy jogging, swimming, biking, or, my personal favorite as you’ll see below, rebounding. Should you ever reach the point of pain, where you know you are burning sugar, you should stop immediately and drink a green drink or good alkaline water to restore alkalinity.
ON THE REBOUND
There’s only one way I know of to guarantee that all 75 trillion cells in your body get the ideal workout all at once, and that’s rebounding. Working out on a small, low trampoline applies weight and movement to every cell in the entire body, the most efficient way to become stronger, more flexible, healthier—and slimmer! Cells expand and contract with the vertical (up-and-down) movement of bouncing on a rebounder. The acceleration and the deceleration that come from bouncing create pressure changes within the body, and an increased amount of weight against the cell membranes, stimulating and strengthening them. All the movement provides a kind of cellular massage, which increases circulation, opens blood vessels and breaks up blockages, improves drainage of the lymph, and strengthens the cell membrane. Your whole body, not just your muscles, gets toned, cleansed, and strengthened—on a cellular level, from the inside out. That’s why both Shelley and I do it every day.
Rebounding is the most convenient, metabolically effective, acid-removing form of exercise I know. It strengthens the entire body, increases circulation, improves digestion and elimination, protects the heart, supports the endocrine system and adrenal glands, improves thyroid function, eases menstrual problems, strengthens muscles, improves bone density, releases stress, pumps the lymphatic system, promotes cell growth and repair, improves the immune system, fights disease processes, and reverses the symptoms of aging. What more could you ask for in a form of exercise?
How about: Rebounding reduces body fat levels; firms legs, thighs, abdomens, arms, and hips; increases agility; improves balance; builds endurance; and increases energy levels. It also improves your performance in an array of other athletic endeavors. And all this it does without the stress of impact that attends so many other forms of exercise. Rebounding stimulates the metabolism, burns calories effectively, and more important removes acids through the skin and elimination organs. Rebounding fights obesity!
Rebounding is the best way I know to simultaneously reduce acidic body fat and firm body tissues with aerobic exercise.
Total Calories Spent Per Minute of Jogging on the Health Rebounder
| Body Weight (pounds) |
Calories spent (minutes) |
| 1 |
5 |
10 |
15 |
20 |
| 90 |
2.9 |
14.5 |
29.0 |
43.5 |
58.0 |
| 100 |
3.4 |
17.0 |
34.0 |
51.0 |
68.0 |
| 110 |
3.9 |
19.5 |
39.0 |
58.5 |
78.0 |
| 120 |
4.4 |
22.0 |
44.0 |
66.0 |
88.0 |
| 130 |
4.9 |
24.5 |
49.0 |
73.5 |
98.0 |
| 140 |
5.4 |
27.0 |
54.0 |
81.0 |
108.0 |
| 150 |
6.0 |
30.0 |
60.0 |
90.0 |
120.0 |
| 160 |
6.5 |
32.5 |
65.0 |
97.5 |
130.0 |
| 170 |
7.0 |
35.0 |
70.0 |
105.0 |
140.0 |
| 180 |
7.5 |
37.5 |
75.0 |
112.5 |
150.0 |
| 190 |
8.0 |
40.0 |
80.0 |
120.0 |
160.0 |
Copyright 1995 Needak Mfg. and Dr. Morton Walker.
On the rebounder, you bounce up and down against gravity. Because you’re not landing on solid ground, there’s no trauma to the joints. Working against the constant gravitational pressure, alternating weightlessness at the top of the bounce and double-gravity at the bottom, rebounding produces a pumping action that pulls acidic waste products out of the cells and forces oxygen and other nutrients from the bloodstream into them. This provides a number of benefits; I’ll detail a few of the key ones here:
Rebounding is good for your heart. You can, of course, attain your target heart rate while rebounding. The aerobic effect of rebounding often surpasses that of running. (See chart on here.) Beyond that, rebounding strengthens your heart in two ways. It improves the tone and quality of the muscle itself, and it increases the coordination of the muscle fibers as they drain blood out of the heart during each beat. Rebounding can also lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels by removing excess acid, and lower blood pressure. And it allows the heart to beat less often when at rest, meaning your heart is running easily and efficiently. Regular rebounding, at least fifteen minutes five days a week, protects you against heart disease.
Rebounding is detoxifying. The movement of rebounding stimulates the lymphatic system, helping it drain away the body’s metabolic wastes, ridding you of acidic toxins and other junk cast off by cells. The lymphatic system does not have its own pump, the way the circulation system has the heart. There are just three ways to move the fluid around through the lymph vessels: gravitational pressure, lymphatic massage—and the muscular contraction from exercise and movement. Rebounding effectively provides all three.
Rebounding stabilizes the nervous system. Exercise is a great way to relieve stress. Rebounding has the additional benefit of the repetitive bouncing motion, which can put you into an almost trance-like state of total relaxation. It can be meditative, or hypnotic. You get the benefits not only while you’re bouncing, but also continuing into your whole lifestyle. You’ll be more resistant to environmental, physical, emotional, and mental stress. My clients who rebound tell me they can think better, work longer, and learn more easily. They also say they relax more easily, sleep better, and feel less tense and nervous. They report that the exercise invigorates them and fills them with a sense of well-being.
Rebounding builds muscle. Rebounding allows the muscles to go through their full range of motion with equal force, the best way to produce true physical strength, according to James White, Ph.D., director of research in rehabilitation in the physical education department at the University of California at San Diego. Rebounding improves the coordination of nerve impulse transmission to muscle fibers, meaning the muscles can work more effectively and efficiently. And it increases muscle fiber tone, which creates muscular strength. As Dr. White points out, rebounding also helps you learn to shift your weight properly, be aware of the position of your body, and improve your balance, which is not only good for you all around but also lets you use the strength you have.
All these benefits are there for anyone who rebounds for at least fifteen minutes at least five times a week. Just about anyone can rebound. It’s good for all ages—a form of exercise you can enjoy for a lifetime. Rebounding can be adjusted to meet your current fitness level, then move you up from there. You easily control the intensity of the workout, depending on how vigorously you bounce and how high you lift your feet off the mat. Rebounding is safe, convenient, and inexpensive. It provides the ideal aerobic effect, without exhausting you or depriving your cells of sufficient oxygen. Quite simply, it is one of the most effective forms of motion known. Plus, it is fun to bounce!
Rebounding vs. Other Exercise
Most other forms of exercise apply weight to specific muscles or groups of muscles, but rebounding targets every single cell in your body at once, applying pressure nearly one hundred times a minute. Other forms of exercise, including weight lifting and many calisthenics like push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups, use a repetitive up-and-down motion the way rebounding does, but these conventional exercises still isolate specific muscles or muscle groups. That makes it very time consuming to work out the whole body, for one thing, as well as stressing the body much more than rebounding requires in an attempt to reach the same goal. It also increases the opportunity for injury. You could get many of the benefits of rebounding by jumping rope, but you’d be courting joint and back pain from all that slamming down on the ground with the full force of your body—aided by gravity. Moreover, jumping rope won’t pump the lymphatic system the way rebounding does. In general, rebounding is more effective for both fitness and weight loss than cycling, running, or jogging, according to Dr. White, with the added advantage of producing dramatically fewer injuries (over both the short and long term). NASA research determined that rebounding is a 68 percent more effective aerobic exercise than jogging.
Another thing that sets rebounding apart from the most common forms of exercise like jogging, walking, biking, and weight lifting is that it provides isotonic, isometric, calisthenic, and aerobic exercise all in one go. It lets you tone specific muscles by moving them with a constant load applied, as in weight lifting (isotonic exercise). You can isolate specific muscles or muscle groups to focus on by creating muscular contractions without movement of the body part involved (isometric exercise). And you can activate the body’s largest, most powerful muscles with small, gentle, precise motions consistently applied to quickly tighten and tone those areas (calisthenic exercise).
And you do all this aerobically. As you’ll see in the descriptions and illustrations of different rebounding techniques that follow, you can target every part of the body with rebounding, including the thighs, knees, hips, buttocks, waist, stomach, and arms. Bouncing, jumping, jogging, kicking, and twisting in place on the rebounder is a full-body weight-bearing activity that strengthens muscles, connective tissue, ligaments, and bones. Changing the angle of the body changes the stress on the muscles—leaning back as you kick your legs places more stress on the stomach muscles; leaning forward as you lift your legs behind you puts more stress on your glutes—making different cells work against gravity, which tightens, lifts, and tones the muscles and even the organs and skin. Plus, fifteen minutes a day is enough to challenge every cell in your cardiovascular pulmonary system to be all that it can be.
Total Calories Burned: Rebounding vs. Jogging
| |
Calories Burned |
| Body Weight (pounds) |
Jogging 1 mile (12 minutes at 5 mph) |
Rebounding (12 minutes) |
| 100 |
47 |
58 |
| 105 |
49 |
60 |
| 110 |
52 |
63 |
| 115 |
54 |
65 |
| 120 |
56 |
67 |
| 125 |
59 |
70 |
| 130 |
61 |
72 |
| 135 |
64 |
75 |
| 140 |
66 |
77 |
| 145 |
68 |
79 |
| 150 |
71 |
82 |
| 155 |
73 |
84 |
| 160 |
75 |
86 |
| 165 |
78 |
89 |
| 170 |
80 |
91 |
| 175 |
82 |
93 |
| 180 |
85 |
96 |
| 185 |
87 |
98 |
| 190 |
89 |
100 |
| 195 |
92 |
103 |
| 200 |
94 |
105 |
This chart comes from the research performed by Victor L. Katch, Ph.D., Department of Physical Education, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
How Much Is Enough?
One great thing about the pH Miracle Living view of exercise is that you must also ask: How much is too much? One reason this program works for everyone is that anyone can do it. That includes the exercise component. Any person at any skill level can start this program and benefit immediately. And because it takes just fifteen minutes a day, any schedule can accommodate it. Even yours! And you don’t want to over-exercise, at the risk of acidifying rather than alkalinizing your body.
This program gives you 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week, on your rebounder, a full program for complete fitness. You could do this up to 7 days a week, 2 to 3 times a day if you so desire, though beyond that you’d be over-exercising. If you don’t exercise every day, acids will build up in your tissues—and you will gain weight! To get an equivalent workout without rebounding, I suggest a 30- to 45-minute walk or jog over hilly terrain. Whatever exercise you do, make sure it is helpfully and healthfully aerobic. You must get to the point where you break a sweat within 10 to 15 minutes. With rebounding, you should be sweating by midway through the aerobic section of the workout, around the 5- to 10-minute mark. You’ve got to sweat to receive the maximum benefits of exercising.
All these time frames rely on you taking in an appropriate amount of food (calories/electrons) each day. If you’re eating more than you should, you’ll need to exercise longer to discourage the excess from collecting in your body’s fat stores. That’s why you’ll find so much conflicting advice out there about just how much exercise you need. Experts can’t seem to agree on whether or not they should account for Americans’ well-established habit of eating too much when they make declarations about how much exercise is ideal. If you’re following the pH Miracle Living eating plan, however, I know your body is getting the fuel it needs—no more, no less—and so you can streamline your workout accordingly.
Building Muscle
Rebounding will strengthen you, as noted earlier. I do recommend an additional set of exercises to target specific muscles. I’ll tell you how to do the actual exercises a little later in this chapter, but for now I just want to explain the general technique and the theory behind it. I’m going to do that because unless you really understand the process, you won’t believe that it will work.
Here’s what you do for a full body workout: Do 8 exercises. For each of 8 exercises, do one (1) repetition. At the point where your muscle is fully flexed, hold for at least 15 (and no more than 30) seconds. Return to the starting position—and go on to the next exercise. Do this 3 times each week, and that’s it. Eight exercises, 1 time, for a total of roughly 2 minutes, and you’re done. Actually, make that 4 minutes, since you should bounce on the rebounder for 15 seconds after you finish each move.
Here’s why this radical approach not only works, but works better than any other technique. The whole idea is to stimulate contractions of and blood flow to the specific muscles you wish to increase in size and strength. Flexing the muscle creates a positively charged site, and this attracts blood, which is negatively charged. These opposite charges create circulation directly to the muscle being exercised. The creation of this electromagnetic attraction of blood to muscle begins the strengthening and increasing size of the muscle, as the red blood cells are biologically transformed into muscle cells. When weight or stress is applied to a muscle, it applies weight or pressure against the cell membranes, causing increased blood flow. When the blood arrives in the muscle, it not only supplies electron-rich oxygen, but also begins to change back into an embryonic cell and then gradually into a muscle cell, according to the principles of New Biology (explained in more detail in The pH Miracle).
What makes this technique so effective is the fact that the blood pools in the muscle for a longer period rather than moving quickly in and out the way it does in the more familiar “3 sets of 15 reps” workout format. So the muscle is built not only better but also more quickly. It is important, however, to “bounce out” on the rebounder any residual acid created in this process, as you’ll see in the following directions.
THE REBOUND WORKOUT
In this section, I’m going to outline basic exercises you can do on your rebounder. At the end of the chapter, I’ll tell you how to put them all together and combine with the weight lifting described earlier to create The pH Miracle Living exercise plan. The exercises appear here in roughly the order you should use them: first the warm-up and stretches, next the aerobic components, and finally the exercises targeting specific muscles or muscle groups.
Soft bounce. This is the way you should warm up and the motion you should use as you transition between other exercises described here. Stand in the center of the rebounder with your feet hip-width apart. Keeping your back straight, your knees just slightly bent, and your arms down by your side or on your hips, bounce up and down gently, without your feet leaving the mat. Your toes and calf muscles power the motion.
Tap out. From a soft bounce with your feet near the outside edges of the mat, shift your weight onto one leg and tap the other foot to the outer edge of the mat. At the same time, raise your arms straight in front of you until they are parallel with the ground. Lower your arms, then raise them again as you shift to the other side.
Jumping jack. This is a high-bounce exercise, meaning your feet come up off the mat as you bounce. This, too, should be a familiar motion. Start in the center of the rebounder with your feet together and your hands at your sides. Jump up and land with your feet on opposite edges of the rebounder mat while swinging your arms out to the side and up overhead. Jump again and return to the start position. This is great for your calves, quadriceps, hamstrings, buttocks, abdominals, arms, and shoulders.
Hamstring and buttocks curl. From a soft bounce, shift your weight to one leg and lift the other behind you, bent at the knee, with your foot aiming toward your buttocks. At the same time, extend both arms behind you, palms facing into your body (a reverse triceps curl). Lower your arms and leg, then repeat on the other side. Lean slightly forward as you lift your legs behind you. Make sure you feel your buttocks and triceps tightening.
Walking/jogging. This aerobic exercise increases cardiovascular and lymphatic circulation. It should be fairly self-explanatory. Starting in the center of the rebounder, perform a walking, jogging, or sprinting motion, lifting your knees high in front of you. Proceed at your own speed; don’t wait for the rebounder to bounce your leg up.
Begin by doing 50 bounces this way, building up to 100,150, and finally 200. You should keep it up about 3 to 5 minutes.
Variation: For an additional benefit, sprint as fast as you can for 25 bounces or 15 seconds, whichever comes first. Follow that with 10 soft bounces. Build up gradually to 100 “sprinting” bounces, pausing for 10 soft bounces after each set of 25. This provides an optimum workout for the cardiovascular system. In addition, it will give your buttocks, hamstrings, quadriceps, arms, and abdominals an extreme workout. Make sure you return to the soft bounce for at least 15 seconds after this or any isometric or isotonic exercise to remove any lactic acid buildup.
Hand to knee. Jog easily, alternating tapping the right knee with the left hand and the left knee with the right hand. This exercise helps coordination and balance while working the entire body.
Elbow to knee. Bounce and bring the right knee up to meet the left elbow. Then bounce once on both feet before raising the left knee to touch the right elbow. Continue alternating sides with a two-footed bounce in between each side. This is another excellent exercise for balance and coordination.
Hand to heel. Bounce and bring your right leg behind you and tap your heel with your left hand. Bounce on both feet, then do the opposite side. Continue alternating. This is one more excellent exercise for balance and coordination.
High bounce. An all-body exercise. Start standing naturally in the center of the rebounder. Bend your knees and use your calves and toes to bounce up off the mat (clearing 4 to 10 inches), and land again in the same spot. You can do this exercise with your arms down by your sides or extended over your head.
Knee-high sprints. Jog briskly, lifting your knees as high as possible. This excellent aerobic exercise works the entire body.
Triceps curl. With the feet together, and the knees slightly bent, bounce gently on the balls of your feet, leaning forward about 10 degrees, and do a reverse triceps curl by extending both arms behind you, palms facing into your body. Your feet should come off the mat as you bounce. This simple motion works the calves, quadriceps, hamstrings, buttocks, triceps, and abdominals.
Upright row. This exercise works your chest, abdominals, upper arms, shoulders, calves, quadriceps, hamstrings, and buttocks. From a soft bounce, shift your weight to one side and lift the other knee until your thigh is almost parallel to the floor, then switch legs: it’s basically a marching motion. Your arms start at your sides, then pull up, with your elbows out to the side, until your hands are in front of your chest, in a rowing gesture. Return your arms to your sides.
If you wish, use this exercise as part of your stretching bounce before the aerobic/cardio portion of your workout.
Variation: Using the same leg motions, raise your arms over your head, then lower your fists, thumbs down, to your shoulders, with your elbows out to the side; raise to start.
The side to side. This is a great exercise for the thighs, hips, and stomach. Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart and your arms in front of you, not quite completely extended, with your hands about hip-high. Move from side to side in a soft bounce, shifting your weight from foot to foot in a fluid, rhythmic motion. Beginners should keep their feet on the mat; in more advanced versions the feet can leave the mat in turn.
This is a great transition exercise out of your soft bounce warm-up.
The slalom. Start to the right of center of the mat, with your legs together and your feet parallel, toes pointing ahead and to the left. Bounce, with your feet coming up off the mat, and shift position so that you land to the left of center, with your toes pointing ahead and to the right. Repeat, alternating sides. Your knees and hips should be bent slightly, like a skier. All the action is below the hips, while the upper body remains virtually motionless, facing straight ahead. Keep your back straight and stay on the balls of your feet. This exercise is great for coordination and strengthening of the calves and quads and the muscles in the torso, particularly the hips. It also isolates the hamstrings, buttocks, and abdominals. It’s an excellent way to improve your balance. If you choose to use hand weights during this exercise, hold them as you would ski poles!
The washing machine. Starting in the middle of the rebounder, bounce and turn your hips and legs to the left and your chest and shoulders to the right. Your right arm extends out to your side at shoulder level, while the left, at the same level, bends in so your fist is in front of your chest and your elbow points out to the side. On the next bounce, shift position so your hips and legs go right and your chest, shoulders, and arms go left. Continue alternating sides. Keep your back straight and your knees slightly bent. (To decrease intensity, don’t raise your arms as high.) This works the calves, quads, hamstrings, buttocks, abdominals, shoulders, and biceps. This move is great for the waistline and digestion.
Forward knee lift. Bouncing in the center of the rebounder, raise one knee to waist height so your thigh is parallel to the floor, while your arms move as if you are holding a tray you’re going to break across the raised knee. Beginners should keep the other foot on the mat; more advanced rebounders should let the “standing” foot leave the mat as they bounce. This exercise focuses on the calves, quadriceps, buttocks, hamstrings, abdominals, chest, arms, and shoulders.
Abdominal bounce. This exercise focuses on the glutes and abs. In each of the several variations targeting your abdominal muscles, you actually bounce on your buttocks, with your legs either on the ground or in the air.
Variation 1: For beginners. Bounce with your back straight up (perpendicular to the floor), your legs bent so your feet are flat on the floor, and your hands resting on the rim of the rebounder. Once you’ve mastered that, lean back to 45 degrees, but leave your feet on the floor. Increase the difficulty by lifting one leg and then the other while you bounce, and/or by placing your hands behind your head.
Variation 2: Advanced. Sit in the middle of the rebounder, lean back to a 45-degree angle, and lift your legs to a 45-degree angle, so your body makes a “V” shape. Bounce on your butt without touching the rebounder with your hands, with your arms out in front of you as if you were holding the reins to a horse. Keep your eyes looking straight ahead, for balance, and squeeze the upper and lower abdominal muscles together as you bounce. This is a difficult, but most effective, way to do this exercise. Increase the challenge by pumping your arms up and down (while still “holding the reins”).
Variation 3: While in a modified “V” position, alternate your legs, while bouncing side to side, landing alternately on your left and right buttocks. Bounce first with one leg straight and extended out, parallel to the floor or slightly elevated, and the other bent and pulled in toward your chest. Then, as you extend the bent leg, pull in the extended leg; keep alternating. Increase the difficulty by doing a full abdominal crunch, bringing both legs in to your chest, knees first, then extending them out fully again, returning to the “V” position.
WEIGHTS WORKOUT
If you’ve ever done any weight lifting, these movements (if not the technique) will no doubt already be familiar to you. You need to do only 1 rep of each exercise. That’s right: one set of one rep! This is the most efficient and effective muscle-building technique available. And it is very simple—even someone who has never picked up a weight before can do it. But trust me when I tell you, it isn’t as easy to do as it sounds!
Use the maximum amount of weight you can hold at the point of greatest resistance for 15 to 30 seconds. If you can’t hold it for 15 seconds, then decrease the weight. When you can hold it for longer than 30 seconds, then increase the weight. You don’t need very heavy weights. I start with 20 pounds in each hand when I’m working my arms, for example. You may find that you need different amounts of weight for different exercises.
After completing each exercise, take a deep breath in through your nose and breathe it out through your mouth. Then do the soft bounce on the rebounder for 15 seconds to get rid of any acid buildup in the muscle being stressed.
Dumbbell squats. This exercise works your thighs. Stand with your feet slightly wider than your shoulders and angled outward. Holding a dumbbell in each hand, with your arms down along your sides and your palms facing your thighs, bend your knees until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Keep your back flat and your head up. Hold, then return, slowly and with good control, to start position.
Reverse (step-back) lunge. This exercise works the back of your thighs. Stand with your feet hip-width apart with your arms along your sides with a weight in each hand. Step one foot behind you and bend both knees, lowering your torso (keeping it straight!) toward the ground until your front thigh is parallel to the ground and your back thigh is perpendicular to it. Hold, then slowly rise and step your feet back together.
Dumbbell bench press. This exercise works your back. Lie on your back on the floor, or, better still, on a bench press bench. With a weight in each hand (or, using a barbell if you have one), begin with your arms raised straight up toward the ceiling from your shoulders, with your hands slightly closer together than your shoulders. Under very strict control, lower the weights toward the upper part of your chest, bending your elbows out to the sides. Pause briefly, then begin to raise up again until you find the point of most resistance, about halfway up, with your elbows still bent. Hold there. Then slowly return to the starting position, with your arms straight.
Two-arm dumbbell rows. This exercise works your back. Sit on the floor, leaning back at a 45-degree angle, with your legs straight out in front of you, or bent at the knee with your feet flat on the floor. Extend your arms in front of you, parallel to the floor at shoulder height, with a weight in each hand. Your palms can face each other, or face down to the floor.
Row the dumbbell toward your chest—it should break the plain of the torso slightly—and hold. Return to start position with good control.
Dumbbell side laterals. This exercise works your shoulders. Stand up straight with your feet together. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, with your arms at your sides with your palms facing your thighs. Raise your arms straight out to the side until they are parallel to the ground. Keep a slight bend in your elbow. Hold, then lower slowly and with control to the start position.
Dumbbell curls. This exercise works the biceps in your arms. Stand with your feet hip-width apart with a dumbbell in each hand and your arms down in front of your body with your palms facing forward, away from your body. Keeping your elbows tucked in at your waist, curl the weights forward and up toward your chest. Do not use any sudden jerking, yanking, or thrusting to get the motion started; it should be a smooth continuous motion. Pause briefly at the top and lower with good control until you reach the point of greatest resistance and hold. Your arm and chest muscles should be fully flexed. Then return slowly to the start position.
Dumbbell triceps extension. This exercise works the triceps in your arms. Stand with your feet apart and lean slightly forward, keeping your back straight and your arms along your sides with a weight in each hand. Your palms should face behind you or, for a slightly different feeling, toward your thighs. Raise your straight arms directly behind you, away from your body, as high as you can. Hold at the top of the arc, then return slowly to the start position.
Standing calf raise. This exercise works your calves. Stand with your feet hip-width apart with a weight in each hand and your arms straight alongside you. Lift up off your heels onto the balls of your feet as high as you can. Hold, then lower slowly back to the ground.
THE PH MIRACLE LIVING WORKOUT
The pH Miracle Living workout has two somewhat different phases you do on alternating days.
1. You’re going to do 15 minutes on the rebounder every day, or at least 5 times a week.
2. Three days a week (not consecutive days), you’re going to add in the 8 weight-lifting exercises.
And on Sunday, you rest. Your body needs that too!
Warm-up. Begin each workout with a warm-up.
• Do the soft bounce for 2 minutes to increase blood flow and get everything moving, preparing your body for the work ahead.
• The tap out and the side to side are also good for warming up.
Stretch. The next phase is a 2-minute stretch, while doing a soft bounce with your feet shoulder-width apart.
• For the first stretch, reach both arms overhead and stretch as high as you can. Lean left and then right for 25 bounces.
• Second, reach your right arm up toward the sky alongside your head, then bend it at the elbow and send your hand down behind your head and neck. Use your right hand to gently stretch your left arm behind your head, holding for 5 seconds, or about 3 bounces. Then switch arms.
• For the third stretch, extend your right arm across your chest, gently pulling your upper arm in toward you with the left hand. Hold for about 5 seconds, or about 3 bounces. Do the other arm in the same way. For a more advanced stretch, alternate kicking your legs out, in front and/or behind you.
• You can also use the upright row, the jumping jack, the tap out, the side to side, and the hamstring and buttocks curl as part of your 2 minutes of stretching.
Weights. On the days you are doing the weight-lifting exercises described above, they should come next. You can do them on or off the rebounder, but be sure to bounce for 15 seconds between each exercise either way.
Rebounder. Every day (or at least 5 times a week) you need to run through the rebounder exercises described in this chapter. This too is divided into two parts. First the cardio conditioning portion, followed by the isometric portion targeting specific muscles (other than the heart!).
1. You should spend 5 minutes concentrating on aerobics, running, jogging or walking in place, and/or doing the high bounce, knee-high sprints, or jumping jacks.
Jog or run in place for at least 200 bounces. For whatever time remains, mix in other exercises if you wish, building up from 25 bounces of any given one to up to 100. For each isometric rebounding exercise, begin by doing one set of 25 bounces of each before moving on to the next exercise. Once you’ve mastered that, work up to 50 bounces, then eventually 75, and finally 100. Try to increase each week, so that after 4 weeks you are up to the total of 100, though you can set a different pace for yourself if you want or need to. Also, you might be ready for more repetitions of some moves sooner than others, and that’s okay. As long as you are rebounding for your 15 minutes a day, you’re benefiting.
2. Spend another 5 minutes working different specific parts of the body with a series including some or all of the following:
• Forward knee lift
• Hand to knee
• Elbow to knee
• Hand to heel
• Knee-high sprints
• Hamstring and buttocks curl
• Triceps curl
• Upright row
• Washing machine
• Slalom
• Abdominal exercises (but save them for last)
If you can’t fit all the exercises into the time allotted, and you don’t want to run over, do the ones that zero in on the areas of your body that need the most work. Or do the ones you think are the most fun! Do be sure to get in the abdominals every time, though, at least 25 bounces of each variation you do.
Cool down. The final phase of each workout is to cool down by doing the soft bounce for 1 minute. This is another good time to do the deep-breathing exercise, if you so choose.
PUMP UP THE PROGRAM
Once you’ve mastered the basic pH Miracle Living workout, there are a couple of ways you can increase the intensity of the workout. These are always optional; the basic program is enough to keep anyone at a healthy weight. But for those who want to develop their muscles more precisely, or amp up the workout, or just have a change of pace, here are some options:
Using weights on the rebounder. You can increase resistance by using hand or ankle weights for any or all parts of your rebounding workout. The force of gravity increases the weight one and a half times as you contact the mat, so this is a very powerful way to increase size and strength of muscles quickly. But you’ll need to use very light weights. Start with 1-pound weights, working up (if you can or want to) to 2 or maybe 2½ pounds. Even if you move up on some exercises, lower weights might still be best for others. I generally use 2½ pounds, for example, but just 1 pound when I’m doing jumping jacks. If you do use weights on the rebounder, I suggest starting out with weights for 25 bounces at first, working up by sets of 25 until you can do all 100 bounces with the weights. If you want to increase the weight, do so gradually, and only after you’ve mastered doing all 100 bounces with the original weight.
You can also do your eight weight-lifting exercises on the rebounder if you so desire, while doing a soft bounce. Use your regular weight dumbbells for this purpose. Alternately, if you use light dumbbells for most or all of your regular rebound workout, you can skip the extra weight lifting altogether and complete your entire workout every day in just 15 minutes.
Plyometric jumping. This means increasing intensity by increasing speed. That is, do whatever you were already doing—but faster! This allows you to improve your coordination and agility, which decreases your risk of injury, as well as intensify your aerobic workout. Start by doing one or two movements in your regular routine rapidly, and master them before adding more, one by one. You can start by doing just a portion of the bounces of each exercise rapidly, and work up to doing the whole set that way.
EXERCISING SAFELY
You’ve already learned the most important safety tip when it comes to exercising safely, efficiently, and effectively: Do it in a way that will alkalize, rather than acidify, your body. Besides that, here are a few basic tips on integrating exercise into your life in a wholly beneficial way.
• Keep hydrating. You need even more water (or green drink) while you exercise.
• Start slow and work up gradually to the full program. This is especially important if you haven’t been active, but it also applies when you are already active but beginning a new form of exercise. Begin with lower weights and work up from there. Start with fewer reps and build up. Begin by just doing the soft bounce and work up to more complicated jumps. Or rebound for shorter periods until you are ready for the full 15 minutes.
• Use the support bar anytime you are doing a new or complicated bounce, especially anything that involves moving your legs out away from your body. As your strength and balance improve you may find you don’t need the bar.
• Avoid overly rigorous workouts. More is not always better!
• Don’t exercise when you are very ill. Sometimes, your body needs rest more than it needs exercise. When you start to feel your energy coming back, by all means continue with your regular program, even if you need to modify it temporarily.
• Consult with your health care provider before beginning this or any exercise program.
My goal is to make this program as fun as it is effective, and I hope you’ll enjoy rebounding as much as I do. If not, choose something else that interests you; exercise only works if you actually do it! One great thing about this program is that you’ll get positive reinforcement right away as you watch your body start to tone and firm up, and the pounds come off as you lose excess acid through eating and exercising right—in just fifteen minutes a day!
