greentheo

A major part of a healthy lifestyle is excersize.   But for every active and healthy person there is at least one excersize and diet philosophy.  I thought I’d contribute my healthy and ‘green’ lifestyle and exercise ideas as well for any who might be interested.

Quick Summary

Over the years I’ve done many different types of workouts.  I’ve spent hours in the weight room (oh come on, we all wanted humongo pecs at at the age of 15 right?), to hours at the dojo and quite a few team and singular sports including football, soccer and basketball.  However, the most effective work-out simply is:

1. 2-3 hours a week of more intense intense excersize.
2. Doing only those excersizes that your body (not your narcissistic brain) asks you to do.
3. Eating those things which your body asks you to eat in order to feed it and energize it to adequate levels.

First things first…

Proper excersize will not be possible without a good diet.  Again let’s keep it simple and natural.  I recommend that the following diet be implimented immediately:

1. Eat everything your body asks you to eat, no exceptions.  Try to think about it as little as possible.
2. Okay one exception.  Eat as much USDA organic foods as possible… if you body wants chocolate, feed it organic rich happy chocolate and eat all you actually want… but no more than.  Want 2 plates of spaghetti for dinner?  Eat it… you’ll have a tremendous source of energy for your next workout.  Pizza… do it!  Just make it organic and high quality. Don’t even look at the label on the back it will only confuse your poor brain which in the end has very little on-the-fly analytic capabilities.  If we can’t even hold more than 7 to 9 digits in our minds easily why should we be able to analyze something as complex as all the nutrients we need and want?[1]
3. For every non-water beverage you consume drink the equivalent amount in plain ol’ water.
4. When hungry or thirsty, immediately drink a glass of water.

A workout guide

As with my guide to eating right let’s try to keep the workout philosophy simple too.

1. Listen to your body.  If your body wants less exercise, rest it.  If it wants more, go a bit harder.   The main thing is to do what your body asks, not what your narcissistic and confused brain thinks it needs to do to be the Olympian/model/He-Man it desires to be.
2. Too much time in the gym is inefficient.  Keep your overall excersize time at about 3 hours per week.
3. 2 gym workouts per week and 1 playing workout[2] is plenty to keep strong and fit.
4. Your “playing” workout should always be done with a friend.  It’s just much more fun that way and it builds a bond faster than most anything except well… “working out” with your spouse  
5. For your gym workouts I suggest 1 hour workouts composed of 20 minutes of stretching, 20 minutes of intense cardio, and 20 minutes of upper body weight training.
6. Stretching is so important it should be#1 on this list.  Always stretch, and always stretch each muscle group for 2 times as many seconds as your age.  Your joints and muscles will thank you when you get to the nursing home one day.
7. Weight training should be done slowly with 1-2 minutes of rest in between sets, no more than 4 different weight training activities in your 20 minute period should be performed… 3 is ideal.
8. No long distance running.  Your joints can’t take it.   I know a few long distance nuts who can barely walk these days.  And it’s not even that great of a workout in the end.
9. If running is desired, try sprinting in the grass… and show some respect for the grass: take your shoes off.  Doesn’t that feel good?  Consider that sprinting 17 x 100 yard dashes at an average time of 15 seconds each sprint is like running a 4:15 mile … seriously … only Ethiopians and horses can run that fast.
10. Enjoy your activity whatever it is.  If you don’t like it, try something else until you find something that excites you.  Currently I’m really excited about downhill mountain biking… I’ve rarely had so much fun or strength training for my calves and quads!

Last thoughts

When we listen to what our bodies want we will often be surprised by its desire for good things.   Working out and eating are no exception.   We were made to desire the good things of the earth and to enjoy recreation and liesure.  Go ahead… enjoy the good food, excercize and activities that God intended for you!

1. And of course, feel free to go non-organic every now and then, McDonald’s is the devil but I swear it tastes like Heaven! [↩]
2. soccer, basketball, hiking, biking, skiing, yoga, martial arts… it doesn’t really matter [↩]

Related posts:

1. Greentheo’s workout plan update
2. Choosing green can be expensive… especially because it’s usually free
3. 5 simple, cheap, green steps to more happiness

Tags: food, free, God, Green, wealth

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 5:28 pm and is filed under Green, Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.