Exercise Program

Articles

Exercise Program

By Brooks A. Mick, M.D.
May 22, 2006

Disclaimer: If you try exercising this way and die, it's not my fault. If at any time you get chest pains, severely short of breath, and do not recover your wind during the 90 second walking intervals, stop immediately and check with your physician. If you have had chest pains or other serious health concerns, don't start this exercise program at all. Check with your physician.

I don't know any of you personally, but if you are reading this I am going to hand out free advice anyway. If you want your body to stay healthy, your body requires exercise. Most people don't exercise. If you are one of those who do and enjoy it and have discovered how to stay in shape and are happy with the shape you are in, then stop reading now.

I said STOP!

But if you are not in shape, here comes the first dose of free advice. Get in shape.

To get in shape, remember the first rule. Your brain remembers what you could do and how fast you could do it and how many times you could do it when you were 18 years old. But your body doesn't remember that well. It has forgotten. So the first rule is, don't go out and try to do what you could do before. You'll strain something, it will hurt, and you will give up. Giving up is not the way to get into shape.

The second rule proceeds from the first. Start out very slowly and gradually.

The third rule is, you need some mixture of exercises to keep all your parts working well. Here is about as simple a program as you can get. It starts gradually, builds slowly, and combines cardiovascular exercise with strength-building. Remember: This advice is for all the people out there who haven't exercised in years, who have put on a dozen or more pounds, and who have been sitting in front of televisions, computers, or other stationary devices for way too long.

1) Start by putting on some good shoes and comfortable clothes and simply walking slowly for up to 20 minutes. If you can't make 20 minutes, do as many as you can. Try to go a few seconds or a few minutes longer the next time. If you can make 20 minutes without problems, then walk 20 minutes the next day, just a little faster. Keep going 20 minutes a day at least 5 days a week, and keep increasing the pace very gradually until you can walk a very brisk 20 minutes without feeling winded.

2) Next, begin with 90 seconds of walking followed by comfortably slow jogging for 60 seconds. If you can't make one minute, then go as many seconds as you comfortably can. Then do 90 seconds more of walking. Then repeat the jogging for as many seconds as you can up to one minute. Continue this phase of the exercise program for two to four weeks or until it seems quite easy.

3) Begin the next phase, proceeding as follows: Walk 90 seconds, then jog 60 seconds, then walk 90 seconds, then SPRINT for 5 seconds. Repeat for 20 minutes.

4) The next day, do 90 walk, 60 jog, 90 walk, 10 sprint. 20 minutes total.

5) Each day, add 5 seconds to your sprint time until you reach a cycle of 90 walk, 60 jog, 90 walk, 30 sprint. Then continue that cycle for 2-4 weeks or until it seems quite easy.

6) Then switch to your final fitness maintenance schedule. 90 seconds of jogging followed by 30 seconds of sprinting. This program will keep you about as close to maximum fitness as you can get with a minimal time investment. 20 minutes a day five days a week is all it takes.

The walking/jogging part increases your aerobic capacity, and the sprinting builds muscle. When I say sprint, I mean running just as fast as you can! No loafing during the sprint interval. You can jog as slowly as you like in the other intervals.

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About the author Brooks A. Mick: Physician, still practicing medicine but retired from the US Army. Write just for the fun of it, but working on novel in the vein of Tom Clancy's politico-military genre.

Email: brooks15@cox.net

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