MINIMAL EFFECTIVE DOSES that will keep you healthy and happy
1. Movement
2. Nutrition
3. Mindfulness
MOVEMENT
- Fasted Workouts
- Move More Often
- Nasal Breathing
- Stay Strong
Before we get into the explanation, a quote from one of our favorite sources – Ben Greenfield:
“exercising and beating up the body with a ton of physical activity is not an ideal way to put yourself into maximum fat burning mode or to shrink your waistline. Instead, light levels of physical activity or mild “discomfort” throughout the day is the true way to maximize activity of fat burning enzymes.”
So the question is, how do you achieve this ‘mild discomfort’? And how do you implement mild discomfort into your daily / weekly routine?
…. First, a quick note on habit formation.
Ever heard the statement that it takes 21 days to form a habit?
Unfortunately, this statement is slightly misleading… In general people overestimate what they can accomplish in one year and underestimate what they can do in 5 years.
In fact, this research states that it ranges between 18 and 254 days to form a habit! (depending on one’s motivation / how much you enjoy the habit you are trying to form) An expert in motivation and habit formation, James Clear, sites this research. He suggests that it actually takes about 66 days to form a new habit.
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Let get back to the topic at hand = “Movement to Maximize Metabolic Function”
How does one use movement to increase their metabolism such that they maintain, or ideally lose, body fat?
…. Enter, ‘mild discomfort’
- Fasted Morning Movement
- Minimal Effective Dose = 15 minutes x1/week
The effects of a fasted workout can be increased if:
- Consume caffeine (coffee, tea) beforehand
- After your fasted workout; Alternating Hot/Cold shower: 10 seconds cool water, 20 seconds warm water – MED= 5 minutes
- Increase Activity Throughout Day.
- Standing workstation / avoid sitting for extended periods <MED= stand up every hour>
- Walk, or at least stand up after every meal to help control blood sugar levels.
- MED = get your heart rate up 50% for 15 minutes, everyday.
- Controlled Diaphragmatic Breathing (Through Your Nose!)
- Diaphragmatic Breathing is the best and most natural way to improve circulation (without moving), AND it stimulates digestion.
- Bonus = proven to reduce stress at the same time!
- MED= 2-4 second inhale / 4-8 second exhale – 10 times everyday (exhale twice as long as inhale).
- Don’t Stop Strength Training 🙂
- Having some extra muscle can actually ‘combat diet-induced obesity and metabolic dysfunction’.
- MED = 3 sets of 5 reps @ 8/10 in RPE (rate of perceived effort) – Three times a week.
- Bonus = MED for ‘cardiovascular health’ = Tabata- twice a week.
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Keep in mind that these suggestions represent the least amount of ‘work’ you have to do in order to stay healthy, and more work is often required to initiate a change. It starts with knowing, but knowledge is only power if you act on it!
If you have questions about this information, set up a consultation with Martin or Tyler, we are more than happy to help.
Before we finish,
One last thing on habit formation – this goes for all habits ( including New Year resolutions!):
Habits have 3 parts:
- Reminder / trigger
- Routine / the habit of choice
- Reward / every new habit requires a reward for it to stick
In fact, up to 40% of our daily activities are done habitually. They are context dependent and often occur at the level of our subconscious – that is, we don’t even realize it!
If you want to understand more about habits and how they affect our daily life check out this book by Charles Duhigg: The Power of Habit
- Here is an interview with the author.
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Martin Colangelo : “The Better Movement Specialist”
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