Exercise Plans Portland OR

The Ultimate Workout

Provided by: 

You don’t need a celebrity trainer to stay in shape. This get-fit plan is super easy to stick with (and guaranteed to give you quick results).

The Expert:
Katy Santiago, director of the Restorative Exercise Institute in Ventura, California, and creator of Gaiam’s restorative exercise DVD programs.

Lots of exercise plans take a highly targeted approach: Some have a bias for beefy biceps, others focus only on constant cardio, and still others fixate on abs—literally ad nauseam. Now that may suit a sports- or image-related need, but adopting a simple, sustainable wellness routine makes more sense in the long run. While we all understand that any type of movement is better than hours logged in our favorite chair, many of us have no idea that specific types of exercise can prevent or even reverse disease.

Although each of us has a unique personality and genetic makeup, our bodies all function in much the same way. They produce cells as rapidly as we need them—unless something happens to impair the process. When cellular reproduction begins to slow down, pain, injury, or disease can result. What’s the fix? Keep moving: Cartilage, bone, ligament, muscle, and nerves are just a few of the tissues that can regenerate if circulation increases through more muscle movement. Physical activity pulls fresh blood and oxygen—what cells thrive on—toward the muscles and surrounding tissue.

Every one of your body’s 650 muscles needs frequent use. When you limit your movement, the body shortens the affected muscles and the connective myofascial tissue that surrounds them. Certain muscles become dormant, circulation and range of motion decrease, and disease and injury become more likely. To ensure all muscles and connective tissues are at their optimal length, get moving with our ultimate exercise plan.

Every day, choose…
Whole-body exercise. Your body functions best with regular whole-body movement. Daily workouts may seem like an indulgence in our overly scheduled days, but for the body’s optimum health, exercise is non-negotiable. While gravity aids the downhill flow of blood from your heart to the rest of the body, returning the blood back up to the heart depends in part on the rhythmic contraction of the leg muscles. When we sit for too long or too often, our leg muscles become inactive, forcing the cardiovascular system to pick up the slack. The heart has to pump harder and more frequently, while the small muscles in the blood vessels have to work the blood uphill by themselves, wearing them out before their time.

Whole-body exercise can range from free-form dancing to walking around your neighborhood. Choose activities that require you to use both sides of your body equally and in which you sit as little as possible. While exercises such as rowing and pedaling a bicycle may be a good way to break a sweat, they don’t offer the same health benefits to your organ systems as movement requiring that you carry your own body weight.

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