GAIN FITNESS and LOSE WEIGHT-FAST

To say that I was skeptical would be a gross understatement. The only reason I continued to read the information was because it was written by a medical doctor. Like you, I still occasionally buy into the theory that MD's are Gods with a small "g" - just ask one. What he had to say was so totally different than anything I understood to be the truth about physical fitness, routines and workout theory that I couldn't stop myself from reading on. As I continued reviewing the remarkable information, it slowly began to make sense in a common sense sort of way.


There is a bit of a disconnect between what our bodies were originally designed to accomplish and what has evolved into modern fitness practices. I started working out in high school and have sporadically dragged myself into a gym or out on a roadway or hiking path since then with the goal of "getting into shape." I always thought that the right approach was to continually push myself to lift more weight more frequently, jog further and more often, to the point where workouts would run into an hour and more, not counting travel time. Like so many others, I would simply get tired of doing this every day or other day, get pressed for time to fit it in or injure myself from the repetitive strain and eventually the whole process would grind to a halt.



Dr. Al Sears, MD is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Youth Sports Coaches Association and an ACE certified fitness trainer. In addition, he has a worldwide readership of millions from over 123 countries and has appeared on over 50 national radio programs, ABC, CNN amd ESPN. He lives in Florida where he has helped transform the lives of over 20,000 patients. I originally heard about him from another doctor whom I highly respect for his commitment to functional medicine and began to read Dr. Sears' reports and research. He made so much sense when he described how and why our bodies respond to workload (physical training) stress and why it is so often counter-productive and entirely too time consuming. Here's the crux of his program: our bodies are designed for short bursts of intense energy and strength based on our ancient need to escape the many dangers that lurked around us. When ancient homo sapiens began walking upright, we weren't the most dangerous animal in the woods. We didn't have guns, bows and arrows, smart bombs and night vision binoculars. We had 2 things - our wits and our legs, and they both needed to work very fast or we became dinner for some sabre toothed tiger. We have been smart enough, as a species over the centuries, to change the landscape and climb to the top of the food chain based on our intelligence, but our bodies are still designed for escape. This is why the largest muscles in our body exist in our legs and why we need to make sure they remain the strongest.


Dr. Sears presents a program designed to use the inherent qualities of our body rather than fight against our natural needs by forcing our muscles into performing long and damaging training routines that are actually doing more harm than good. Here's the good news - he offers a series of excercise modules that are done in 10-12 minutes - and that's 10 minutes per day! In addition to specific recommendations, he gives his readers all sorts of options and skills to create the strong, lean bodies that are hiding inside each of us. He includes charting formats to track progress and keep us not only on track but always changing the elements of a workout routine to keep us fresh and more importantly, healthier, stronger and happier. You will learn and experience why it is better to spend 90 seconds in intense exercise and then 2 minutes of rest. You will see why our bodies continue to use up fat stores hours after our routines have ended when we set them up to do so. I know this to be true because I have experienced it personally. Following Dr. Sears' program along with a diet that is very low in processed foods has allowed me to lose 40 pounds in 4 months and I am now stronger and healthier than I was when I hiked the 45 mile West Coast Trail, 5 years ago.



I strongly recommend going to Dr. Sears' website and checking out his book - Rediscover Your Native Fitness. I had been spending a little over an hour a day in a combination of aerobic and weight training and must admit, I was making some progress but sometimes the time commitment made it very impractical. I could see myself falling into an old rut of changing my routine to every other day and then missing a long weekend and so on and so on until I was back to waving a golf club at a ball once a week and calling it exercise. The PACE program, introduced in Dr. Sears' book, made the whole "getting into shape" deal manageable and realistic. Honestly, I no longer dread going down to the basement and slugging it out on the treadmill for an hour or worse, getting in my car, going to the gym (with all of those annoyingly athletic hard bodies), changing my clothes, finding a machine, cleaning it, changing the weights to a lighter number, doing a set, watching while someone else claims and adjusts it, cleaning it again, doing set number 2 and after an hour or so of this, changing my clothes, driving home and making dinner. I'm exhausted just writing about it! Now, I hit the exercise mat or the treadmill for 12 minutes, relax on the deck afterwards while soaking up a little vitamin D and I'm getting better results, feeling better, looking better and losing weight.


I've dialed up the intensity and dialed down the time spent. This program works for me and I know it will work for you too. It is ideal for people who are a little more mature (in years) and who want to get on with life and don't require the social "possibilities" of working out in a gym...not that there is anything wrong with that. Let's face it, we could still go to the gym, pay our money and use this program to get incredibly fit and have a little more time to stand around and admire ourselves and others. Perhaps I should install a mirror in my basement.