If You Can't Do It Right, Do It Often

These are the words of fitness expert Covert Bailey in his book The Ultimate Fit or Fat. And I can see you're ready to bite: If you can't to what’s right, do it often?

Aerobic exercise, of course!

And once you realize what he means, it's an encouraging piece of advice.

Covert has three cardinal rules about aerobic exercise. First, he says, it absolutely requires the use of your legs and buttocks muscles so you can get what he calls a "whole-body, systemic response."

The second cardinal rule is that true aerobic exercise is "nonstop." As he describes it a stroll down the street making stops to talk to every Tom, Dick and Harry, just isn't classified as aerobic exercise.

And finally, you should not push yourself so hard that you get out of breath while you do it.

But then he says, if you can't meet any of or even some of those requirements then break those rules -- and break them often.

If you're new to exercise, the idea of a nonstop jog for twenty minutes is just that -- a great idea! But it's nothing that's going to happen with your body anytime soon. In fact, if you're like me when I first started my exercise program, I couldn't even walk for 20 minutes, let alone jog.

Bailey is making a very valuable point. We tend to get entangled in the rules of exercise and forget the motto of Nike’s "Just Do It!" If you can do "a whole lot of" near-aerobic exercise or "not quite aerobic" exercise, you may be helping your body just as much as a moderate amount of true aerobics that sticks to the letter of the law.

Can't exercise at a continued pace for 20 minutes? No problem. Break that rule, then. Do what you can, but do it several times a day. Jog as far as your body will let you, but get at and do it several times throughout your day. You'll still reap the benefits, Bailey explains.

In fact, getting snatches of what you can do even as many as five times a day is not out of the question. And it doesn't matter what. Don't think that each of those five ventures into the exercise arena must target the same activity.

Try a mini-trampoline for a few minutes (until your body sends you a clear message it's tired). Use a treadmill a little bit later in the day, maybe even after that jump on that stationary bicycle for a while.

Obviously, as a novice and not being in perfect shape, you won't be able to sustain any one of these activities for a full 20 minutes. But don't worry, they'll all work together to help.

And you really don't have to perform any one of these activities really hard. Just do it. If you can't do it right, do it often!

One of Bailey's favorite sayings when he encourages people who are just beginning their journey is to "start so slowly that people make fun of you!"

Not your typical exercise advice! But there's wisdom behind the humor. He explains that there are even benefits to exercising slowly. Just as your body adapts to you skipping a meal by going into the famine mode, your body will eventually get the message when it realizes how often you're exercising. It'll gear up for a healthier mode!

This is the key that many out-of-shape people forget. They look at the overall picture, sigh heavily and decide that the goal is just too large to tackle. If they only meet their health condition where it is right now, do what they can (even if people laugh) then inch by inch (sometimes literally so) they'll find that they' re getting better.

And the next thing you know, you're spending 20 minutes or more at one activity -- and loving every minute of it.

If you can't do it right -- do it often.

Top

Enter your search terms Submit search form