Do You Have A Fitness Battle Plan?

In fitness, as in war, you want to be on the offensive, not the

defensive and this means that rather than reacting to maladies

as they occur, far better to be in good general physical

condition; preventive maintenance is preferable to remedial

effort every time. One general rule of thumb I use is energy is

the basic coin of the fitness realm and without it is damned

difficult to mount any kind of serious fitness effort.





To obtain energy to power through workouts is the first order

of business: if you are tired all the time, exhausted by life

and unable to get it together physically or psychologically, I

would suggest two immediate lifestyle changes -- cut back on

the amount of food and begin walking every morning. Overeating

is an energy-sapping culprit. Too many calories, particularly

the wrong kind, the type that cause insulin to spike or the

type of nutrient that converts easily to body fat, will drain

energy faster then leaving the car door open all night and

keeping the lights on. Early morning walking, particularly done

out of doors, is invigorating. Plus early AM power walking

elevates the basal metabolic rate. The rate at which the body

oxidizes calories is kicked up by cardio in general and most

particularly by cardio done on an empty stomach.





Another trick of the trade is to have a cup of coffee or a

caffeine-laced tea before the cardio walk. Caffeine on an empty

stomach taken in combination with exercise accelerates the

mobilization of trans-fatty acids. After an all-night

sleep/fast the body is low on glycogen, the emulsified form of

carbohydrate, when aerobic activity is performed the body will

burned stored body fat to fuel the cardio activity. If you ever

travel to a hardcore bodybuilding gym early in the morning

you'll see all the hulking bodybuilders performing cardio. They

are there to take advantage of this particular physiological

anomaly and burn off body fat via pre-breakfast cardio.





In addition, hitting an aerobic-style exercise session before

breakfast elevates to metabolism for hours after the conclusion

of the session and elevating the heart rate in a systematic

fashion improves heart and lung functionality and food

digestion. Perhaps the strongest rationale for early morning

cardio is that by doing it 1st thing it GETS DONE! Life has a

way of throwing obstacles galore in our path as the day's

events unfold and by hitting a walk around the neighborhood 1st

thing, daily events and cumulative fatigue will not derail the

session. Start with a comfortable walk at a comfortable pace

and add one minute per session. If you power walk five times a

week and start off with a 10-minute session, at the end of a

month the session will be up to 30-minutes.





At that point, 30 minutes five times weekly, keep the frequency

and the duration and consciously seek to increase the intensity,

i.e. walk faster. This creeping incrementalism eases you into

the game. In conjunction with the walking, cut back on the

caloric intake. After calories are reduced, clean up the food

selection. Again all this flows together in a loose momentum

building effort. More walking, early morning walking, fewer

calories, better selection.your energy will skyrocket and the

effort will unfold in a sane rational fashion. After a month or

two, add in some progressive resistance training and you'll be

shot from a proverbial fitness cannon. The nice summer weather

makes early outdoor walking a joyful experience and when we

truly enjoy an activity we seek to repeat it -- this melding of

enthusiasm with exercise is the long-term secret to fitness

success.arty Gallagher is a former Strength columnist

for washingtonpost.com. Marty's articles have been featured in

Muscle Media, Muscle & Fitness, and Powerlifting USA magazines.

His website, http://www.martygallagher.com, assimilates years of

accumulated knowledge from the athletic elite and makes them

accessible to the common person.

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