Exercise is one of the core daily habits cops should include in our daily routine. Exercise keep us healthy and helps us get better sleep. Specifically for sleep geeks, it causes us to spend more time in the deep nREM cycles, which helps us feel more well-rested when we wake up. Exercise also plays a role in helping us lose weight, though not nearly as much as a good, healthy, controlled diet.
It’s important to note exercise alone only builds muscle under layers of body fat. Without a good, healthy diet, we won’t lose much of that fat. An overly-simplified-but-still-effective way to frame it is DIET cuts away excess fat; EXERCISE shapes what’s underneath.
What is the Bare Minimum?
Most experts agree we don’t need a ton of exercise to stay reasonably fit and healthy. A routine of about 150 minutes of moderate exercise (like walking, yoga, or water aerobics) or 75 minutes of rigorous exercise (running, swimming, hiking up and down steep hills, jiu jitsu) will be adequate for most of the population. That’s only about 20-25 minutes per day. This is a minimum of us should be getting.
To measure your workout intensity, the easiest way is to use the talk test. It’s not super valid or reliable, but it’s easy. If you can talk in complete sentences but still sweat, it’s moderate exercise. If you can only talk two or three words at a time, it’s rigorous exercise.
Getting Ready to Start
If we don’t exercise right now, we need to start with a trip to our doctor to make sure it’s not going to kill us. It’s also a good idea to give them a heads-up; they can give you advice based on any existing medical issues or family histories that could interfere with our exercise routine.
When we start, we want to ease into it. Overdoing it, in the beginning, is one of the most common ways to get injured. It’s also going to result in a lot of “delayed onset muscle soreness” (that soreness we experience a day or two after we start exercising.)
The Basic Rules
These are the general rules that, based on the latest exercise science research, should guide any and all exercise routines.
- The exercises and program should be specific to each individual’s abilities and goals. Human bodies are capable of an amazing array of physical activities. We need to choose what works for us.
- Overload our body a little bit to cause adaptation, and we should progress as our body adapts. Exercise should be a little difficult. When it gets easy, we do harder stuff.
- Exercise needs to be variable to avoid overuse, injuries, and plateaus. We don't want to be a one-trick pony. For example, if we want to be a runner, we don’t just run. We add in some weight lifting or other variety.
- Rest and recovery are as important as the exercise. Rest days are when our body recovers, which is what causes the progress. This includes plenty of sleep.
- Use it or lose it. Our body adapts to exercise. It also adapts to laziness. If we stop exercising, our progress will disappear, usually pretty quickly.
- Improvement is an asymptote. When we first start, we'll progress quickly. Then the gains come more slowly. The better/ stronger/ faster we get, the slower you progress. This is normal; it doesn’t mean we have to work exponentially harder.
- Periodization prevents interference. Probably. Some exercises produce results that conflict. For example, running generally reduces muscle mass. If we do a lot of running while trying to build muscle, the running may interfere with the muscle gains. Periodization, where we focus on one type of exercise (running OR lifting), will prevent that interference.
- Fun and “play” are the best motivators. The best exercise routine is a routine we love to do (what psychologists call “intrinsic motivation”.) This assures we’ll keep doing it over a long period of time. The most reliable way to enjoy exercise is to make it into a game you enjoy playing.
Jason’s Additional Guidelines
The following guidelines are my own recommendations based on my own experiences with the fitness industry over the last few decades. We don’t have to follow these guidelines, but if we do, we’ll see better results.
We don’t want to be “gym fit.” People who are gym fit spend all their time in the gym, usually lifting weights. They usually look pretty good, but can’t use their fitness for any real practical purpose. Ideally, we want to be functionally fit (capable of doing stuff with your improved fitness.) Later, I’ll discuss honest versus fake signaling in human social interactions, but for now, just know being gym fit doesn’t result in as large of a social boost as being functionally fit.
Exercise should be functional in nature because it’s universally attractive for both males and females. Related to the last point, we get more social “bang” for our exercise buck if the exercise is functional in nature. Does the exercise make us better at routine life tasks? Then the exercise is going to give an added boost to how people perceive us socially.
Participate in a sport, do some basic weightlifting, and run really fast a few times per week. This is my official recommendation of WHAT to do. Find a sport or two you like, and do it regularly. Lift weights, ideally using high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or some other functional fitness routine. Crossfit is a good beginner’s choice.
Trainers are really helpful. If we have no idea what we’re doing, hire a trainer. Years and years ago, Shelly and I worked with a phenomenal trainer (Jim Cech), who had a profound impact on what would become a lifelong enjoyment of a particular brand of intense fitness. Pretty much any commercial gym (including rec centers and your local YMCA) will offer trainers for hire. Use them.
Outdoors > Indoors. Whenever possible, exercise outdoors. This seems to have a fairly profound effect on our mental health and cognitive function, which is probably related to sun exposure. Hell, consider going barefoot, too.
How Long Will it Take Before I See Results?
The hardest part about starting a fitness routine is waiting for real, noticeable results. We won’t see results after one day. Or two. Or ten. It takes time for your body to adapt to the new activity. I’ve found this guideline to be incredibly useful:
After ONE month of regular exercise, we’ll notice a difference in how we look naked.
After TWO months of regular exercise, people who see you naked will notice a difference in how we look.
After THREE months, everyone will notice a difference in how we look, even in clothes.
So we need to make it our goal to exercise regularly for that first month. Once YOU see the difference, you’ll be motivated to get to the point where others notice the difference.
The “I Deserve This Bearclaw” Trap
Remember, diet is how we lose fat, not exercise. Avoid the common mistake of getting in a great exercise session, then immediately eating pastries, leftover birthday cake, or that 850 calorie Starbucks milkshake masquerading as a “coffee drink.”
Exercise doesn’t burn nearly as many calories as people believe, which often causes this problem. For example, running a mile, weightlifting for 20 minutes, or playing basketball for 15 minutes each only burns about 100 calories. An apple fritter contains about 450 calories.
This is the reason we focus on diet and not exercise to lose weight.
The Challenges
The Challenges that are part of the Authentology Project are designed around some simple exercises that measure basic fitness levels. We start the Challenges with a baseline, then end the Challenges by measuring the same baselines. What happens between the start and finish is up to the individual competitors.
This is by design.
The purpose is to encourage exploration and experimentation. We'll find stuff we like, and we'll find stuff we don't like. We keep doing the stuff we do like. That's how we maintain consistent fitness.
Need another opinion? Here's an except from Jocko's book "Discipline Equals Freedom":
The Workouts
These ideas will get us started on a good exercise routine. If you haven't joined one of our Challenges, jump in the next one. Check out our Facebook group for the latest updates on the next cycle!
~Jason
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