Fitness At 40,000 Feet

Are you a traveler who is always rushing from here to there? Are you feeling mentally-drained, experiencing insomnia, or overeating at fast foods at the airport? Do you find it difficult to overcome the discomfort and tiredness of traveling?

This book was written as a survival guide for all the fellow travelers who want to claim control over their busy lives by a salesman who clocks over 200,000 air miles a year. In this useful book you will learn:

1) 10 amazing ways to find exercise where there is none.
2) How to lose fat and have fun at the same time by being more active on the road.
3) How to exercise without having to go to a gym.
4) The secrets of a super-fit salesman
5) Fitness at 40,000 feet
6) How to run two miles in a hotel room
7) De-stressing techniques which you can use anywhere and anytime.

Buy now at a introductory price of just $25USD! We can’t promise that the price will stay there forever!

Making Fitness Simple on the Job

Work. Boy, has that word been redefined over the years. What used to require two arms and two legs now requires little more than something to sit on. At the beginning of this century, more than 30 percent of the energy needed to run the
US. economy came from the power of human muscle, but today that figure has dwindled to less than l percent. For all the good technology has done, it also has turned some broad shoulders into bay windows and size 8s to size 12s.

If this rings true you might think about employing the hours between 9 and 5 for physical as well as fiscal ends, for the good of your health, your physique, and your career.

Utterly impossible, you say? You’re desk-bound, phone-bound, and computer-bound to boot?
Not to the degree you think. Besides, even if you can manage to bum only an additional 100 calories at work per day, that’s still two-thirds of the minimum daily requirement of 150 calories needed to satisfy your 1,000-calorie»a-week quota. And it’s enough to burn off seven pounds of fat in a year!

But perhaps best of all — and this is what many people wind up liking most about getting more exercise at work ——— it’s on company time! That’s right, you will be getting paid to get fit, which you should feel free to consider the greatest perk of all in this deal, Our profit-minded companies are the ones that took workplace exercise away from us in the first place, after all: Why shouldn’t they allow us to take some of it back?
Could you be heading toward a pink slip with the sort of workplace workouts I have in mind? Not if you behave yourself. The activities I’ll be suggesting, by making you more energetic and alert, may even help fun in your career. Research shows that exercise is a significantly better energizer than the likes of a pastry or a candy bar, so by pursuing fitness on the job, you just might also be pursuing a raise.

These same energizing effects can also be enjoyed by all of you who work at home, of course, perhaps even more so because you’re limited by fewer “managerial” constraints. By building short periods of exercise into your day, you’ll have more energy, you’ll be more alert, and you’ll also find yourself more resilient to the stress of dealing with children that —— sorry, all you CEOs — can make the workplace seem like a retreat.

Exercising For Arthritis Sufferers

If you suffer from arthritis, you have yet another reason to work your workouts into your morning routine: Exercise, and stretching especially, can help alleviate stiffness in joints, which tend to tighten up as we sleep. I can vouch for this personally, as an old football injury has left me with a pretty nasty case of arthritis in my lower back that leaves me feeling about as mobile as a mannequin when I first roll out of bed. After several minutes of stretching, however (pulling my knees into my chest is especially effective), followed by some chin-ups and a quick aerobic workout on my rowing machine, I feel like a new guy.

Exercise can help soothe painful arthritic joints not only by “greasing” them with a natural lubricant known as synovial fluid, but by strengthening the muscles that support them, thereby protecting the joints by absorbing impact in ways that weaker muscles could not. “By strengthening the muscles around a joint,” says George E. Ehrlich, M.D.,

Director of the Division of Rheumatology at Hahnemann Hospital and Medical College in Philadelphia, “you not only help protect the joint, you allow it to function as it was designed,”

Check first with your doctor before you start exercising if your condition is serious. It’s going to be my guess, however, that you’ll be getting a green light, and a very enthusiastic one.

Early morning exercise is such a great eye-opener because it’s such a great artery-opener, providing your body’s cells with the oxygen and other vital nutrients they need to come to life after a night’s sleep. The lift that morning exercise gives you comes from the mood-boosting cocktail of endorphins, which can produce a first-grade “high” with no strings attached, except better health.

Even if your morning routine is just some jumping and light stretching in the shower, it’s going to make a noticeable difference in how you feel, mentally as well as physically ——— precisely the stuff of which career advancement is made, according to

Robert K. Cooper, author of Health and Fitness Excellence and The Performance Edge. For most of us in today’s hyper-automated world, “increasing our physical activity is the single most important thing we can do to improve the way we look, feel, think and perform,” according to Dr. Cooper. Better yet, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to bring these energizing changes into play.

So try to make at least some form of exercise a regular part of your morning routine. And if none of the workouts we`ve suggested seem to be your style, come up with one of your own. No one knows your schedule, your body, or your temperament better than you do, after all, so you be the fitness instructor. Be creative and be flexible, varying your activities as circumstances dictate, but always remembering that exercise is exercise whether it’s done in a sweat suit or your birthday suit, in a health club or on your bedroom floor. You’ll be burning calories and building health the same as any fitness guru with chrome bar-bells and a full-length mirror.

Strength Workouts for the AM

Remember, your daily goal is to get at least 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise, 5 to 10 minutes of strength activity, and 5 to 10 more minutes of stretching, divided into whatever increments and accomplished at whatever times you find most convenient. So if it’s some mild grunting and groaning you might prefer to do before beginning your day, try any of the following. And again, no elaborate exercise attire required. Flannel pajamas will absorb a little morning perspiration as well as any sweat suit.

Indoor Strengthening Exercises
Before you shower, try spending 5 to 10 minutes doing these strengtheners.
Back and Butt Builder. This exercise feels like swimming on land and can be done before you even get out of bed.
1) Lie facedown with your feet slightly open and your arms stretched out in front of you.
2) Keeping your head down and your abdominal muscles tightened, lift one leg and your opposite arm 6 to 12 inches off the floor. Hold for at least 5 seconds. Repeat for a total of 10, then switch to your other arm and leg.

Semi Sit-ups. Another good in-bed exercise, this one tightens the abdominals. Keep your arms straight out in front of you, crossed over your chest, or with hands clasped behind your neck, depending on your level of fitness.
1) Lie on your book with your legs bent. Keeping your chin tucked, raise your head and shoulders.
2) Hold for 5 seconds and slowly lie buck down.
Do 3 sets of 10: one forward, one to the right, and one to the left.

Arm Curls. If you have 1-3 pound weights, use them for these exercises. If you don’t, use cans of soup or jars of spaghetti sauce.

Wall Slides. Nothing beats this exercise for firming upper thighs.
1) Stand with your back against a wall with your feet about a foot from it. Keep your feet about a foot apart.
2. Slide down until your knees are bent at a 90°angle. Hold for a count of 10 and repeat as many times as you can.

Toe Raises. A good calf firmer, this can be done most anytime of the day.
1) Raise both heels from the floor to stand tip-toe. Hold for a count of 5.
2) Lower and repeat 10 times.

Isometric Curls. While waiting for your coffee to brew, do 3 sets (10 repetitions per set) with 2-minute rest in between.
1) Clasp your hands together in front of you with your elbows bent at about a 90° angle. The palm of your right hand should be facing upward, the palm of your left hand, downward.
2. Lift upward with your right hand with all the force you can while pushing down with your left hand. Hold for about 5 seconds with your handsremaining essentially motionless.
3. Repeat with hands in opposite positions.

How To Run Two Miles In a Hotel Room

Are you a traveler who is always rushing from here to there? Are you feeling mentally-drained, experiencing insomnia, or overeating at fast foods at the airport? Do you find it difficult to overcome the discomfort and tiredness of traveling?

This book was written as a survival guide for all the fellow travelers who want to claim control over their busy lives by a salesman who clocks over 200,000 air miles a year. In this useful book you will learn:

1) 10 amazing ways to find exercise where there is none.
2) How to lose fat and have fun at the same time by being more active on the road.
3) How to exercise without having to go to a gym.
4) The secrets of a super-fit salesman
5) Fitness at 40,000 feet
6) How to run two miles in a hotel room
7) De-stressing techniques which you can use anywhere and anytime.

Buy now at a introductory price of just $25USD! We can’t promise that the price will stay there forever!

The Commuters Workout

You can put your commuting time to work —— with a little imagination — whether you’re in a car, on a bus, or on a train. Isometric exercises, which use resistance to work muscles, are the way to do it.

Riding. It you’re lucky enough to be a passenger, do as many of these simple exercises as time allows. It you’re driving, do these only at a stop sign or red light, or at other times when your car is not in motion.

1) Isometric Curls
2) Hip Switch with Neck Stretch
3) Shoulder Rotations
4) Shoulder Stretch
5) Neck Stretch
6) Chin Tuck

Driving: It you’re the driver, the exercises you do must not in any way jeopardize your safety. The isometrics that Follow will leave you free to drive and respond instantly to anything that develops on the road.

1) Isometric tummy tighteners: Contract the muscles of your abdomen for 10 seconds (as if someone were about to deliver a punch to that area), pressing your buck against the seat. Hold for 10 seconds. Repeat for a total of 10.
2) Isometrics also work well for your butt muscles. Tighten, hold for 10 seconds, ond repeat for a total of 10.
3) Work your thigh muscles (quadriceps) with isometrics, too. Tighten, hold for 10 seconds, and repeat for a total of 10.

Don’t forget to use your imagination to think of new ways to get fit as you commute. Listening to music, too, can inspire you to get moving —— even it is just one muscle at a time.

Making Fitness Simple in the Morning

Time for a quick summary, because just a few short paragraphs from now it’s going to be time to put all this stuff to work.

We’ve seen that a balanced fitness program requires three basic elements:
A cardiovascular or aerobic component for weight control and the health of the circulatory system.
A strength component for maintaining muscle mass and thus an active weight controlling metabolism.

Flexibility maneuvers for keeping limber and pain-free enough to want to be active in the first place.
And yes, l know. Despite all we’ve been saying about how easy it can be, you’re still not convinced that you’re going to be able to find the time. How, simply by using your imagination, are you going to lengthen your day by the 30 minutes these fitness endeavors require?

l’ll tell you how. You’re going to do as all great running backs in the game of football do: You’re going to learn to look for openings. Any openings. Five minutes here. Ten minutes there. It can all add up regardless of intensity or duration, remember, because the new research shows that we can get our fitness in “nibbles” rather than just those long and hard-to-swallow “feasts” of old.

So relax, pay attention, and feel free to come up with some ideas of your own. Your goal each day should be to “consume” at least 20 minutes of cardiovascular activity, 5 to 10 minutes of strength-building, and 5 to l0 minutes of stretching. That might sound like a lot, but it needn’t feel like a lot if you can just learn to do what you can when you can.

The only limit to what you can achieve with this system is - as l’ve said before - your imagination.

Doing aerobic activity usually means that you can’t do any other activity at the same time. That’s one reason many of us don’t do it more often. But strength and flexibility exercises can be squeezed in while you’re doing other things, and that’s where your imagination must be especially active.

So let’s get creative, and let’s start with your most frenetic time of all: the morning, when, if you’re like most hard-working Americans, you barely have time to butter your toast. In the next article, we’ll look at how to squeeze similar fit-bits into your noon and evening hours, but for now let’s start with the morning. If you can squeeze fitness into this time, the rest should be easy.

We all have different feelings about the morning: Some of us love it, others of us just do what we can to get through it. Therefore, l’m offering many alternatives for your morning workout.

But even if you’re about as much of a morning person as Dracula, take heart: You can mix and match your exercise alternatives to create an approach that suits you and that fits into your schedule. No exercise program works if you don’t do it, so choosing an activity that you really enjoy and that conforms to your time limitations is very important.

Do you cringe at the first glimpse of sunlight when you fetch the morning paper from the front stoop? Then by all means pick indoor exercises that get your blood circulating before you open that door. Are you energized by the smell of fresh air? Then get outside right away and walk, jog, run, bike, or skate before your shower.

Whatever it is that gets your motor running, do it — and it will jumpstart you for the day ahead.
Read the next article to find out how to maximize your morning time to exercise.

Flexibility Exercises For The A.M.

As we’ve conceded, many of us find ourselves nearly comatose upon arising. If that’s you, some nice and easy stretches will help get you going painlessly, even pleasantly. In addition, they can help prime you for whatever tedious tasks your day may have in store.

Stretches can be worked into your mornings without changing your routine at all. Most can even be done before you get out of bed. Get into the habit of doing the same stretches everyday upon awakening, and they will become just that: a habit that you do without having to think about it. The same is true of the shower, a place that is especially well suited for stretching since the hot water helps loosen muscles even more.

Be sure to do stretches slowly and without bouncing to avoid the risk of muscular and/or connective tissue damage. Never stretch to the point of feeling pain.

Finally, remember to breathe as you stretch

Stretching in Bed:
Even before getting out of bed you can polish off some if not all of your flexibility requirement for the day. You’ll also get your blood circulating to help get you on your way.

1) The Jackknife. Lying on your bock, bend one leg of the knee, foot on the bed. Grasp behind the knee of the bent leg and pull it as close as possible into your chest, keeping your other leg in full contact with the bed if you can. Hold the tucked position for 20 seconds, then switch to the other knee. Repeat the sequence five times.

This stretch is particularly good for loosening the muscles of the lower back, which can be especially stiff in the morning if you suffer from low back pain due to arthritis.

2) The Long Stretch. Lie on your bock with your arms of your sides, thumbs up. Tilt your pelvis until your lower bock is pressed into the bed; hold. Press your heels out and slowly raise your arms over your head to the point of comfort. Continue to breathe as you hold this position for 30 seconds. Then relax the legs, and keeping your pelvis tilted, return your arms to the starting position.

3) The Trunk Stretch. This stretch helps to increase flexibility in the upper body. Get on your hands and knees. Keeping your arms straight in front of you, slowly sit back onto your heels while pressing down with your palms. (Your head should end up lowered between your arms.) Hold for 30 seconds, breathing normally. (Tuck your pillow behind your knee crease if this feels tight.)

Stretching in the bathroom:
Many people find stretching in the shower more comfortable because of the moist heat, which soothes and relaxes stiff muscles. To get the most out of your bathroom time, try the following:

1) While brushing your teeth, slowly rotate your upper body at the hips as far in each direction as you can. Good for loosening the muscles of the lower back and hips.

2) While in the shower, stretch the muscles of your neck, shoulders, and upper back by gently tilting your head as far as you can to one side, then forward, and then to the other side. Repeat several times.

3) Shoulder rotations feel especially good under hot water.

4) When out of the shower, touch your toes (or at least get as close as you can) as you’re toweling off. Keep your legs straight and be careful not to bounce. Good for stretching the hamstrings —the large muscles at the back of the thighs.

How To Exercise Without Going To Gym

Are you a traveler who is always rushing from here to there? Are you feeling mentally-drained, experiencing insomnia, or overeating at fast foods at the airport? Do you find it difficult to overcome the discomfort and tiredness of traveling?

This book was written as a survival guide for all the fellow travelers who want to claim control over their busy lives by a salesman who clocks over 200,000 air miles a year. In this useful book you will learn:

1) 10 amazing ways to find exercise where there is none.
2) How to lose fat and have fun at the same time by being more active on the road.
3) How to exercise without having to go to a gym.
4) The secrets of a super-fit salesman
5) Fitness at 40,000 feet
6) How to run two miles in a hotel room
7) De-stressing techniques which you can use anywhere and anytime.

Buy now at a introductory price of just $25USD! We can’t promise that the price will stay there forever!

A 3 Part Series: Nothing to Sweat! - Part 3

Component 3: Flexibility Exercise

Flexibility, as it applies to physical fitness, is defined as the ability to use a part of the body through its full range of motion. This does not mean that we need to be as limber as a contortionist, however. It simply means that we need to keep our muscles and joints mobile enough to avoid discomforts that especially for those of us with jobs that have us sitting all day — can leave us feeling about as limber as the Tin Man.

Muscles and connective tissue (ligaments and tendons) tend to shorten and tighten with age even in the habitually active, so you can imagine the liabilities for those of us who are deskbound. Chronic back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, headaches, bad posture, undue fatigue, and heightened vulnerability to stress all can result from muscles and joints simply too upright for their own good.

Fortunately, many of the exercises and activities l recommend for building cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength can help keep you loose, but lt’s also important to have an arsenal of stretches for particular problems caused by sedentary endeavors - that why-do-I-suddenly-feel-like-l’m-made-of-concrete sensation that comes over you after one too many hours glued to a computer screen. Or that feeling of not being able to touch your knees much less your toes after two hours spent in the bleachers watching Susie’s extra-inning softball game.

Most importantly, Staying flexible helps to prevent back-neck, and shoulder pain, aw well as headaches and fatigue.

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