Physical Fitness

It's unfortunate, but about two-thirds of Americans are obese. Sustained, physically demanding work is not the norm any more, as society and technology has progressed to a point where we need a much lower population percentage of farmers and other physically demanding labor than we did 130 years ago. We have forklifts that take the place of several strong-backed men. Many of our manufacturing processes are now automated. The list goes on, but the point is, Americans, and other people living in industrialized areas of the world are much less active in their daily lifestyles than they were four generations ago. On top of that, food has become less nutritious due to the large-scale industrialization of farming, leading to nutritionally depleted soils and poisons contributing to the diminished nourishing ability of the foods we eat. Look at the foods we love: chips, sugar sodas, burgers, fries, fried foods, processed foods, beer, hot dogs and many more unhealthy edible items.  Collectively, we live more sedentary lifestyles and we eat less nutritious food.
A person living in the modern world must consciously make an effort to:

1) Exercise effectively and
2) Ensure they get proper nutrition to support increased activity levels.

For most people, it's definitely not easy. We wake up tired at 6:30 or 7:30 A.M. because we watched television shows online until midnight. If we eat breakfast at all, it may be something less than nutritious. We go to work and sit in front of a computer screen all day while eating unhealthy snacks and an unhealthy lunch, rarely getting up from our desks. At midday, we plan to go to the gym after dinner, but on the way home in our car, we suddenly feel drained. After dinner, we plan to take a rain-check on the gym and tell ourselves we'll hit it up tomorrow. Twenty minutes after the kids are in bed, we suddenly have enough energy to watch a couple hours of television while eating more unhealthy snacks. This seems to happen on a daily basis during the workweek for many working adults.

My best work days start out something like this:

• I wake up at about 6:30 A.M. with plenty of time before my 8:30 A.M. show-time at work. I drink my Ionix Supreme to maintain good health, followed by a few small glasses of water.
• I take a few of the dietary supplements that do not affect my stomach
• I do 50 lunges using the proper technique, followed by 100 bicycle crunches, 30-40 leg extensions, a max set of bench-pressing a lightly-weighted barbell and sometimes I will throw in some light dumbbell curls or iron crosses.
• Quickly after finishing my short workout, I drink my Isalean or Isalean Pro shake from Isagenix and take my Ageless Essential vitamins. During my breakfast, my sons are usually awake at this time watching something like 'Cat and the Hat' so I sit there watching it with them while drinking my shake, taking my vitamins and pounding the agua. 
• I shower and do the rest of my morning hygiene routine before getting dressed and going to work.

Granted, I don't always do this routine before work, but I always feel best when I do. It's basically a warm-up for the day and leaves me feeling energized and gives my muscles and metabolism a quick little jolt to start the day out with.

While at work, I take opportunities to walk to other agencies in order to talk to colleagues face-to-face if they work downtown like I do. During my first and last 10 minute breaks, I will do 20-30 push-ups followed by 100 body weight squats and 300-500 arm rotations. I may also do some ab-work, depending on how I'm doing for time at this point. I don't do the same things every time, either.

During my half an hour lunch break, I often take a brisk walk outside during nicer weather to the point where I break a mild sweat and begin breathing harder than normal. On rainy days, I have a mall two blocks from where I work and take a walk in the mall. I even sprint up the escalators when nobody is in the way. If I don't feel like walking during lunch, I go to the break room once again and do more body squats or lunges, some ab-work and more push-ups.

The point I'm getting at in telling you all this is that you can keep yourself active throughout the day, and it's fairly easy. You can exercise anywhere and you don't need a bunch of fancy equipment. Don't get me wrong, state of the art workout equipment is nice when you have access to it, but most of the time, you don't. To reach a better level of physical fitness, oftentimes all it takes is for you to get off your duff and get moving all throughout the day.

A dramatic increase in physical activity without giving your body proper nutrition is like trying to race your Corvette, but putting sub-par gasoline in the tank beforehand. Not only will your car's performance be adversely affected, you also may damage your machine. Your body is the same way.

If you are trying to lose body fat, reduce the amount of calories you consume. People in industrialized nations tend to consume far more calories than necessary. If you actually monitor your caloric intake for a day, you may be surprised at how many calories you are consuming. Eat foods that are low in fat and simple carbohydrates. Go for the whole grains when looking for carb-rich foods, but don't overdo it. Include lots of protein in your diet so when you work out, you will build muscle which burns fat and keeps your body properly fed. Do not starve yourself.

Keep your body strong, particularly your immune system. Eat foods that boost your immune system and keep your body running smoothly. I have heard people say that vitamins and supplements are not necessary if you eat all the foods with every nutrient in them. Who really wants to eat all of that food? Taking the right vitamin supplements gets your body what it needs without buying out the grocery store on every visit.

There are many other components of physical fitness, but I feel that this is a good introduction. You do not have to spend hours working out every day in order to stay in shape. Stay active all day long and eat the right stuff.

***Friendly Tip*** Take some Vitamin C right after an exhausting workout to keep your immune system up to avoid getting sick.