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(#2) Change Your Mind, Change Your Shape

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December 8, 2009
	Dr. Gary Huber : Head Medical Ego

As I set my sights on upcoming holiday treats I started earning some credit in the gym today. Remember that the heart of this plan is that intense sugary holiday treats must be offset with intense exercise. The reason is simple. When you go for a moderate paced walk you may consider that exercise but you are not changing your fitness level. It’s only when you push into your anaerobic threshold that you bump up your “fitness level” and people with greater fitness levels will burn fat more efficiently.

So that’s where we all need to go if we are to enjoy the holiday spread without gaining a holiday spread. See tomorrow’s post on “Anaerobic Threshold and Gorilla Training.” For those of you that just got scared or intimidated by the mention of intense exercise, take a deep breath and relax, all things are possible with a gradual introduction and slow build up.

I got up early and went to the gym to do some high intensity intervals. Someone gave me a workout years ago called “Gorilla Intervals.” I love it because it is intense but short, and in fact only takes 13 minutes.

It involves a 6 minute warm up followed by 8, 30 second intervals that consist of a 20 second all out effort followed by a 10 second rest. By the 7th interval you want to barf up a lung, it’s wonderful. The intensity is only for 4 minutes followed by a 3 minute cool down but my heart rate gets up to 175 and the sweat starts pouring. I usually follow this with some resistance training for 20 to 30 minutes.

Now that is one big fat burner that has worked for me for years and tomorrow I will get into a little more detail about the actual workout. In general, I always start that workout thinking “Great, I can knock this out in 13 minutes and get on with my day,” and by interval #4 or 5 I’m thinking, “maybe I’ll decrease the resistance on this elliptical for the last 3 reps, or maybe just do 6 reps” but I never do.

Yesterday was no exception. I pushed through the mental bailout and got my sweat and heart rate up. It is so empowering every time I complete that exercise. It’s more mental than physical and that’s true of life and true of this holiday challenge. It always seems tougher in our minds and that will always be our biggest battle. The battle to convince ourselves to get out of a warm bed and get to a cold gym weighs us down. The battle to leave our desk, our kitchen, our family or whatever productive activity we find ourselves engaged in to go “waste time” in a gym.

Many of us have a bad habit of placing very little value on exercise so it gets relegated to the bottom of our “To Do” list instead of being a “must do.” Exercising every day is no less important that brushing your teeth. (You do brush, right?)

Well this is your chance to change the priority of exercise and make it a part of who you are. A part of your very fabric and persona. This is the new habit you want to establish now so that you carry it with you into the New Year.

You are in charge of your life; you get to decide what and who you are all about. I don’t want to look in my mirror and make excuses. I want to be a person who says, yes it was tough but I did all 8 intervals and it felt damn good. I am moving forward. I did something today that will serve my physical and my mental health; it will serve my spouse and my kids as I am stronger for them.

Those 13 minutes changes my whole day and influenced the rest of my life, mostly because it strengthened my mental resolve. You can and will do anything that you believe in.

Start examining your beliefs and strengthen you mental resolve. You are what you believe yourself to be . . . check your beliefs and take control of your mind set.

Get busy . . . those cookies are coming.