You’ve probably heard the phrase “sitting is the new smoking.” Certainly, a sedentary lifestyle increases your risk for chronic degenerative disease and reduces muscle mass, which comes with a cascade of health consequences. Keeping and building muscle is crucial, but over-exercising promotes chronic stress that could cause weight gain, hormone imbalance, blood-sugar dysregulation, and fat storage.



                       

Movement is essential to your health and here is where you should start! If your adrenals are suffering we will get super specific with you on how you should move your body while you heal!

WALKING- Start with 30 minutes at a slow pace. Avoid long durations of walking. Example: If you prefer to walk an hour, split it up 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening. 

LIFT WEIGHTS- Lifting weights 2-3 times per week for 30 minute intervals. Lift what is heavy to YOU- This can be 5lbs at first. Lifting weights balances hormones increases muscle mass for fat metabolism, and prevents insulin resistance. We rapidly loose muscle in our second half life which causes a host of metabolic issues all by itself. 

These two types of movement provide a long list of benefits without initiating a stress response. It's vital to listen to your body. If you feel energized after a workout then you are on the right track. If you feel exhausted, weak and like you need to take a nap, then it was too much for you at this time. Reduce and try again. 


 

Over-training occurs when there is not enough rest between workouts or when training sessions are too long or too intense. You may think that hitting the gym five days a week is a noble aspiration or that long cardio sessions are the ticket to weight loss, but such habits are obstacles to both sustainable health and longevity.

While exercise is very beneficial for our overall health and well-being, it is important to recognize that overexercising can pose certain dangers and risks to our bodies. Here are some of the potential dangers associated with overexercising:

Hormonal imbalances: Intense and prolonged exercise can disrupt the delicate balance of hormones in the body. Overexercising may cause an excessive release of stress hormones known as cortisol while suppressing the production of reproductive hormones such as estrogen and testosterone. This can lead to imbalances in both men and women.

Weakened immune system: Engaging in excessive exercise without adequate recovery periods can weaken the immune system, making you more susceptible to infections, illnesses, and a general feeling of being run down. Intense and prolonged exercise can temporarily suppress the immune system, leaving you vulnerable to opportunistic pathogens.

Nutritional deficiencies: When you engage in excessive exercise, you burn more calories and deplete energy stores in the body. If you don't consume enough nutrients and calories to replenish what you've lost, it can lead to nutritional deficiencies, such as insufficient intake of carbohydrates, proteins, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals. This can negatively impact your overall health, impair recovery, and hinder your body's ability to repair tissues.

Increased risk of injury: Overexercising can lead to a higher risk of acute injuries, such as sprains, strains, fractures, and dislocations. It also increases the likelihood of overuse injuries, including tendinitis, stress fractures, and muscle strains, due to the repetitive stress placed on the body without adequate rest and recovery.

 By knowing your specific target heart rate, you can tailor your exercise program to your fitness level and capacity, ensuring that you're working at the appropriate intensity for your body.

To quickly calculate your target heart rate, you can use the age-based formula:

Age-based formula (estimated max heart rate): The most common method for calculating your maximum effort heart rate is to use the age-based formula. It provides an estimate based on your age, although it may not be entirely accurate for everyone as individual variations exist. The formula is as follows:

Maximum Heart Rate (bpm) = 220 - Age x 0.7

For example, if you are 30 years old, your estimated maximum effort heart rate would be 220 - 30 x 0.7 = 133 beats per minute (bpm).

Exercise & 
Movement