2684: The Best Workout Routine - How to Train Optimally

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever noticed how a calm mind can really set the stage for a good night's sleep?

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_00]: That's the idea behind our new podcast, Good Sleep. Greg, our host from Optimal Relationships Daily,

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_00]: is here to help ease you into a peaceful night's rest with some positive affirmations.

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And these affirmations aren't just comforting, they can help ease anxiety and nurture positive

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_00]: thoughts, setting you up for true good sleep. So, press play on Good Sleep Tonight because

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_00]: a good tomorrow starts with a good night's sleep. Just search for Good Sleep in your podcast app

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_00]: and be sure to pick the one from Optimal Living Daily. It's another Q&A edition of Optimal Health

[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Daily, and I'm Dr. Neal Malik. Hey there, happy Friday and welcome to another Q&A edition of

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Optimal Health Daily where I answer your health questions related to fitness, diet and nutrition

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_00]: and more. You send in the questions and I answer them for you. Oh, and if you do send

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: in a question and you're in the U.S., we'll mail you a copy of our hardcover workbook. If you're

[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_00]: outside of the U.S., we'll email you a PDF version. Now, what's the easiest way to send in a question?

[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Just email it to health at oldpodcast.com. Alright, and with that, let's jump right in

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_00]: and hear today's question as we optimize your life. Today's question came via email. Ken writes,

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Hi Dr. Neal, this is Ken from the Philippines. I'm a regular listener to your show. My wife and I

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_00]: recently got ourselves a gym membership, and our goals are of course, fat loss and improved

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_00]: general fitness. I have some experience with strength training back in my college days and

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_00]: the misses generally lives a non-active lifestyle. So, I took on the role of our own personal

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_00]: trainer despite my lack of qualifications and experience. What I'm learning from the many

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_00]: different sources on the internet is to combine resistance and cardio training. Can you please

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_00]: speak more about this? And may I ask for your thoughts on what our ideal training week would

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00]: look like? My wife and I have full-time jobs with no kids. We plan on going to the gym for

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: about an hour a day, at least three days a week, and we are both determined to be in the best

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_00]: shape of our lives. Thank you so much for taking the time to send in your question, Ken,

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_00]: from the Philippines, and thank you for being such a dedicated listener. I truly appreciate you.

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, the ideal training to help you and your wife get in the best shape of your lives is

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_00]: drum roll please, the one you both will stick to over the long term. Come on as a

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: long-time listener, you knew I had to say that, but you also know that I'm not going to

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: leave it at that. I will provide you with some more specifics. So, let's get to it.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_00]: There are five components to physical fitness. So, we want to make sure that our exercise program

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_00]: includes all of these components to some extent. Here are the five components,

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_00]: cardiovascular fitness, musculoskeletal fitness, flexibility, balance and speed.

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_00]: So, the ideal is to regularly incorporate all of these components in our exercise routine.

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, let's start with the first one and probably the most straightforward,

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_00]: cardiovascular fitness. Improving our cardiovascular fitness or our cardio basically means improving

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_00]: the health of our heart and our blood vessels. Cardio simply means heart and vascular means

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_00]: blood vessels. Exercises that help improve heart and blood vessel health are rhythmic

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_00]: whole body activities that are performed at a moderate to vigorous intensity over a period of time.

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_00]: So, very simply we're talking about things like walking, jogging, cycling, rowing, swimming,

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_00]: you get the idea. Ideally performing these activities at a moderate pace at a minimum

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_00]: will improve the health of our cardiovascular system, our heart and blood vessels.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Next, musculoskeletal fitness. Now, musculoskeletal fitness is a little bit trickier. There are actually

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: two subtypes of musculoskeletal fitness, muscular strength and muscular endurance.

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_00]: These two concepts again can be a little bit more confusing. Building muscular strength,

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_00]: for example, requires a different form of exertion when compared to building muscular

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_00]: endurance. Both are important, but they require different types of training.

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's use an example. Let's say I have a friend whom we'll call, oh I don't know,

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Guilfoil. Guilfoil spends quite a bit of time in the weight room performing heavy squats and

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: deadlifts. Now let's say we were to convince him to change his routine and to squat 100 times

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: using just his body weight. We might find that his legs get fatigued after having to endure

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_00]: this type of activity, maybe after just 25 squats. He may not even make it to 100.

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Normally, he could easily squat over 300 pounds or about 135 kilograms five times,

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: but may pass out from exhaustion after having to squat 100 times using just his body weight.

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_00]: So we'd say Guilfoil's legs would meet the muscular strength component,

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_00]: but maybe not muscular endurance. So let's compare Guilfoil to someone we'll call

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Erlich. Erlich, on the other hand, can't squat 100 times using just his body weight without stopping.

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_00]: We then ask Erlich to squat maybe 100 pounds five times. Well that may not go so well.

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00]: This is because his legs aren't used to pressing that amount of weight. So Erlich's legs would

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: meet the muscular endurance fitness component, but not necessarily muscular strength.

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Now I want to be very clear. Both forms of training are great.

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Both are considered important components of overall fitness. The ideal would be to have both

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_00]: strong legs, legs that are capable of pressing heavy weight, and legs that can endure activity

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_00]: for longer periods of time. To develop both muscular strength and muscular endurance,

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_00]: we need to incorporate both training styles. Now the next three physical fitness components

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_00]: are flexibility, balance, and speed. These are a bit more straightforward kind of like cardio.

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_00]: When it comes to flexibility, we're basically talking about stretching.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Balance is the ability to maintain equilibrium while moving or when keeping the body still.

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_00]: And speed of course is the ability to move the body quickly.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Okay so now that we know what the five components of physical fitness are,

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_00]: what would an ideal training week look like, and how do we incorporate all of these?

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_00]: This is what the American College of Sports Medicine recommends. When it comes to cardio,

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_00]: they recommend every week to try and get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity.

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Or you can adjust this by increasing the intensity from moderate to vigorous and aiming to squeeze in

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_00]: 75 minutes of cardiovascular activity each week. So by increasing the intensity of your cardio,

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_00]: you don't have to spend as long each week performing these types of exercises.

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_00]: So spreading this over the course of a week might mean 30 minutes of moderate intensity cardio

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_00]: five days per week or 25 minutes of high intensity cardio three days per week.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_00]: My recommendation would be to incorporate both every so often. So we could add some sprints into

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_00]: our cardio routine to add speed and intensity at the same time. Okay, we also want to make sure

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_00]: to incorporate some muscular strength and muscular endurance training. This would mean

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_00]: performing some resistance training like with weights for example, at least twice a week.

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_00]: For those just starting out, the recommendation is to target all of the major muscle groups

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_00]: during each resistance training session. So twice a week skipping one day in between,

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: you want to work all the major muscle groups. So after performing a whole body warm-up,

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_00]: you don't really want to lift weights in a cold body state. You want to warm up first like

[00:08:21] [SPEAKER_00]: a moderate paced walk for five minutes. We would then want to perform at least one exercise

[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_00]: that targets the chest, one exercise that targets the back, one exercise that targets the biceps,

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: one exercise that targets the triceps, one exercise that targets the shoulders,

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_00]: one exercise that targets the abs, one exercise that targets the quadriceps,

[00:08:46] [SPEAKER_00]: one exercise that targets the hamstrings and glutes, and one exercise that targets the calves.

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_00]: For each exercise, aim to lift the weight 10 to 15 times.

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Again, this is the recommendation for newbies, and this will start to build muscular strength

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_00]: and muscular endurance.

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_00]: But as we get more experienced, we can modify these guidelines in lots of different ways.

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_00]: We would want to gradually increase the weight, for example, so that we build more muscular

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_00]: strength.

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_00]: At some point, you can also incorporate speed with resistance training.

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Plus, resistance training has the added benefit of automatically improving another fitness

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_00]: component – balance.

[00:09:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Then, there's flexibility.

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_00]: The recommendation here is to perform whole-body stretching at least twice per week, too.

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And like muscular strength and muscular endurance training, we want to stretch each major muscle

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_00]: group.

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And when stretching, hold each position for at least 15 seconds.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_00]: When stretching, your muscles, your tendons should feel slightly uncomfortable.

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Once you feel your muscles and tendons starting to resist, that's where you'd want to stop

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_00]: and hold the stretch.

[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_00]: That's how you're going to improve your flexibility.

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Now the most ideal time to stretch is actually after a workout.

[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, and by the way, yoga counts as flexibility, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_00]: balance training all in one.

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Now, what about performing cardiovascular exercise and resistance exercise on the same day?

[00:10:21] [SPEAKER_00]: This is great.

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't recommend it for newbies though.

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_00]: If you've been performing resistance exercises and cardiovascular activity regularly for,

[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_00]: I would say at least 6 months, you could try completing both in one workout.

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_00]: If you decide to do this, do the resistance training first, then the cardio, and then

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_00]: end with some stretching.

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for taking the time to send in your question, Ken, and for being a regular

[00:10:50] [SPEAKER_00]: listener.

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Now if you want to send in a question to be answered right here on the show and get a

[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_00]: copy of our workbook, you can email one to health at oldpodcast.com or if you want your

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_00]: own voice heard on the podcast, come by oldpodcast.com slash ask.

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Right on that page, you can record straight from your computer's microphone.

[00:11:13] [SPEAKER_00]: It's really easy and you can even play back your message and do retakes before sending

[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_00]: it in or you can do it the old fashioned way and call in your question.

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_00]: The number is 1-61-I-LOVE-OHD.

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_00]: That's 1-614-568-3643.

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for doing that.

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Answering your questions is my favorite part of the show.

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, that'll do it for another Q&A edition of Optimal Health Daily.

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for listening every day and all the way through.

[00:11:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you have a great start to your weekend and I'll see you back here tomorrow where

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_00]: your Optimal Life awaits.