What’s the Best Exercise Program For You?

Before I was 25 years old, I could do practically anything (legal that is.) I didn’t, but I could have. I abstained from drinking and smoking. I was one of the few guys on the Eastern Michigan University Cross-Country team that was known not to drink at parties. I was a member of the Track & Cross Country teams whose motto was basically: We’re a drinking team with a running problem. When I was doing a post-doc, one professor confided in me, after he’d had a few beers, that “You are actually funnier now!” LOL.

Abstaining from the consumption of alcohol was never a moral position, I just don’t like the taste of beer or wine. Weird, I know. Nonetheless, having imbibed a few too many may be why you are here in the first place. And, now, many of you are older and wiser. A lot of you like a beer or two. That’s cool. Just don’t let it run your life.

A huge bonus of being physically fit is it is probably one of the best ways to boost your immune system. 

I hate boring!

People ask me, “What’s the best exercise program?” This is an important question now that we are being told to stay home. My answer is simple and yet, annoying to some, “The one you’ll keep doing everyday no matter what.”

“OK,” they say, “Well, that didn’t help much.” But, it’s the truth. The best exercise regimen in the world won’t do you a lick of good if you don’t do it, right?

I can tell you the characteristics of a good exercise program. Then you can use those criteria to see if it is something you can stick with.

Criteria for a Good Exercise Program

Here’s what an exercise program should do:

• Consistency is the key, i.e, can you basically keep it up for the rest of your life?
• Working out 3-5 days a week for 20-minutes/day.
• Workouts should be intense, but not so much that you’re wasted, i.e., moderation.  
• Be geared for your current fitness state but grow with your fitness level;
• Work your whole body, especially the large muscles in your quads and back;
• Rely mostly on compound exercises;

Why I use different Exercise Programs

I use different exercise programs. I mix and match them for one major reason: I don’t like getting bored. And, I like the freedom to vary my routines abit. Here are two major reasons I use different exercise programs:

1. It’s good to vary your exercise regimen. This way you work slightly different muscle groups, etc.; And,
2. So you won’t get bored! If you have a number of different programs to pick from, you can choose the exercise you want to do that day. I tend to have a weekly routine that I follow, like muscle building on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And, anaerobic exercise Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Sundays are reserved for a low-intensity, long workout, like a 10-mile hike. Within that frame-work, I work in different exercises for each day. This way I avoid getting stale and bored.

Programs I recommend because I use them

There are several programs that I use.

1. Metabolic Aftershock by Dr. Jade Teta. My wife and I have literally used this program for several years now. Actually, I drift in an out, but my wife, Christa, has used it pretty much exclusively for the last several years. We take it on our trips and can easily do it in a motel room (without disturbing other people and no equipment needed!) The program is set up to be used by people at various fitness levels. Dr. Teta understands the role of hormones in fitness and gears his workouts to maximize efficiency and progress. The workouts consist of a series of 5-7 minute sets of different compound exercises focused on specific large muscle groups. The exercises on only performed for short periods (45-seconds) and are done in less than 20-minutes, including cool down. This program includes dynamic and isometric exercises. That was one of the most pleasant surprises of these workouts. You’re done before you know it.
2. Anabolic Running. Anabolic Running is a bit different. It involves running, actually sprinting which I covered in the blog post entitled: To Live a Lot, Sprint some, too. What I like best about this program is its focus on short sprint workouts. It gives you a fairly short script to do your workouts. There’s also an emphasis on nasal breathing which is believed to increase the NO2 in your system. Consuming beets has also shown to increase your NO2.
3. Bodyweight Burn. I think of Bodyweight burn as a muscle building workout program. It includes some aerobic workouts, but I don’t like them as much as the ones in Metabolic Aftershock and Anabolic Running. Of course, you may have something you like better. The workouts for the chest, back, abs are great. They combine both dynamic and isometric exercises. It has some longer workouts, but I mostly do the sections that isolate specific parts of the body. You can string the exercises together for the specific parts of the body. I’ll do a chest, abs, back, legs sequence.