Exercise

As a Behavior Modification Instructor, all I had to do to see noses tip toward the ceiling and eyes roll sideways was to mention the word exercise. Exercise is considered by many to be synonymous with WORK. However, avoiding exercise isn't an option in life. Why not? Because it is necessary for oxygenating your body's cells. Without oxygen, your body's cells are depleted of energy, and your immune system doesn't function either. Furthermore, you end up in pain (due to weak, tight, sore muscles) and with a flat rear end.

Exercise also engages the sense of touch through movement, by the way. With all the social distancing these days, getting our hugs in is hard. At the very least, we can engage in an activity that satisfies our sense of touch. Still, if you are the type that is more "in your head" and dislikes exercise, I bet hearing this isn't precisely motivating. I understand. I've heard that the real key to exercising is making it more like play, regardless of age. When exercise is more like play, it becomes easier to maintain a strong core, boost immunity, and increase positive energy.​

I've recently begun to look at exercise, no matter the form, like physical therapy. Thinking of any activity in terms of physical therapy emphasizes its health benefits. And here's the kicker. You can either engage in physical therapy now (when it's still a choice) or later when it's no longer an option (and you're using a walker). Either way, sooner or later, we will all have to exercise. Thankfully, there are four types of exercise to choose from.

Heart & Core Exercises Take Priority

Exercise should be all about your heart and core. Your objective should be to exercise your heart and tone your trunk for balance, strength, and agility (like a mermaid). You may not have to swim to wherever you need to go, but your core still gets you to your driveway and back.

The two types of exercise we all need are aerobic exercise (oxygenating and fat-burning) and resistance exercise (muscle toning), including Isometrics.

There are four motions your body needs to keep your muscles in shape, pushing, pulling, lifting, and squatting. Keep these four moves in mind when choosing your exercise routines. The muscle groups you use in these four motions can still be toned with isometric exercises, even with limited joint movement.

The best exercise for anyone suffering from muscular-skeletal pain is gentle stretching.

Yoga is the best exercise for reducing stress and boosting the immune system. Poses to incorporate into your routine for boosting your immunity are Mountain Pose, Standing Forward Bend, Forward Folded Arch, Lunge, Plank Pose, Yoga Push Up, Upward-Facing Dog, Downward-Facing Dog, and Prayer Position. However, even with yoga, specific rules apply when you feel under the weather. Yoga increases GABA in the brain, which calms the mind.

The Four Types of Exercise to Choose From

#1. Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic (breathing and fat burning) exercise increases blood and oxygen to every area of your body and tones the heart muscle, which is just what you need to make the pain go away, as pain is caused by too little oxygen and blood flow. Walking, running, and dancing are forms of aerobic exercise. The general idea is to perform the task and elevate your heartbeat for at least 20 minutes without stopping. For this reason, it's beneficial to have a target heart rate in mind. To calculate your target heart rate, subtract your age from 220. Then, to find the lower end of your THR, multiply your answer x 6. To find the upper end of your THR, multiply your answer by 8.

Example:

 220 - 60 (years of age) = 160

 160 x .6 = 96

 160 x .8 = 128

This individual must stay between 96 and 128 heartbeats per minute while exercising.

To determine your heart rate per minute while exercising, stop what you're doing for a minute and count how many heartbeats you feel in your wrist right below your left thumb for 15 seconds and multiply by 4, showing you your number. If your number is lower than your lower THR, pick things up. If your number is higher than your THR, slow down. You are hurting yourself. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't want to keep stopping to check my heart rate while exercising, so here's a tip. Speed up your walking if you can carry on a conversation as easily as if you were sitting on a park bench talking to a friend. But when you're having difficulty speaking and huffing and puffing, slow things down. You want to be somewhere in the middle. If you aren't sure, check your numbers.

The one exercise that will work for just about anyone is walking. Walking increases oxygen and boosts immunity, but not just any walking will do. It's not enough to stroll along breathing normally. That won't oxygenate all of your cells. You need to get your heart going. There's no better way to flood oxygen throughout your body than to make your heart pump. Walk briskly and do so on an incline. Here's an easy walking plan to follow. 

• ​Week 1 & 2: 5 minutes per day x 2-3 days
• Week 3 & 4: 5 minutes x 3-5 days
• Week 5 & 6: 5 minutes x 6-7 days
• Weeks 7: 10 minutes x 5-7 days
• Weeks 8: 15 minutes x 5-7 days
• Weeks 9: 20 minutes x 5-7 days
• Weeks 10: 25 minutes x 5-7 days
• Weeks 11: 30 minutes x 7 days

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​When you combine walking with being outdoors in the fresh air and sunlight, you'll collect a daily dose of vitamin D, which is better than walking a treadmill in a stuffy gym. The treadmill is fine. The problem is not getting enough sunshine to stimulate the production of vitamin D. If you're at home near a sunny window, open it and allow the sun to shine on you.

Keep increasing your walking time each week until you walk up to an hour daily. If you ever experience setbacks (sick or on holiday), begin at the walking level you stopped at when you start walking again.

#2. Resistance Exercise

Resistance exercise involves controlled muscle movements to increase muscle tone. Typically, weights or bands are used in these exercises. Use exercise bands or very light weights (2-5 lbs), but only after you can manage basic stretches in the same body positions without the bands and with no discomfort. Perform full-body resistance exercises only twice per week. Instead of two full-body workouts, you may break up your routine into four days by doing upper body twice a week and lower body twice a week. Just ensure you rotate your workouts (upper body one day, lower the next, and so on). Seek out a book on strength training from your library or bookstore. Then, choose at least two exercises for each muscle group. Don't eliminate a muscle group from your routine, or you'll create muscle imbalances. Remember to start with light weights (2-3 pounds), regardless of the book's suggestion. Then, move on to 5-pound or 8-pound weights when ready. I don't recommend heavier weights than these. If you are comfortable with 8-10 pound weights, rather than increase the weight, increase your repetitions (how many times you lift it) instead.

#3. Calinetics & Isometrics

Callinetics and Isometrics are exercises that use muscle-against-muscle resistance. Isometrics is an excellent choice if you have arthritic conditions or joint injuries. When using muscle against muscle, start slowly. You want to focus on tensing and then releasing a particular muscle group and then resting before moving on to the next group. For example, let's say you want more muscular biceps. Sit straight up in a perfect posture, and bend your elbows at your sides, like you are holding a rolled-up rug, palms up. Now curl your fingers closed (make a loose fist). Keep your elbows at waist level. Now slowly pull your fist towards your chest. Tighten up your upper arms and give a squeeze that lasts 10 seconds. Then, completely relax. Lower your arms. You shouldn't be feeling it in your shoulder. Focus on the biceps and your upper arm muscles. 

Start with no more than 10 seconds of muscle tensing in each muscle group you exercise. You can perform this isometric exercise with every muscle group (arms, legs, abdomen). Add five more seconds each week until you can hold the muscle group tense for 25 seconds before relaxing. 

If you experience any pain, stop or don't tense quite so hard. Once you can follow through with your exercises without causing yourself any damage, there's another method to stay in shape using 10-minute segments to consider.

Another type of exercise that's closely related to isometrics is Fascia Stretching. Fascia is what holds your muscles in place and helps to keep us upright. It plays a role in transfering electrical energy and water in the body's cells. When fascia becomes tense, it grips and winds to bone in a effort to stabilize theh body, which can cause adhesions (tightness and scarring of the fascia), which can cause pain. People with fascia problems often experience Myofascial Pain Syndrome. Consider the Two-Week Fascia Miracle program at DailyOm.com.

#4. Interval or Circuit Training

Have you ever watched children at play? Children walk, run like mad, then walk again or plop down for a rest at different intervals. A few minutes later, they run like crazy again for 20-30 seconds, only to slow down again. Kids do this all day long, and so do young adults. Short, intense bursts of energy that make the heart work hard for 20-30 seconds keep the body's metabolism revved up and growth hormones in abundance, called Peaking. It's also more reminiscent of how our ancestors lived and survived. 

If you are really out of shape or last exercised a while ago, wait to do this until you have followed the other guidelines on this web page and they have become easy for you. Then, and only then, do your warm-up routine, walk for 5 minutes at a brisk pace, sprint for 20-30 seconds, walk for another 5 minutes and finish up with your cool-down stretches. Walking three times daily for 10 minutes is better than walking for 30 minutes at your target heart rate. Work up to performing eight of these segments but no more.

Exercising for Weight Loss

Aerobics burns fat. It's true. When exercising aerobically, your heart rate speeds up, and so does your metabolism over the next 24 hours. Your body will burn off more calories during those 24 hours after exercising. You'd think you could get on a treadmill and walk briskly or run for 30 minutes at least three times weekly and see the pounds drop, but this isn't true. Weight loss also depends on what you eat and, most importantly, how well you digest your foods. It's not just a matter of calories in and calories out. Where your calories come from also determines whether you will see the pounds drop off. See Weight Management. 

Exercise Precautions

Too much exercise too soon, when your immune system is actively combating an illness, is exhausting to an immune system already fighting a war. It can cause immune suppression, the spread of infection, or worsening current symptoms. Exercising too hard and too long will also harm your hormones.

• If you have a minimal illness or infection above the waist (a cold or cold sore), you can still perform moderate exercise activities, such as light yoga or walking. If your symptoms are moderate to severe, don't exercise at all.

• If you have an illness below the waist, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, a Crohn's flare-up, or genetal herpes, your immune system works very hard. Please don't overdo it. It's best to postpone exercising until you are on the mend. Be more moderate than usual when you begin exercising again.

Exercise for Those With Arthritic Conditions & Seniors

There are certain exercises that are better for seniors (like me) or those who have arthritic conditions or chronic pain. 

• Walking
• Swimming
• Tai Chi
• Chair exercises, such as Chair Yoga
• Fascia stretching

Okay & Not Okay Pain

During exercise, the pain felt like a slow burn (caused by lactic acid build-up in muscles), which will stop as soon as the movement ceases and is okay. Another source of pain is delayed muscle soreness. The ache you feel the next day means your muscles are recovering after taxing yourself, which is okay. Actual pain on movement is NOT OKAY. Sharp pain, or any other extremely uncomfortable pain, might be caused by a previous injury or damage. The best exercise for this type of pain would be isometrics. Isometric movements are slow and controlled. Still, please check with your doctor if pain is persistent or worsens. You can learn more about how to ease different types of pain here.

Physical Therapy

I hope not, but at some point in your life, you may need physical therapy. When I broke my shoulder in a fall in May 2024, it took physical therapy exercises to get my muscles and nerves working properly. I learned a few things about myself while working through this process. I realized I'm more resilient than I knew. I learned that when it comes down to my health, how in shape I am seriously matters to me. I also learned that, while "exercise" is something I dreaded and would put off for as long as humanly possible (because I don't recover well), physical therapy was more like "supplementing" my life with something good for me that I could recover quite easily from and still see benefits, such as strength and endurance. My belief system surrounding exercise was poor. I had begun to view it as painful, tedious, and unbeneficial. It took a fall to name it something else and do it differently.
 
If you have a poor reaction to exercise (it hurts, you get hives, you feel panicky, you don't recover easily, whatever), consider physical therapy exercises to keep your muscles activated and strong. I suggest Dr. Adam Fields on YouTube. However, there are many others to choose from. Just get moving.

Trouble With Muscle Loss, Weak Muscles, or Muscle Recovery?

If you have trouble with fatigue, muscle loss, and the inability to recover from exercise quickly, you could have a mitochondrial problem. Life isn't possible without mitochondria. Mitochondria are parts of the billions of cells in your body that evolved from primitive bacteria and are like tiny batteries that power various functions of a whole cell. The juice in these batteries is called ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP is measured in watts. 

The human body constantly creates and uses ATP (about 1200 watts each day). However, lack of regular movement contributes to conditions and diseases that cause the mitochondria to be unable to generate or utilize ATP, which leads to low energy and physical symptoms, such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia Syndrome, and chronic pain and headache.

So, how do you keep mitochondria flourishing? A healthy diet of whole foods (to reduce inflammation) and regular exercise. The best exercise for maintaining and restoring mitochondrial function are qui gong, yoga, and squats, which use the largest leg muscles. So that you know, the same foods that help calm the brain also help to heal mitochondria.

Exercise & HSV

As great as exercise is for us, and as much as we all need it, it can bring on a herpes breakout. How's that, you ask? You can activate the Herpes Simplex Virus by stimulating nerve ganglia.

Imagine performing a sit-up to work your abdominal muscles. From a lying position, with arms crossed behind your head (maybe while your partner or your sofa holds your feet), you are lifting yourself into a sitting position using your abdominal muscles. Imagine maintaining this position for a few seconds and slowly lowering to the floor to repeat the exercise after a second or two.

This type of abdominal workout can be tough on the spine, and if you have genital herpes, the pressure on the lower spine can irritate the nerve ganglia in that area. Genital herpes (HSV-2) lives inside the nerves at the base of your spine near your tailbone (sacral ganglion). When herpes is in remission, it's as though the virus is sleeping. Do you really want to wake it up? My point exactly. However, abdominal muscles need exercise for core support. Exercise boosts the immune system. Abdominal exercises specifically help your body maintain strength, balance, and agility. So, what to do?

When you live with HSV-2 (genital herpes), it's typically best to avoid performing activities that do not apply too much pressure to your lower spine and tailbone. Exercises that work well for toning are pelvic floor exercises, reverse crunches, swimming, yoga, dancing, and walking.

If you live with HSV-1 (cold sores), anything that severely strains the side of the face, neck, or throat, such as lifting hefty weights, may also cause a breakout. HSV-1 lives in the nerve ganglia in the mid-section of the side of the face (the trigeminal ganglion). Consider using less weight and more reps if you realize your upper workouts are causing you problems. And, no. You can't just NOT exercise. Keeping your immune system strong is also extremely important when living with HSV.

Ideally, you'll want to avoid straining associated nerve ganglia while ​enjoying staying active. The good news is that the stronger you become, the better your muscles will support your nerves.

Exercise & Histamine Intolerance

If you have Mast Cell Activation Dysfunction or Histamine Intolerance, exercise can trigger problems. Your body can react to muscular inflammation, which occurs during exercise. Exercise also leads to increased body temperature, to which mast cells respond by releasing histamine, which causes allergy symptoms, which is why some people feel allergic to exercise. Problems with mast cell activation and the release of histamine are causes of delayed muscle soreness after working out. Allowing more than 48 hours of recovery time between exercising can be helpful so you aren't doing too much too soon. Also, avoiding eating right before and right after exercising can be beneficial when you have histamine problems. So, what's the best exercise type for someone with histamine intolerance? Walking, yoga, and light resistance exercises.