| Get With the Program! Basics |
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| Can you believe that fruit-flavored yogurt and ice cream have almost the same amount of sugar? Per four-ounce serving, the yogurt has about 21 grams of sugar and the ice cream has about 23 grams. |
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| 5-in-1 Fitness Calculator |
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Three areas of fitness—functional, cardiovascular and muscular—determine whether or not you are “officially” fit. There are certainly many people who possess high levels of all three types of fitness, but more often, people are “fit” in one or two areas, and are completely unfit in the others. Typically, people do what’s easiest for them or what they’re good at—and that’s all. This means they’re ignoring the types of exercises that will do them the most amount of
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good. In fact, there’s an old rule in the gym that states: “The exercise that you least enjoy is the one that will benefit you the most.”
I want you to be fit in all areas, but I want you to start by becoming functionally fit, which means you have the ability to safely and effectively perform routine movements and exercise. You can become functionally fit by using exercises that will improve your flexibility, balance and coordination, as well as the muscular strength and endurance of your abdomen, your back, the stabilizing muscles of your shoulders, and your lower legs.
These exercises fall into four categories: flexibility exercises (stretches), abdominal crunches, back and shoulder exercises, and lower leg exercises. In my book Get With the Program! I describe an entire series of functional exercises that can be completed in eight to ten minutes, and I recommend they be performed at least three times a week to start. As you progress, you can increase the number of repititions.
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