So there are lots of different types of exercise.
And I'm going to try to go through some
of the important types of exercise
and talk about how you might want to set up
your own exercise routine if you're thinking about starting.
So I've drawn here a little person in yellow,
and they're stretching.
And this is something that people often forget,
that this is an important type of exercise that is actually
critical to do, I would say, about five times a week.
So you really want to stretch out
at least about five times each week,
all the different muscle groups.
And we have a total of about 11 different muscle
groups, major muscle groups, and you
want to spend about 30 seconds on each one of them.
So whenever you're stretching, just
think about all the different muscle groups,
and think about spending at least 30 seconds per muscle
group.
I'm going to write that out.
And as I said, there are 11.
So this whole thing could take you about five or six minutes.
And one key I'll write down for stretching,
make sure you're doing it right, is
make sure you do it with warm muscles.
Basically, don't start stretching cold.
In other words, if you haven't done anything at all--
let's say it's the afternoon and you
feel like stretching-- don't start stretching just there.
Go for a brisk walk first, or maybe go
and do a flight of stairs.
Just something to get your muscles moving,
and then you can start stretching.
That's really the best way.
And also, don't bounce.
So don't bounce when you're actually doing the stretch.
Try to go slowly and evenly into the stretch and then
also out of the stretch.
So no bounce-- actually, I'm going to write "no bouncing."
And also, "warm muscles," just to remind you to make sure
that the muscles are slightly warm, or having done something
before is a good idea.
So the next type of exercise would be aerobic exercise.
So aerobic exercise would be anything--
let's have this person maybe running.
And this could be biking, running-- anything
like that would count as aerobic exercise.
And aerobic exercise, you really want
to also do about five times per week.
And these are not maximums, but really suggested
numbers of times.
Let's say you want to do 6 times a week.
That would be absolutely fine.
And here again, as before, you want
to give some sort of a set amount of time.
And usually I recommend about 30 minutes.
So about 30 minutes of good aerobic exercise.
And that's per time you go out.
So 30 minutes per time, and then five of those times per week.
And then you have probably the third type
I would group as resistance training.
And this would be someone that's maybe,
let's say, lifting weights.
I'm going to draw someone lifting weights.
And with resistance training, there
are a few important things to consider.
And this is probably the one where a lot of people
get into trouble with injuries and things like that.
Resistance training, you want to do,
I would say, probably about two times a week,
especially if you're starting out.
That would be a very reasonable thing
to start out at, two times a week.
And each time you go, you want to make
sure you work out each muscle group.
And usually, I recommend about 10 repetitions of any exercise.
So let's say you're doing an exercise
to work out your chest.
Try to do 10 repetitions per muscle group.
And you have to try to figure out what amount of resistance
is the right amount for you.
And so you want to make sure that 10 repetitions is doable,
but you don't want to make it so easy
that you don't feel like you're actually
getting much of a workout at all, that your muscles aren't
having any trouble.
So finding that right weight can be tricky at first.
And with resistance training, one of the keys
is making sure, as I said, you don't
injure yourself or hurt yourself.
So you want to make sure you don't do it in any situation
where you're actually feeling pain to the point
where you think you could be actually harming
your body instead of actually helping your body.
And you also want your body to rest.
So allow rest of at least a day, I'll put more than one day,
for whichever muscle group you've just worked out.
So for example, if I just worked out my legs, my quadriceps,
I don't want to go back and work them out the very next day.
I want at least a day of rest, or more than a day,
for each muscle group.
So you've got these three different types
of exercise-- stretching, aerobic exercise,
and resistance-- and I thought it
might be kind of helpful to imagine how we could do this.
So let's do an example of how a person could actually
go about making a little exercise
routine given this information.
So you might want, let's say, a warm-up period.
Because I said that you want to make sure
you don't do the stretching cold.
So you might want to warm up.
And this could be something like doing some stairs
or going for a brisk walk.
And that can be, let's say, five minutes.
And then you could do some stretching.
All right, that is a yellow block with an "s."
And then you could do some aerobic exercise.
And that could be, like, a 30 minute treadmill or a 30 minute
racquetball game, or anything like that.
And finally, you want to do the resistance training.
And you could focus on, let's say,
five of the 11 muscle groups this time,
and then do the other six later, on a different day.
And so just on this day, let's imagine
this is Monday, this is what it would look like.
This would be Monday.
And this whole thing might take me, let's say, one hour.
And then I might go back and let's say on a different day,
I decide to do stretching and aerobic exercise, like this.
And I want to make sure I give myself a rest with my muscles,
with the resistance training.
So I may not do resistance today.
So I might on Tuesday and Wednesday.
I'll do this.
And then on, let's say, Thursday-- actually,
let's say all three days I can do this,
just to make it easier.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I could do that.
And then on Friday, I can actually go back,
do the warm-up again, as before.
I can stretch as before.
Remember, you're stretching all 11 muscle groups.
And then I do the aerobic exercise.
And you can change it up just to make it interesting.
On this day, let's say you actually go for a swim.
And then you do your resistance training.
And you could focus on different muscle groups
there from Monday.
And this could be your Friday.
So for example, sometimes people say, well,
on Monday I worked on my legs, and on Friday, I
worked on my chest and arms.
And that would be a way of kind of dividing up
which muscle groups you worked on,
so that you're not too sore in any one area.
And so you can see how you've met all of the criteria.
I said to try to do the stretching
and aerobic exercise five times a week
and resistance a couple times a week.
And in my little example schedule,
you can see how that could work out.
And just to be clear, these little wedges, again,
are the warm-ups and the cool-downs.
So let me bring it back to some big keys
to having a successful workout, because I
think this is probably the most understated
part of working out.
But it probably makes the most sense to focus on this now,
now that we've talked about some of the other issues.
So any time you work out, please make sure
that you stay well hydrated, because this
is one of the most important things
that you need to do to have a successful workout--
to feel good and make sure that the blood is flowing
and that you don't pass out from having
too little fluid in your body.
So you want to make sure you get lots of water in your body--
nice, healthy way to go.
Next, you want to make sure you're
dressed very comfortably.
This is another problem that a lot of people
end up having, is that they go to work out,
but they're not actually dressed well for it.
And they find that it's not very comfortable.
So dress appropriately.
I'll put "clothes."
Think about drinking a lot of water
and wearing the right clothes.
And finally-- and this is probably
the most important point-- I wanted to leave it for last,
because then it's the last thing you remember, hopefully,
from this video.
But the most important thing is to use good judgment.
This is a little brain.
And you want to make sure you're always
thinking about what you're about to do.
So judgment.
So for example, let's say that you're recently injured,
and you're thinking about doing some sort or aerobic exercise.
Think really carefully about what could be a good idea
and what might not be a good idea.
For example-- it's hard to get into specifics
without giving an example.
But let's say that you just had a knee
injury, or knee operation.
You may not want to go running, because you might
want to think about not re-injuring that knee.
And so any time you've had an operation
or you've recently been injured, you definitely
want to make sure that it's a good idea--
and that's my light bulb there-- it's a good idea
to do the right type of exercise so that you don't end up
re-injuring or hurting yourself further.
The whole point of this is to make
sure that we're getting healthier,
not hurting ourselves in any way.
So make sure you always use good judgment.