NEFROLOGÍA Y UROLOGÍA
LEVODOPA CON CARBIDOPA
PLAN
There are three things that make this exercise plan different from other types of fitness programs. One is that it
emphasizes variety so that you hit all the areas of fitness essential to halting the aging process: flexibility, core strength, stabilization, agility, balance and hand- eye coordination, cardiovascular
endurance, and muscle strength. Most exercise programs tend to have a narrower target. An exercise plan for weight loss, for instance, might have you focusing primarily on calorie burning—
but at the expense of other aspects of your physiology that are also affected by age. By contrast, this program doesn’t have you chewing up a lot of time trying to reach a limited goal; instead, it casts a wide net that lets you turn back the clock in virtually all areas of fitness relating to aging.
The second important thing about this plan is that although it requires a fairly substantial commitment on your part, I’m only asking you to take on as much as you can handle at a time. There are three levels and you can choose just how far you want to go. If you haven’t been doing much physical activity lately (or any at all), start at Level I, which
primarily focuses on functional
conditioning and helping you establish a base of cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength. In a matter of weeks, you’ll feel stronger and notice that you get through your day with less effort. You should also notice that you’re
sleeping better and your skin looks more vibrant. Having laid the groundwork at Level I, you can progress to Level II. (If you’re already a regular exerciser, you can probably skip the beginning level and jump right into Level II.) Here I ratchet up the challenge, asking you to spend more time on cardiovascular exercise and muscle strengthening. The payoff is considerable: This level of exercise can bring about substantial
changes in body fat, the strength of your muscles, the fitness of your heart, and your mood—changes that will not only benefit your health but help push back the clock to a greater degree.
I have had clients who started an exercise program reluctantly, committing to do “something” only because their doctor warned them that they had better get active or face the music. To their surprise, many of these initially reluctant exercisers get inspired not only to take it to the next level but, in a manner of speaking, to shoot for the stars. They run marathons, enter triathlons, or simply make physical activity among their highest priorities. This is what I’m
hoping will happen with you. Once you reap the rewards of Level II, you may be inspired to invest additional time and energy to move up to Level III. I want to stress that all levels of the plan have anti-aging benefits, but the advanced level does the most to help you maintain muscle and bone, fight middle-age
spread, and lower your risk of disease. It’s the best opportunity you have to recapture (and maybe even improve upon!) your youth.
The third thing that makes this
program different is that it includes what I call lifetime sports and recreational activities. Activities such as golf, tennis, and bowling help you stay active during your leisure time; most important for our
anti-aging purposes, many of them also help you work on agility, balance, and hand-eye coordination. Another reason I recommend them is that many of them are social activities, too, and we know that keeping socially active is a
powerful predictor of longevity.
Before I give you the specifics of the comprehensive plan, let’s go over some basics for each of the components.
Cardiovascular Exercise
Most people find a type of
cardiovascular exercise they like and stick with it, sometimes even doing the same type of exercise every day. I’m going to encourage you to take a
different approach and choose not one type of aerobic exercise, but two, even three. This is referred to as cross
training. Each type of exercise works your body in a different way, so when you expand your repertoire, you expand the number of muscles trained and the number of ways you can fight aging. In addition, when your schedule includes variety, you lower your risk of
developing an overuse injury that will sideline you and keep you from doing any exercise at all. Having more than one go-to workout also keeps your week more interesting.
You can also avoid burnout and maximize the benefits you get by shaking up your workout routine every six
months. I’ll give you an example. Say you walk on Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, and Friday and ride your bike on Thursday and Saturday. After six months you might switch—cycle four days a week and walk on two—or replace cycling with the elliptical trainer. Though you need to spend
adequate amounts of time establishing a base level of fitness in each type of
activity, once you have that base (and six months is enough to let you establish it), you can change things around without losing the activity-specific conditioning you’ve gained.
When deciding which aerobic
do a better job of improving your cardiovascular system than others. Of course, I think you should select the ones that give you the biggest payoffs for your effort, but it’s also important to choose something you like; otherwise, you won’t stay motivated for long.
Use the roundup here to guide you. It lists the pros and cons of each workout and gives my opinion on how effective it is for achieving your aerobic and anti- aging goals.
How long, how often, and how hard do you need to do cardiovascular
exercise? On the exercise plan chart I’ll give you a specific number of minutes you should accomplish each week.
twenty continuous minutes; however, you can choose how to break up the rest of the minutes. You can also choose what days you want to engage in
cardiovascular exercise, but don’t take off two days in a row. To determine the proper intensity of your exercise, I’m going to introduce you to the Perceived Exertion Scale here. This tool helps you gauge how exercise feels on a scale of 0 to 10 primarily using your breathing as a guide. To get maximum cardiovascular benefits, you’ll need to work out at a 7 or 8 on the scale. Not working hard enough (below level 7 or 8) is the number one reason people don’t get results.
Another way to measure intensity is with a heart rate monitor. This device, which resembles a watch, gauges your heart rate and can help you stay within your target heart rate zone. (Omron makes a line of heart rate monitors.) They can provide some useful
information and are an especially good option for people with certain conditions who must monitor their heart rate while exercising.
If you aren’t very fit, it will take very little movement to get your heart and breathing rates up into the range they need to be in. For instance, a slower walking speed of 3.5 miles per hour may be enough to get a beginner up to an 8 on
the Perceived Exertion Scale, but a relatively fit walker may need to walk at a speed of 5 miles per hour to get into that range. No one can tell you what numbers to punch into the treadmill control panel to get your best workout. Listening to your body will tell you if you’re working hard enough.