Trafford Publishing: Enthusiasm Is The Enemy

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Enthusiasm Is The Enemy - Get Fit Stay Fit

by Joe Arrigo

93 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-0163; ISBN 1-55369-350-7; US$16.50, C$25.00, EUR16.30, £11.30

I believe this is the first book to address how to stay on an exercise program, since anyone can start one. It includes the actual program also. It's a strategy.

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about the book about the author sample excerpt catalogue info

About the Book

The vast majority of people who begin an exercise program, abort it within a very short time frame. Their good intentions and exuberance is a timid and a highly ineffective match for the reality of consistent physical effort. Since the benefits of exercise are so all encompassing to youthfulness, health, and mental acuity that it can almost be considered a panacea, a new way of approaching exercise so many more people can include it as an integral part of our lives is long overdue. This book is the first program to address this through a technique and a way of thinking, where from the beginning, the objective is on sustaining a program, not merely starting one, since sustaining is the only reason to start.
This book exposes, and walks you through the emotional and mental traps that undermine good intentions; the many mechanisms that will support this undertaking, as well as the very effective, efficient and simple exercise program itself, for every level - beginner, intermediate, and advanced, with photographs.
In a sedentary, fast paced, fast food society where obesity and stress are epidemic, directing our energies to the priorities that can be the most effective in rejuvenating and/or enriching our lives is paramount - what gives us the most bang for the buck. And few investments can compare with the enormous return exercise offers us.

About the Author

Born and raised in Chicago, Joe Arrigo worked in the sales and sales management profession. As a sales manager, Joe has trained and coached many people to professional success and personal fulfillment. He learned the great value of balancing the work ethic with health - as one is inextricably tied to the other. In the same spirit of helping others in business, and so much has he valued his own fitness level as it relates to enjoying everything life has to offer; he decided to share his success in capturing and maintaining physical fitness in writing this book. Joe lives in a suburb of Chicago.

Sample Excerpt

Chapter One

Start Real
There are tons of workout programs and an endless myriad of exercise machines along with their instructions for fitness. They will work if; you do it, and continue to do it. The operative word being continue. And therein lies the problem. Keeping up a regimen is as much mental as it is physical, perhaps more so. This book is written not from the perspective of a fitness fanatic, rather to integrate a program into your life with the agenda of extracting the immense benefits a degree of fitness provides. Do it, get it done, and forget about it - with a tremendous return on your investment.
Exercise has always been associated with self-discipline, enthusiasm, motivation, logic and will power. Fitness gurus tout this same beaten track. It's old, it's boring; and most importantly, for the great majority of people, it doesn't work. People who have started, and then failed, in continuing an exercise program are as copious as hairs on a bear. Using enthusiasm and/or will power to perpetuate an exercise regimen is like trying to tighten a bolt with a wrench made of compressed toilet tissue. They are not compatible. Being enthused about exercise is like being enthused about sanding wood, or eating lint. It's hard work exacerbated by mindless repetition - and that spells drudgery. Trying to utilize logic and enthusiasm as a fundamental support to continually perform something so basically unpleasant is a losing battle. Enthusiasm is at the opposite end of the spectrum of what exercise represents - it ain't fun! How can they coexist? For the vast majority of us, they can't, and don't. Sustaining a workout program based only on a rah rah, self- discipline, logically great-for-me concept, is biting off more than we can chew psychologically. Anyone can start working out. Very few continue. Starting any program is exciting because it's new, and the mind revels in, and is stimulated by, variety. But the variety is quickly doomed. In fact it evolves into mere routine, and soon becomes boring with a "Capitol B."
Ironically enthusiasm is the enemy. It sets you up. Is fickle. It's sustaining power lasts about as long a spark. It will leave you up-stream without the proverbial paddle, hang you out to dry, and abandon you when you need it most. It is analogous to a balloon filled to capacity; as soon as it gets near heat, it bursts. The excitement and euphoria of starting something new that promises life changing results quickly comes face-to-face with reality. At the point at which enthusiasm is confronted by reality, it says, "Hey, this is hard work, we didn't sign on for this*pour us a beer and let's watch the game." So lets start real, and look at it soberly for what it is, what it will take, and what it will mean to you; keeping in mind that sustaining is the operative word. Keeping it up is the only reason to start; therefore we must design our approach with that as the foremost agenda.
First, it would be helpful to briefly examine the enormous benefits exercise offers us. Both physically and mentally, it keeps us younger longer. "The object," exclaims renowned anthropologist and author, Ashley Montagu, "is to die as young as possible; as late as possible." To date it is the closest thing we have to the fountain of youth. Two research scientists at Tufts University have outlined ten markers of age, of which they believe are reversible. They are the following:

Lean Body Mass (muscle)
Strength
Metabolic Rate
Body Fat
Aerobic Capacity
Blood Pressure
Blood-Sugar Tolerance
Cholesterol/HDL Ratio
Bone Density
Body Temperature Regulation
They believe that body mass (muscle), and strength are the most important youth mark-ers. And of course, this is what exercise provides.
Hormones are critical to our health, and two hormones that have a profound effect on the human body are Human Growth Hormone and cortisol. Cortisol controls blood sugar. This hormone is increased in the body by stress thereby increasing blood glucose. Since many of us are under a good deal of stress much of the time, high levels of sugar remain in our bloodstream accumulating more fat in the body and becoming a precursor for diabetes. Increased level of cortisol has many other adverse affects on the body and brain. Exercise effectively decreases cortisol levels, immediately producing a healthier body. Human Growth Hormone reverses a wide range of aging processes. It reduces body fat, increases lean muscle mass, strengthens the immune system, improves sexual performance, lowers blood pressure, lowers cholesterol, increases energy, bone density, and muscular strength, strengthens the heart, decreases cortisol, and produces neuro-growth factor which makes your brain cells come alive. The secretion of Human Growth Hormone decreases as we age, and until we can find a safe way to administer it as a supplement, exercise will increase its production naturally.
Exercise allows us to become and remain trim, to look great without a major emphasis on diet. Relying on dieting alone is almost a self-fulfilling prophecy to regain weight. It induces a feeling of deprivation, whereas exercise is putting forth effort. Between the two, effort has a much better chance of success than the feeling of deprivation. Moreover, a fact that is not well known or understood is that muscle is the most effective means of maintaining weight, and dieting the least effective. As Covert Bailey points out in his acclaimed and excellent fitness books, "The problem is not losing weight, the problem is gaining weight." Multitudes of people have lost weight. How many gained it back? The vast majority. Dieting alone doesn't work because it initiates the infamous yo-yo syndrome and compounds the problem, as the following graph diagram illustrates.

The diagram represents a hypothetical person's muscle to fat ratio to total body weight. The first graph bar represents this person's ratio and total body weight before dieting. When this person diets, as the second bar illustrates, they will lose fat. Unfortunately though, muscle is also lost. This automatically starts the yoyo syndrome because muscle is the furnace which burns most of our fat calories, especially exercised muscle. Muscles burn calories 24 hours a day, even while you sleep! Therefore, when you're in this stage, you are burning fewer calories because you now possess less muscle. You have compromised your body's ability to consume calories; slowing your metabolism. If you slip off the diet to your original calorie consumption, as represented by the third bar, you will become even heavier than when you started as a result of less muscle to consume them. Additionally, most or all the weight gained will be fat, leaving you in worse shape than when you started. Stated simply, it is easier to gain weight when you have less muscle. Furthermore, each year after the age of thirty we all lose a small percentage of muscle mass. Adding to that, 60 percent of American adults are completely sedentary, and 20 percent are only moderately active. Not a pretty picture.
If we want to burn more calories, logic would dictate an increase in the size and quality of the furnace-muscles. It is imperative to realize that calories burned during exercise are much too minuscule to mean anything. Seventy percent of the energy muscles need when they are at rest is supplied by fat. Muscles deplete fat. Exercise builds muscle, naturally burning more calories, day and night. Furthermore, the chemistry of your muscles will change dramatically as they are worked, becoming more and more efficient at burning fat calories, thereby trimming your body. As you add muscle and lose inches of fat, you won't need to lose as much weight as you thought, because muscle is heavier than fat. Diet will be just a sensible and minor part of getting and staying trim. You will feel much better with more energy; and energy must express itself, so you will find yourself moving more throughout the day. More movement means increased caloric consumption - a process that continually works on your behalf.
Feeling better emotionally is induced by exercise also, as natural opiates are released in the brain called endorphins, putting us on a natural, subtle high. Actual physical changes in the brain take place that most likely enhance thinking. An intriguing study with rats at the University of Illinois in Champaign, by Dr. William Greenough, professor of psychology and cell and structural biology, said that the animals that had physical exercise increased their, "... vascular perfusion of the cortex, that is, they had more of the cerebellum cortex taken up by blood vessels." Dr. Greenough also said he would expect the effects of exercise to be directionally similar in the human brain. This means more blood, bringing more oxygen. In other words more thinking fuel and less depression. You will also feel and be stronger, sleep better; and stress - one of the great scourges of our time, will be powerfully impacted and reduced.
Bone also reacts to exercise by becoming denser and stronger, which for women translates into osteoporosis prevention or reversal. Indirectly, keeping fit broadens life by availing you to wider diversity of activities through increased physical strength and agility, and just as importantly, you will feel like exploring new avenues. Also, you never know when life will throw a situation your way where strength and endurance will be the difference in getting through it or not, unscathed. About twelve years ago I was late in catching a plane back home from a business trip. After returning my rental car, I found myself running to, and through the airport at a pretty good clip. With about 30 seconds to spare, I reached the gate and finally got myself onto the plane; panting and gasping to the point where I felt like my chest was going to burst into flames from the inside out. That was a bit scary, and I thought to myself, this is not good marathon man; you've got the endurance of a corpse. I decided right there to get fit. That incident was just a matter of convenience; there may be a time of emergency where being in shape can make a crucial difference. Other beneficial re-sults are fewer ailments, clearer thinking, and more self-confidence.
These are just some of the wonderful and profound effects exercise bestows upon us. They're great. However, if you believe awareness of them alone is enough to sustain the discipline a long term workout program demands, you'll also believe Pee Wee Herman is on steroids. Logic can rarely stand up to emotion, especially over the long haul. It's only helpful to be aware of what you are receiving for your efforts. These benefits are what you would gain. If you don't maintain your body, there is a very real loss. Psychologists tell us we are moved by either the prospect of gain, or the fear of loss. There is a price to pay whether you exercise or not; and in maintaining fitness, your price is effort. If you don't, the price is compromised health and youthfulness. There is always a price - for everything. You need to decide which price you are willing to pay. You either pay a relatively small one now, or you'll pay later. This realization also will be helpful in keeping yourself fit.
The next chapter will begin revealing the powerful mechanisms that conquer the pit-falls that derail most people in sustaining an exercise program and enjoying its great benefits.

Catalogue Information