Let’s talk about exercise! While some people love to exercise, those who don’t get this an additional bonus! Forcing yourself to do something hard grows your will-power, via the Mid-Cingulate Cortex! It won’t be difficult if you love exercise, so go cold plunge after for that additional bonus. But we mostly want to exercise because it is good for every aspect of our human existence—especially our attitude.  Nothing beats down depression like exercise. 

The “Hope Molecule” is released as a result of exercise, and it crosses the blood-brain barrier and cures depression at the root! If your doctor tells you you have depression and doesn’t tell you to exercise, he is sadly behind on the current research being done. If you don’t believe me,  just google it. Seriously. Google it. Does exercise improve depression? Or what is the “Hope Molecule”? If you suffer from depression, love yourself enough to look it up. Empower yourself. Show yourself that you can find answers. You can improve every aspect of your life. I promise you.

It has been ten years since science came out with the “hope molecule” finding. The finding states that regular physical activity increases your resilience to stress and the risk of depression. Essentially, this hormone, referred to as the “hope molecule,” is produced by the muscle tissue in your body during regular physical contraction. So walking, hiking, yoga, weight training, rebounding – literally anything that contracts your muscles. This hope hormone or molecule is released straight into the bloodstream and goes to the brain and acts in the same way that a medical anti-depressant does. (Except there are no harmful, fatal side effects.) They also work on your mental health in the areas of emotional trauma.

The next great thing about exercise that makes it worth it in the long term is that science has also proven that regular exercise slows down the aging process. People who exercise have longer telomeres for their age than those who do not. Telomers are the little shoe string-like cords at the end of your DNA chain that determine your “years left to live” on your current trajectory. So it doesn’t just improve your mood and your waistline. It lengths of your life.

Exercise is the most-preserving (and enhancing) thing you can do for your physical appearance. Additional growth hormone is produced during exercise. Especially if you are in a fast. Looking younger is the happy result of extra growth hormone. Your cells will be replaced and repaired at a higher rate with short fasted periods combined with exercise. You will be more confident about your appearance even before the scales show you should. 

Don’t get hung up with the scale and keeping score. It isn’t always the loving thing to do. Did you know that muscle weighs 3X what fat does and takes up 1/3 of the space. I find that my scale is a liar about how my butt is going to fit into skinny jeans. I can weigh exactly the same but can’t zip into the same size if my muscle-to-fat ratio is favoring the “fatter”        a$$pect. But an increase in muscle mass and decrease in fat  I can weigh precisely the same and fit beautifully into the same skinny jeans. That’s right, the same weight, just slightly different composition. The best thing about building muscle is that muscle tissues burn fat while you sleep. That is right while you are asleep. It’s like free weight management! Gotta love that!

 Exercise levels up every single system in the body and gets it working better—especially your heart. There is probably not one single thing that you can do for your heart, aside from being thankful and loving it, that will improve it’s longevity and strength more than this.  And if you love it, chances are you will be inspired to move!

I am not going to beat the reasons down your throat. You already know that exercise is important. If you are resistant to the idea of exercise you can still be a thin person. At the very least Walk! Just get out and walk in out of doors. Try to get some sun at the same time. Take off your shoes and ground a bit too. And as we have discussed several times this is about training your mind to love you like your heart does. You won’t see the change in the mirror you really want, and they won’t be long-lasting until the things you say to your mind and the way you feel in your heart are equal to what you desire vibrationally. This is an inside-out job. No lasting change can happen on the outside until you begin to change what it feels like on the inside. 

HIIT!

High Intensity Interval Training with a Rebounder, (or mini trampoline) – this is my absolute favorite! It is easy and fast, and the benefits are outstanding. I will explain HIIT training first, then why the rebounder is amazing.  

HIIT exercise is easily the fastest and most effective form of exercise there is. So like the name suggests, High Intensity is any exercise that gets the heart rate elevated to a good degree. The beauty is 30 second “Intervals” is all that is required at the high intensity. You just have to do anything that gets your heart rate up and your breath well elevated for 30 seconds. Then you follow each High Intensity with 90 seconds of low intensity motion. Then back to High Intensity for 30, slowing down for 90. You repeat this simple process for 6 cycles. That comes out to a total of 12 minutes. That is it. 

Its the fastest way to increase your human growth hormone, burn fat and electrify your cells. Without depleting your body or putting it into FFS or “flight/fight/storage” mode. When you go for a run every day, for say 40 minutes, your body will automatically start to store fat and dial back your fat-burning processes. It will essentially slow down your entire metabolic rate. And thinks it is saving your life too, because it is programmed to do this.  

The brain receives the signal that food is hard to find because we are going for long periods “chasing” after it. Or we are running from T-Rex, so we must conserve fat for the energy needed for tomorrow’s “run for our lives.” It is a slow process to lose pounds in this fashion. It is much faster to do HIIT because it fully increases all of your fat-burning faculties. And it suppresses all of your fat-storing processes as well. 

HIIT increases your growth hormone for 24 hours after you finish your 12 minutes! Growth Hormone will do so many things. Grow muscle, repair tissue, upscale protein synthesis=translates to you will lose weight and look younger! The acting class of Hollywood spends as much as $1000/week to receive growth hormone, so you know their effects are worthy!

So how to do it! You can literally do anything that elevates your heart and breath—such as heavy weight lifting, running very fast, jogging or bouncing while on a trampoline, pumping smaller weights very quickly, jumping jacks, very fast squats with weight. Whatever you choose just !Go Hard! for 30 seconds. For the following 90, slow it down. I like to stretch through yoga poses, belly dancing movements, or slow arm movement with light weights, slow squat holds, but always softly moving. Anything that will keep the heart rate only slightly elevated but returns the breath back to a nearly normal pace. Then off you go again for 30 seconds in high intensity. It is not necessary to do the same high-intensity routine every time. Each 30 seconds can be vastly different. Same for the low-intensity 90. The goal is High Intensity at Intervals! Easy as pie!

Now, if you are very out of shape and you get winded before 30 seconds, that is ok. If it takes you more than 90 seconds to return to a nearly normal breath, that is ok too. Just take the intervals in the time that you can manipulate the breath and heart as ascribed. Dr Sears talks about a woman who, in 7 seconds of HI was tapped out. And then it took 15 minutes to return to a normal breath and heart rate. What was amazing is how fast it changed. Once you begin electrifying your cells, the effects will compound very quickly. And after a while, you may be reaching for light weights as it will take too long to get winded. 

Another great thing about HIIT is that you will burn calories at a higher rate over the following 24-48 hours. If you do a really intense HIIT session with good-winded HI sections, I suggest not training that way again for up to 48 hours. The next day, do slow weight lifts, yoga, belly dance, and keep the heart rate reasonable. The reason is when you HIIT properly the body releases cortisol due to the stress of being “oxygen deprived” while you are huffing. It will take 24 to 48 hours for your oxygen levels to re-balance. If you do not give your body a long enough period of recovery, you may find you become very quickly fatigued during the workout 24 hours later. Be sensitive to your body. I have found that for me 36-48 hours is great. I feel really motivated and ready to sweat after 36-48. At 24 hours, I am not, and I struggle to maintain the full intensity during 30 seconds I can typically do for all 6 times. Pay attention to your body at this 24-hour mark. It loves to move. It will want to move. If you find this resistance, honor it. If you don’t find resistance, by all means, bust a move! 

So, briefly, to understand why this dynamic is so important, one must understand that the body, once winded, produces cortisol. This release, especially if you are also in a “fasted state,” lights a fire under your metabolic rate in an effort to return your “oxygenation” to optimum levels. This re-oxygenation should take between 24 and 48 hours to complete, the cortisol release will have been utilized, and the metabolic rate will dial back to nearly normal also. Something to understand is that you will want to be fully oxygenated before you HIIT again. Because if you HIIT the system hard again, causing additional oxygen deprivation, it will produce additional cortisol. If too much cortisol stays in the system over a few-day period, it can slow your metabolic rate down despite the exercise.

 The reason is, just as with emotional stress, too much cortisol creates an “insulin-resistant” environment. I plan an alternative work out every other day. It can be slowly lifting weights or slowly moving through bodyweight exercises, yoga, belly dance, brisk and steady walking, low-intensity arc training; the goal is just less “Intense.” 

Once you hit the 48-hour mark, though, you are ready to HIIT it hard again! At this point, I tune out “body whining”. I push it because I am absolutely after those growth hormone benefits! So I go for it. But play with it for your body. Some people are re-oxygenated at 24 some, like me, need 48. We all are a little bit unique, and your body will tell you. You will soon learn the difference between well-oxygenated and ready to kill it again and poorly oxygenated and lethargic. 

Now, moving on to Rebounding!!!! My newest and favorite for so many reasons. The very best part about rebounding or trampoline exercise is the immune system upgrade you get in only a few minute’s time. That is correct. It does more for the immune system in three minutes than nearly anything else can do. Why? Because of these little vessels all over your body called Lymph vessels. What do Lymph Vessels do?? Well, they begin to become as tiny as capillaries in your tissues. They are connected, in bigger and bigger vessels, to lymph nodes or lymph glands. These nodes are small bean-shaped organs located around the body.

The most known ones are in the neck, then under the arms and in the groin. However, there are approximately 600 sites throughout the body. When the ones in your head are full, they give you a head ache. Many headaches are over full lymph nodes. 

The lymphatic “system” has many parts. It helps to maintain the body’s fluid balance, absorbs fat, and contains white blood cells for immune defense. It is your defense system against every foreign invader from cancer cells (which are present in nearly everybody), bacteria, viruses, microorganisms, parasites, etc. These vessels pick up fluid from the body and process it through the lymph nodes for filtration. This filtration of toxic material is what protects your health. Without their ability to do this, you would be an incredibly sick person, and eventual disease and death would be imminent. 

So why is rebounding so amazing? The lymph system is its own system. Little gates open to allow fluid and impurities in. When the gates close, they push the impurities and fluid along. The little gates opening and closing acts like a pump. Whereas the blood vessels have a heart for a pump, this lymph system has gates that act as pumps. However, these gates require movement for prime performance. The more time spent not moving, the less effective they are. If you want to be healthy, which requires a strong immune system, rebounding is a true life hack! 

When you go up in the air, you are defying gravity. This defiance of gravity causes all of the lymphatic gates to open up. Fluid rushes in as you begin to descend. When your impact comes to a stop at the bottom, all of the gates slam shut. This open, fill up, slam shut creates an incredibly effective pumping action. Facilitating the rapid movement of toxins through the lymphatic system and clearing them out of the body.

 If you have a headache, sore throat, the sniffles, cough, congestion, cramps, and nearly anything else. Get on your trampoline for 3 minutes, and in an hour or less, your symptoms will dissipate. It only takes bouncing semi-aggressively for 3 minutes to keep your immune system pumping beautifully and cleared completely. If you have a knee, ankle or back issue that would prevent you from comfortably bouncing, you can do the “health bounce”.  The health bounce is softly moving up and down with the trampoline bed. Your feet won’t be leaving its surface. This is a very soft but effective way to clear your lymphatic system. Just go for 3-5 minutes even if it is 1 minute 3-5 times if needed.

No matter how you do your bounce, in 3-6 minutes, you will accomplish the task of clearing the system! A mini trampoline is one of the most loving health investments you can make. I use it daily whether I am doing a HIIT workout or a slower workout. Jogging in place on the Trampoline will wind you very quickly. It is similar to trotting through water. 

No matter what you choose to do, if it’s more than you are doing now, you are winning. It doesn’t matter what you do as much as you do something. Your body will get the love message if you just start. It knows when it is being loved. Every organ in your body, including the skin, has its own life and ecosystem. It will rejoice at being loved in any new way. It will love the improvement to its abilities to perform for you that exercise is going to give it. So HIIT ittttt! Get crackin’!