In this blog post, we’re going to discuss a number of vigor and stamina improvement practices found within my 10th book, The Secret of Vigor – How to Overcome Burnout, Restore Biochemical Balance and Reclaim Your Natural Energy.
Some of the most popular New Year’s resolutions every year are:
The Secret of Vigor can help you with 4 out of 5 of the most popular resolution goals, so I’ll be sharing some excerpts from the book in this blog post to help you jump-start your own improvement practices.
In This Article, You'll Learn:
Stamina Improvement Practices—Exercise
Participating in moderate exercise on a regular basis can reduce body fat, build muscle and bone, improve mental and emotional function, stimulate the immune response, and reduce appetite.
Being physically active can also offset some of the destructive effects of chronic stress and help restore biochemical balance—which leads to more vigor. No drug can do all that!
The Benefits of Exercise
In terms of improving your general sense of well-being, exercise generates the production of dopamine and serotonin, both of which are “feel-good” anti-anxiety and anti-depression chemicals that are produced in the brain and are responsible for the well-known “runner’s high” that can help control the stress response.
Research Findings on Exercise
Here are a few research findings that attest to the astounding benefits of exercise:
The Purpose of Exercise
One of the most important factors when it comes to exercise is your purpose for doing it: The “reason” you should be physically active has less to do with directly burning calories and losing weight (although those may be nice side benefits) and more to do with the fact that exercise can act as a “hedge” against the tendency for stress, sleep deprivation, aging, and poor diet to upset the body’s biochemical balance.
Many people tend to overestimate the rate at which exercise can burn calories.
They fail to realize that you would have to run a half mile to burn off every Oreo you eat and almost 90 minutes to burn off the calories in a Big Mac!
So although it is true that exercise does burn calories, its primary value as part of your strategy for improving stamina lies in its profound effects on restoring biochemical balance by modulating levels of cortisol, testosterone, growth hormone, serotonin, and other biochemical compounds in the Four Pillars of Health.
Making Time for Exercise
I know that many people claim they are “too busy” to exercise. In fact, being “too busy” is the most common excuse for not exercising. If you buy into that excuse, you need to accept the fact that your biochemical balance will never reach optimal levels and your vigor will suffer—simple as that.
So I invite you to take a minute to think about all the things on which you regularly spend thirty to sixty minutes each day—television, newspapers, Internet, etc.—and then ask yourself if investing that same amount of time in your health and in how you feel is worthwhile.
If you commit to an exercise program, I promise that your investment will produce great rewards.
Improvement Practices—Nutrition (Part 1)
When it comes to restoring biochemical balance and improving vigor and stamina, nutrition plays a key role. A proper diet offers numerous benefits, such as modulating inflammation and promoting tissue repair.
It only takes a few minutes of watching television, reading magazines, or surfing the Internet, however, to see that in the United States, people have a very wide range of opinions, programs, and “experts” telling them what a “proper” diet is.
Avoiding Stress About Diet
Unfortunately, this barrage of information (and misinformation) causes many people to become stressed out about their diets—and when they do, it causes problems.
For example, Canadian nutrition researchers have shown that “dieting” itself is a potent trigger for increasing cortisol and reducing bone mass.
Further, researchers at Texas Tech University have reported that disrupted biochemical balance has a direct and rapid detrimental effect on health, increasing rates of breakdown in virtually every tissue in the body.
Rather than becoming stressed out about your diet, it may be more helpful to realize that making wise nutritional choices can significantly improve the way you feel, function, and perform on many levels.
Those benefits can be enjoyed when you simply select a blend of nutrients from among a few certain foods, including brightly colored fruits and vegetables, teamed with whole grains and lean cuts of meat, poultry, and fish.
Fueling Your Vigor
Your diet truly “fuels” your vigor and stamina by maintaining your biochemical balance.
For example, a balanced breakfast of a scrambled egg, a piece of whole-grain toast, and a glass of orange juice provides a powerful dose of antistress and biochemistry-balancing nutrients.
It contains protein (in the egg), carbohydrates (in the toast and juice), B-complex vitamins (in the toast), antioxidants (in the juice), and phytonutrients (carotenoids in the egg, flavonoids in the juice, and lignans in the toast).
Increasing Fruit and Vegetable Intake
In reality, many people are not practicing what has been preached about good health.
No matter how many times you’ve heard commercials reminding you to eat several servings of fruits and vegetables each day, it turns out that about 90 percent of North Americans do not eat enough fruits and veggies.
As a result, more than ninety million people suffer chronic diseases.
To maximize your intake of phytonutrients and other micronutrients, try this simple (and fun) approach: “Color” your diet by trying to eat as many different colored fruits and vegetables as possible.
Each day, see if you can get five different colors into your diet: one serving each that is red (tomato), blue or purple (berries), yellow (melon), orange (carrot), and green (broccoli)—or whatever colors you can find.
(Note: French fries do not count as a yellow vegetable.)
Vigor Improvement Practices—Nutrition (Part 2)
Beyond fruits and vegetables, you may also be confused about “macronutrients,” which are carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Many dieticians and nutritionists forget the concept of “balance” and guide their clients toward diets high in complex carbohydrates.
Although it is true that most people can increase the amount of complex carbohydrates they eat, it is important to balance those carbohydrates with proper amounts of protein, fat, and fiber.
Understanding Cravings and Balance
Because we’re on the subject of carbohydrates, here are a few things to keep in mind: During anxious or highly stressful times, you may even crave carbohydrates, such as bread and sweets.
Those cravings are due in part to the effect that the stress hormone cortisol has on the body in terms of suppressing insulin function, increasing blood-sugar levels, and stimulating appetite.
Your brain may also urge you to eat more carbohydrates, because they can act as a “tranquilizer” of sorts by increasing brain levels of serotonin (the neurotransmitter that calms you down).
Unfortunately, although caving into the craving for carbs may give you a euphoric feeling for a few minutes, you’ll surely pay for it later in the form of low energy levels, mood swings, more cravings, a tendency toward weight gain—and, of course, a loss of vigor.
The Role of Macronutrients
Some popular dietary experts promote the idea that proteins are “good” and carbohydrates are “bad.” Those following such misguided advice may end up consuming too much protein and not enough carbohydrates.
Again, this type of approach misses the point that what you want to strive for is the right balance of each.
Protein can be thought of as the primary tissue builder (and rebuilder), because it helps you maintain lean muscle mass. But if you consume more protein than you need (as might happen when drinking some of the very high protein bodybuilding drink mixes), the result can be dehydration and bloating.
It is vital to consume carbohydrates, because they serve as the primary fuel for the brain (which cannot use any other fuel source as efficiently) and also play a role as a metabolic enhancer to encourage the body to use fat as a fuel source.
A popular saying among metabolic physiologists is that “fat burns in the flame of carbohydrate,” which means that the breakdown products of carbohydrate metabolism are required for the optimal breakdown of stored body fat and the conversion of that fat into energy.
Importance of Fat and Fiber
Finally, in addition to proteins and carbohydrates, fat and fiber are also essential to good health. They are needed to round out the balanced macronutrient mix, because they work to slow digestion and absorption of carbohydrates, control blood-sugar levels, and induce satiety (feelings of fullness).
Then, too, certain kinds of dietary fat provide your only sources of the essential fatty acids (EFAs), linoleic acid and linolenic acid. These EFAs have been shown to help lower cholesterol and blood pressure; reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, and possibly some kinds of cancer; and prevent dry hair and skin.
As you can see, your body needs all the macronutrients, and it is much better to take a balanced approach to nutrition than to try to eliminate certain foods or restrict your diet in unhealthy ways.
VIP: FlexSkills
In addition to the twenty-eight-minute walking program outlined above, you should consider also adding the flexibility exercises described below to further improve your circulation, balance, and strength.
I call each of these ten exercises “FlexSkills,” and I’ve used them to help elite athletes in virtually every type of sport improve their resilience, flexibility, and resistance to injury.
For each FlexSkill, you want to “hold” the position for thirty to sixty seconds. Each “cycle” of ten exercises, then, takes only five to ten minutes and can be performed either as a warm-up/cool-down on the days that you also do your Interval Walking or as an exercise circuit on its own.
For example, you could go through all ten FlexSkills two or three times as your workout instead of walking. You may also want to use a floor mat or large towel when performing these skills.
FlexSkill 1: Cobra
Targets: spinal discs, lower back, front torso, hips, arms, and shoulders
This position is also sometimes called “the Lizard” and has similarities to “the Upward-Facing Dog” pose in traditional yoga practice.
Aside from the obvious advantage to your lower-back flexibility and spinal-disc alignment, the Cobra movement serves to open up and expand your entire front torso, an effect that will greatly improve your ability to breathe and thus to deliver vital oxygen to the repair process in every tissue.
How to Perform the Cobra:
Lying face down on your mat, place the palms of your hands under your shoulders. Inhale slowly and deeply, hold for a moment, and then, while slowly exhaling, push upward from your hands—raising your head and shoulders and allowing your lower back to naturally arch.
Arch up as high as comfort allows, continue breathing slowly and deeply, and hold for thirty to sixty seconds.
Slowly return to your beginning face-down lying position. As you become better at the Cobra FlexSkill, you will find it easier to push yourself into a fuller arch; for a more advanced movement, try arching your neck back to look toward the ceiling.
FlexSkill 2: Squat
Targets: lower back, pelvis, hips, knees, ankles
Okay, it is time to teach your skeleton what proper alignment looks like.
This squat position is actually the “resting” position that is most natural in terms of skeletal alignment. Sitting in a chair (as most of us do for hours on end every day) is one of the worst biomechanical positions because of the extreme pressures, torques, and twists that the sitting position delivers to the back—especially to the lower back.
Low-back pain affects eight out of ten American adults at some point in their lives, and the Squat helps realign the entire joint system into a more natural position.
How to Perform the Squat:
Start in a standing position with your feet about shoulders’ width apart and your toes pointing straight ahead. Take a deep breath and slowly squat down, bringing your butt to your ankles.
Your hands can hang by your sides, or you can wrap them around your knees or position them on the ground in front or to the side of you to help balance yourself.
Continue to breathe slowly and deeply, and hold the Squat position for thirty to sixty seconds.
As your balance improves in the Squat position, you will find that you can maintain this comfortable position for many minutes without using your hands for balance or support.
FlexSkill 3: Sky Reach
Targets: spine and shoulders
Also known as the “Pillar Stretch” and the “Mountain Pose” in yoga, this FlexSkill movement can be done seated or standing.
I prefer to do the Sky Reach seated with my legs crossed, because I feel that I get a better low-back stretch in the seated position, and the next FlexSkill movement is also done in a seated position.
But the choice is yours, and you may wish to experiment with seated and standing positions to see which you prefer.
How to Perform the Sky Reach:
From a cross-legged seated position (or standing with feet shoulders’ width apart and toes pointing straight ahead), inhale slowly and deeply.
Interlace your fingers, turn your palms away from your body, and reach for the sky. Look straight ahead, hold your spine straight, and breathe slowly and deeply.
Hold your most comfortably extended position for thirty to sixty seconds.
FlexSkill 4: Figure-8
Targets: lower back and hips
Also called “the Pretzel” and “the Seated Hip Twist” in some forms of yoga, the Figure-8 FlexSkill is one of my personal favorites.
As a runner and cyclist, my hips and lower back are in a constant state of stress, so this movement is vital to maintaining optimal flexibility and mobility in these important “core” areas.
How to Perform the Figure-8:
From a seated position, with your legs straight out in front of you, keep your right leg straight and cross your left foot over to the outside of your right knee.
Grasp the outside of your left knee and gently pull it toward the ribs on your right side.
Slowly pull and continue breathing slowly and deeply until you feel a stretch in your left hip, butt, and lower back.
Hold for twenty to thirty seconds.
Slowly release the stretch, extend your left leg, and repeat the movement on your right knee.
FlexSkill 5: Cross Twist
Targets: lower back, hips, spine, abdominal muscles
This FlexSkill is a two-part movement, starting with a very simple “knee-to-chest” movement that you may have performed as a child in gym class, followed by the twisting position that is sometimes called a “T-Roll” or a “Crucifix Twist” because of the position of your upper body and arms during the movement.
How to Perform the Cross Twist:
Lying on your back with both legs out straight, use both hands to bring your right knee up to your chest. Take a deep breath, and with your hands on your knee/shin, slowly pull your right leg/knee into your chest until you can feel a gentle stretch in your lower back and right hip.
Pull as far as you feel comfortable, and hold for fifteen to thirty seconds while you continue to breathe slowly and deeply.
At the end of your 'hold,' slowly extend your hands outward to your sides, forming a 'T' shape with your body. Slowly rotate your pelvis and torso to lower your right knee toward your left side, bringing the inside of your right knee as close to your mat as possible while keeping your palms and shoulders flat on your mat.
At your most comfortable twist position, continue to breathe slowly and deeply, and hold for fifteen to thirty seconds. Repeat both positions (knee-to-chest and twist) with your left leg.
FlexSkill 6: Superman
Targets: lower back, spine, hips, shoulders, neck
Also known as “the Locust” position in some forms of yoga, the Superman position is popular as much for its strengthening and balancing qualities as for its flexibility benefits.
As a FlexSkill, the Superman movement can be performed in several variations, from easy to advanced, depending on your degree of flexibility.
How to Perform the Superman:
Start from a lying face-down position, with your forehead flat on your mat. Your arms should be stretched out in front of you with your palms flat on the floor. Breathe slowly and deeply for a few moments.
Keeping your forehead flat on the mat, slowly raise your right hand/arm and left foot/leg off the mat as far as comfort allows. You should feel a slight stretch in your front torso and through your entire back, hip, and butt region.
If you feel any low-back pain at all, you should lower your hand and/or foot until you feel comfortable again.
Continue taking slow/deep breaths, and hold this extended position for fifteen to thirty seconds. Slowly lower your right hand and left foot, take a deep breath in the beginning (face-down) position, and repeat the movement with your left hand and right foot.
FlexSkill 7: Plank
Targets: spine, upper/lower back muscles, hips, abdominal muscles, ankles, shoulders, arms
This movement is a classic yoga position that helps integrate upper and lower body alignment. You can think of the Plank as a static “push-up” in high and low positions.
Start this FlexSkill with the “high” position and progress to the “low” position. In doing so, you encourage muscle activity in all parts of the body and stimulate circulation and delivery of nutrients to a range of connective tissues.
Breathing is an important consideration in this FlexSkill, because, with so many muscles being activated, you’ll have to concentrate on taking full, deep breaths for the entire movement.
How to Perform the Plank:
Start from the same relaxed face-down position as the Superman movement. Place your hands, palms down, directly under your shoulders.
Take a deep, cleansing breath, and fully extend your arms, pushing upward to the 'high' Plank position. Try to stay up on your toes while you maintain a straight spine and neck, and focus your eyes on the floor directly in front of your fingertips.
Concentrate on maintaining slow, deep, even breaths, and hold this position for fifteen to thirty seconds. This can be a very challenging movement, especially if you lack a lot of upper-body strength, so only maintain this 'high' position for as long as you feel comfortable.
You will then move directly into the 'low' Plank position by simply allowing your arms to slowly bend and bringing your elbows to the side of your body.
Continuing to breathe slowly and deeply, hold this position for fifteen to thirty seconds before slowly returning to your face-down starting position with your stomach flat on your mat. Take another deep, cleansing breath.
FlexSkill 8: Multi-Split
Targets: spine, upper/lower back, hips, abdominal muscles, legs, ankles, shoulders, arms
This FlexSkill is another two-part movement that targets multiple joints simultaneously, while at the same time improving muscle strength and balance.
The primary idea behind this movement is to get the upper- and lower-body connective tissues aligned and working in concert with one another.
In some forms of yoga, this Multi-Split movement is known as “the Stork” or “the Tree” and sometimes as the “Crescent Lunge,” depending on the direction of the movement.
How to Perform the Multi-Split:
Start from a standing position with your toes pointing straight ahead and your arms at your sides. Take a deep, cleansing breath.
In the first part of the movement, extend your arms upward and away from your sides so they are parallel to the floor. Then, bring the sole of your right foot slowly up the inside of your left leg, raising your right foot as high as feels comfortable for you.
Continue maintaining a slow, deep rhythmic breathing pattern (and your balance!) as you hold this position for fifteen to thirty seconds. Slowly return your right foot to your mat and repeat on the other side.
In the second part of this FlexSkill, you will start from the same standing/toes-forward/arms-at-side position. Take a deep, cleansing breath, look straight ahead, and step forward with your right foot.
Keeping both knees pointing straight ahead, bend your right knee into as deep a lunge as feels comfortable.
Continue your slow, deep breathing while you reach your arms upward straight over your head. Imagine lengthening your spine from your lower back all the way up to the ceiling with each breath.
Hold this position for fifteen to thirty seconds before slowly returning your arms to your sides and stepping back from your lunge into your starting position. Repeat with your left leg.
After finishing this last FlexSkill movement, you should come back to a resting position for a few last deep, cleansing breaths. You can use a comfortable standing position, the Squat position, or even the Child’s Pose to bring it all together to a relaxing conclusion.
Experiment with each position to determine how you best like to end each FlexSkill session, or try ending with a different position each time.
Conclusion
By incorporating these Vigor and Stamina Improvement Practices into your daily routine, you can significantly improve your biochemical balance, enhance your vigor, and feel better than you’ve ever felt.
Remember, investing time in your health is one of the best decisions you can make. Start today, and experience the difference in your energy, mood, and overall well-being.
