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The Heart Survival Guide™ Newsletter The Heart Survival Guide newsletter is dedicated to helping you to create and sustain a new, "heart-healthy" lifestyle. Whether you're at risk due to family or personal history or have been diagnosed with medical problems that affect your overall health or your heart specifically, you'll always receive valuable, thought-provoking information to enhance your health and your life. Additional articles can be requested from our Articles page. __________________________________________________________________ The Heart Survival Guide™ Newsletter Helping You Create And Sustain A Heart-Healthy Lifestyle™ "Exercising The Heart: The Five-Minute Workout" __________________________________________________________________ Greetings to all Heart Survival Guide subscribers! We bring you articles and information of interest to health professionals and their clients who are interested in making important personal lifestyle changes. This article provides a simple plan for starting your exercise program - that takes only minutes a day! __________________________________________________________________ EXERCISING THE HEART: THE FIVE-MINUTE WORKOUT © By C. David Blair, Ph.D. __________________________________________________________________ 1. What's Right For Me? 2. The 5-Minute Workout 3. Getting Started 4. Send Us Your Feedback __________________________________________________________________ WHAT'S RIGHT FOR ME? Some years ago I spent a delightful year in Southern California while completing my professional training. This was an amazing place - a land of beauty, wonder, and many, many healthy people who seemed always to be in motion - walking, skating, biking, exercising. I was in awe of their dedication to their health (of course, it was California... ). One of my internship colleagues was a woman, born in Spain, who had lived throughout the world and had recently joined us from the Northwest. She ate right, got enough sleep ... and she ran. She ran beautifully, like a gazelle. Her motion was a thing to behold. She would start early in the morning and run along the beach. She said the first 20 or 30 minutes were painful, but that didn't matter, because then she would encounter the "Runner's High" and felt she could run forever. Wow. I thought, "That's great, for her" - but I could never do this, and I knew it. Constitutionally, I wasn't an avid exerciser, and I'd gone up and down over the years in how I approached (or avoided) exercise. How did she do this? How can I ever get to where she is? DO I ever want to get to where she is? The problem is ... I was comparing apples to oranges. I was looking at someone who had been doing this for years and was comparing her to myself, a rank beginner. I had no idea what would be right for me. I wasn't even ready to make the decision whether to go where she was, or in another direction. This is why we often find ourselves blocked from starting the process. We're looking at the end result and seeing how far away it looks. It's like looking through the wrong end of a telescope, which makes everything seem miles away. __________________________________________________________________ THE 5-MINUTE WORKOUT For those of us who don't naturally search out opportunities to exercise, a good place to start is this: -- Move your body. Every day. For five minutes. Do what you can, within the limits of your cardiac health and your physical condition. Start slowly, and build up. Why only five minutes? It doesn't sound like much, does it? And that's the trick. If you haven't been an avid exerciser all your life, your mind (and body) probably resists the idea of exercise. We think about it, it seems painful, and we decide to do something else instead. So do something that involves "moving your body", for five minutes. It doesn't have to be hard, it just needs to be movement. These five minutes may be enough ... and it may be just the amount of time it takes for your body to stop protesting and relax. Often, you'll find that you're willing to do a little (or a lot) more. __________________________________________________________________ GETTING STARTED There are many ways to get going. Here's one way to start slowly (where you are, *right now*) and move gradually into a regular exercise program. Going to the gym doesn't appeal to many of us. We simply don't connect with the whole process of getting our gear together, getting dressed, getting into the car, driving to the gym, parking, getting inside, getting undressed, and getting to the equipment - and then doing the whole process in reverse when we're done. Instead, in a moment of inspiration, one of the Cardiance team members decided to change the rules. He did some research and bought himself an "elliptical" walker, which requires only an easy, natural walking movement. He put it in his study, with a small TV to give him something to focus on. It's easy to get to, and there's no planning or traveling involved. Just step on, and move. What made him succeed was his goal. He planned to walk (move his body) for just five minutes every day. He learned that this was just about the time it takes his body (and mind) to stop saying "I don't want to do this" and to smooth out into a steady pace. Then he decides, lap by lap, how far to go. He started slowly, and after several months he worked his way up to 20-30 minutes a day, six days a week, by starting in just this manner, one day at a time. All it took was the decision to get up and move, for just five minutes at a time. Not so daunting, especially for a "non-exercising", middle-aged guy! This is only one way to get started. Whatever way you choose, it works best when: - It's your *own* way - It's not difficult - It's relatively painless The best part of this plan is that it's accessible, convenient, easy, and requires little preparation and no travel time. HeartSurvivalGuide Copyright 2001-2009 by C. David Blair. All rights reserved. __________________________________________________________________ SEND US YOUR FEEDBACK Some of our subscribers are probably accomplished exercisers, and we heartily congratulate you for your persistence and success. How about letting us know what worked for you when you first started exercising, so we can share it with others in a future edition of the newsletter? And for the rest of us, who have had our struggles with exercise, how about writing to the Heart Survival Guide [tm] and letting us know what you've tried, what has worked, what hasn't, and where you are right now. Contact us at: http://www.cardiance.com/contact.html. We'll be delighted to share your valuable experience with others (first names only) in a future newsletter. __________________________________________________________________ Many thanks for sharing the Heart Survival GuideT with your friends and associates. We grow by word of mouth and referrals from our readers. We encourage you to share or forward this newsletter, as long as it is kept intact and is sent in its entirety, including the subscription, contact, and copyright information. For permission to republish in other forms, contact us at http://www.cardiance.com/contact.html Privacy - We do not release, sell, or give our subscribers' names or E-mail addresses to other parties. You will only receive E-mail messages from us that contain requested information, new monthly articles, and announcements of new services and programs.) ___________________________________________________________________ C. David Blair, Ph.D., the founder of Cardiance, is a professional coach and behavioral health specialist, with a special interest in helping people make major transformational changes in their lives around issues of health and behavior change. Write to David here: http://www.cardiance.com/contact.html __________________________________________________________________ This newsletter and the information it contains is not intended to be medical advice and should not substitute for consultation with qualified medical professionals. Please see your doctor regularly. __________________________________________________________________ "Cardiance" and "Heart Survival Guide" are copyright by C. David Blair, Ph.D. and Cardiance PLLC. The above material is the sole intellectual property of the author. All rights are reserved. __________________________________________________________________

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