Body Wise*

Bryan Baisinger, DC is a chiropractor providing sports medicine care in Portland, OR at Clearwater Clinic. He is a team physician for Portland State University Athletics Department. He works with all levels of performance from beginners to Olympic athletes.

503-279-0205
www.clearh2o.org

*The information contained herein is not intended to diagnose or treat ANY medical condition. Always consult your physician before beginning any new exercise or treatment.

Spring Resolutions…
Now is the Time to Start!

By Bryan Baisinger

It is now spring and you still haven’t made much headway with that New Year’s resolution to start a brand new walking program. January often seems like the perfect time to renew or begin healthy lifestyle habits. That’s because January ends what I like to call “the food season” that begins sundown on October 31st with the first bowl of Halloween candy and finishes on a crescendo at midnight December 31st with the last of the holiday treats. In January, something new is beginning, for example a new commitment to good health. And something old has ended, for example hanging onto old habits that aren’t doing you or your body any good.

Now it’s March. Do you have to wait until winter to try and begin again?

Rather than looking at it as a failure, I suggest you think of it as a “push back.” This concept is frequently used in the business world where even well organized and important projects get “pushed back” to a later date. In reality, implementing successful projects often means making needed adjustments to a timeline and requires a renewed focus and belief in the value of the project. Of course, successful business projects never stop until completion and neither should your goals to be healthy, active, and feel good.

When starting a walking regimen, even later than January, it is important to remember why you were committed in the first place. Write and display a list of all the benefits you see from undertaking a walking regimen. It is important to allow yourself the same chance to re-prioritize and re-focus that any Fortune 500 company would allow itself on something important.

Begin with the question; what is your goal? If it is ambitious or modest, remember you should set reasonable benchmarks. It is very helpful to build in small successes on route. I would encourage you to be as specific as possible. Having a specific affirmative goal gives a definite point of focus. For example, say your goal is to finish a 10k race in a time that would make you feel proud. Name the amount of time, keep a checklist of how to approach a practice regimen, and even visualize how would you like to feel when you finish it. When you fall off the regimen, re-start.

If you are new to walking, do some research. Find out about various walking events. The first time you attend one, try and be realistic. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement, especially when there is a large turnout, and walk too fast. In the beginning it isn’t always about going the fastest. Remember unless you win the event, someone will always be faster!

If you are setting your own training regimen, to calculate a training speed, go backwards from your goal marathon, half marathon, 10k, or 5k to predict your pace. If you would like to clock a 5k race at a 13-minute mile pace, try walking one to two laps as a warm-up and then time yourself for one-quarter mile. If you’d completed one-quarter mile in 3.5 minutes, multiply that by four and that is your minutes per mile. In this case it would be a 14-minute mile.

For beginning walkers, knowledge is a wonderful thing. Read books and magazines. Get a trainer or coach. Get social, don’t be shy. Chances are other walkers will welcome you. Research suggests that walkers who participate with a group are far more successful in reaching their stated goals. In my clinical experience they also have more fun. In working toward optimal health, having fun is one way to ensure that consistent exercise happens.

With the weather improving, it is time to make good on those resolutions to take care of yourself. Walking is one of the best forms of exercise for us. We are bipeds, and we were built to walk. After a little crawling and crashing when we first got started, of course. Take a “push back” to push forward toward reaching your highest level of performance. Cheers to your health!