Hi everyone, Dr. Joey Luo here and I recently did my final weigh-in to see if I was successful in losing 10 pounds this month with exercise alone.
Before I reveal my results, I wanted to thank everyone who has followed me on this month-long journey. I hope that you've learned something about preventing injury while doing exercise!
As you can see, I was SO CLOSE to pulling off the full 10 pounds. But now that I've tried this out, there are definitely some things I learned along the way and I figured it would be good to summarize some key points:
1. Listen to your body
It's very important that you're not just suffering through pain, but listening to your body and address the issue. It may not necessarily be something damaged, buy your body is likely telling you that the exercise you're doing is too intense, too long, or just too hard for you as you are now. Develop the area that is causing concern slowly and eventually, you will be able to do the exercise you want without pain.
2. Stabilize
Often, what your body is craving is stability. It's important to make sure your joints are stable before you go ahead and use them. Respect the little muscle. They need to be activated during easy exercises. I am linking a stabilization exercise for each major section of the body below.
Neck: Cervical Impact Test
Shoulders: Shoulder Setting
Back: Lift Off
Hips: Hip Holds 2
Knees: Praying Mantis
Ankles: Ankle Alphabets
3. Don't be a one-trick pony
There's no professional athlete that only does that sport that they're paid to do. It's important to be well-rounded because the body is made to do everything. If you enjoy running, try lifting weights once a week. If you enjoy yoga, try Zumba or swimming once a week.
Another thing I should probably mention is diet. I tried to eat the same way I normally would. I didn't try to cut anything from my diet or make healthier choices. If anything, I ate more because I was hungry from all of the additional exercise. I think my body composition did not change much because I ate a lot of fat and carbs and not enough fruit, veggies and protein.
I hope that you were able to benefit from this series whether you want to run, do Insanity, squat or cycle. It doesn't matter which ones you do, just get up and go exercise.
Be healthy!
Dr. Joey Luo