Aerobic Power: Alkalizing & Exercising

Imagine having more energy, vitality and mental clarity. Picture having a clear mind, a spring in your step, to wake up early feeling refreshed and living a vibrant life. Imagine having a slim, athletic, toned body, with strength, flexibility and vigour.

Savour that image and that feeling for a while.

What do you look like? What do you feel like? How do people react to you? What do they say? What is your energy like? How do you walk? How does your partner react to you, or your potential mate?

This is achievable for everyone. And doesn’t it sound exciting? Doesn’t it put a smile on your face to think of yourself being like that, feeling like that and looking like that?

It is so motivating. Picturing yourself with that awesome physique, full of energy and smiling.

So as you read this article, keep that image in your mind – because if you are serious about getting to your dream health and physical goals then you simply have to get serious about getting fit and exercising.

Diet alone can only get you so far

When you combine healthy, nutritious eating with consistent, regular exercise you really do unlock your body’s potential. And it happens quickly.

So while the bad news (for many) is that you just have to exercise, the good news is that it is quite straightforward, anyone can do it, and no matter where you are or what your situation, you will start to benefit right away.

The Power of Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic and anaerobic exercise are both equally important, and both play a different role in getting you to your health goals. Both are essential. You may have the belief that:

• Running, walking, swimming (or any other aerobic exercise) is only for people who want to lose weight or run a marathon
• Weight training (or any other anaerobic, resistance exercise) is only for guys and gals who want to get massive and bulk up

While both forms of exercise do indeed benefit people who have these goals, they are important to every one of us.

In this article I will be focusing exclusively on aerobic exercise as I believe it would be too much information in one hit to try and cover both aerobic and anaerobic (I’ll be blogging on the importance of anaerobic exercise very soon).

There are many ways to exercise aerobically, however, the key principle is to have a solid understanding of what aerobic exercise actually is:

“Aerobic literally means ‘with oxygen’, and refers to the use of oxygen in the energy-generating process. Aerobic exercise describes any type of exercise, typically performed at moderate levels of intensity for extended periods of time that increases your heart rate. (source: wikipedia.org)

When we exercise aerobically, we give our body a huge helping hand in detoxifying and removing wastes, acid by-products (such as dead cells, fungus, mold and other bacteria), exotoxins and mycotoxins and more. The skin has over 2.5 million sweat glands and these have an incredible ability to remove toxins from the body. The aerobic reaction created by this form of exercise also helps the lymphatic system to do its job, boosts our energy and aerobic capacity and obviously speeds fat loss (if weight management is one of your goals).

When we are aerobically fit, we experience more energy, vitality and vibrancy, our immune system is stronger and because we are so cleansed of acids and toxins we sleep better, have clearer skin and stronger bones .

I know that nobody wants to hear this news, but if you want to alkalise your body and experience the benefits that this lifestyle brings, then you simply have to exercise.

The good news is, I’m about to make it straightforward, effective and easy to follow.

Aerobic Exercise: The Right Way

When you are exercising aerobically, the way you exercise is vitally important. Have you ever finished a run and felt sick and light headed? Or have you finished a run and just needed a sugar hit? If either of these have been true then you were actually exercising anaerobically. When you exercise anaerobically for long periods like this, it is actually acidifying rather than alkalising. This is not our goal.

Your goal from your aerobic exercise is to create a response in your body that eliminates acid, toxins and stored fat. However, incorrect aerobic exercise simply burns sugar for energy, not fat, thus giving little or no effect to fat loss or acid elimination.

Burn Fat not Sugar

During exercise, our body can use a number of different fuels to supply its energy needs. The principle sources of fuel that the body uses to keep us going are carbohydrates (sugar) and fat, and the selection of which is used is determined by exercise intensity.

When your heart goes over a set rate of beats per minute (BPM) you begin to burn sugar, not fat and your exercise shifts from aerobic to anaerobic.

Exercising aerobically - to eliminate acids and burn fat - should be your goal, because this is highly alkalising, improves your fitness level, strengthens your heart, boosts your metabolism, increases red blood cell count and eliminates toxins from your body through your skin (sweat) and breath (respiratory system). Sound good?

The lymph, in particular, benefits from aerobic exercise. As your body’s sewerage system, it’s main goal is picking up and carrying out unwanted waste and aerobic exercise gets your lymph pumping like nothing else!

So it is easy to see that if you want to alkalise, you cannot skip aerobic exercise as part of your lifestyle. And ensuring that your aerobic exercise is fat-burning is integral to this.

How to Burn Fat, Not Sugar

The shift from aerobic to anaerobic is caused by exercising at a heart rate that forces your body mechanisms to change from an aerobic response to an anaerobic response.

When this shift occurs different muscle fibres are utilised and your body switches from using stored fat as its primary source of energy to using carbohydrates/sugar as its primary source of energy.

To put it most simply, when you exercise you have to focus on your heart rate and generally speaking, there are two zones that you need to be aware of, the fat burn zone (aerobic) and the sugar burn zone (anaerobic).

The ‘fat-burning zone’ is different for everybody and you will need to calculate what your zones are. In order to do this calculation, we recommend the Stu Mittleman method.

Stu is an ultramarathon champion setting the world record for the 1,000 mile run (he completed it in 11 days). He also holds the US record for the Six Day Run: 578 miles (96 miles/3.7 marathons per day!). Stu also ran across America (yes, the whole length of America) in 55 days, at a rate of 52 miles per day in 2000. We can consider him to be somewhat of an authority on aerobic training and running!

Stu is also a strong advocate of the alkaline lifestyle and has based his entire training regime for these extreme events on exercising correctly to ensure his energy is derived from fat, not sugar.

Calculating your Heart Rate Zones

The method for calculating your heart-rate zones according to Stu is to simply subtract your age from 180. This defines your uppermost limit before you start burning sugar instead of fat. If you answered yes to the question of whether you have ever finished a run and felt dizzy and queasy then this is because you were burning sugar instead of fat!

The fat burning zones are broken down into three stages; at the lowest level of intensity is the ‘warm-up zone’ (WUZ), followed by the ‘mostly aerobic pace’ (MAP) and then the ‘most efficient pace’ (MEP). MAP is the zone where the most fat burning takes place and it is within this zone that you should concentrate your efforts whilst detoxing in order to give yourself a work-out and to help flush your lymphatic system.

Using myself as an example, here is how to calculate your zones:

MEP Upper Limit: 180 - my age (28) = 152
MEP Lower Limit: 152 – 10 = 142

Therefore my MEP zone is 142bpm to 152bpm (anything above this is anaerobic)

MAP Upper Limit: 142
MAP Lower Limit: 142 – 10 = 132

Therefore MAP zone is 132bpm to 142bpm

WUZ Upper Limit: 132
WUZ Lower Limit: 132 – 10 = 122

Therefore Warm Up zone is 122bpm to 132bpm

In short:

• MEP = 152-142
• MAP = 132-142
• WUZ = 122-132

Unless you run frequently, it will probably be fairly difficult to keep within these zones whilst running and therefore you may need to intersperse your running with walking, perhaps for 200 meters every kilometer in order to keep your heart-rate down. Once you’ve become an ‘accomplished’ runner (running regularly for 6+ months, you can add 5 or 10 to each zone).

Knowing your Heart Rate

Obviously, the best way to know your heart-rate is to wear a heart-rate monitor. I strongly urge you to invest in one, as it is one of the most important investments you will ever make. However, if you do not own one of these, you can still roughly estimate which zone you are in using the following guidelines:

Signs of being in MAP or MEP:

- you can still talk normally without being short of breath
- your vision is clear and you have heightened senses of smell and sight
- you are in a steady, comfortable rhythm
- you would rate your level of intensity somewhere between 4 and 7 (at the very most)

Signs of being out of the fat-burning/aerobic zone:

- you are short of breath, especially when talking
- you may feel dizzy or nausea
- you do not feel comfortable
- you are looking forward to finishing!
- you would rate your level of intensity as above 7

Short Guide to Buying a Heart Rate Monitor

• You don’t need to spend a lot
• Think carefully about what gadgets you require, 99% of the time you only need the basics
• I personally only ever own the entry level monitor, I don’t use any other features
• Buy one that has a separate chest strap, I find the strapless monitors to be inconsistent
• If you are joining a club or running with others, ensure your monitor is able to track only your pulse, some cheap models will get confused if you run with others who are wearing a monitor (it picks up their signal).
• I highly recommend Polar heart-rate monitors

When To Exercise and For How Long

I personally recommend running in the morning before your day ‘starts’. From my years of running I still find that unless I run as soon as I get up I find it difficult to maintain a regular schedule. If I leave it until the afternoon I find it too easy to find excuses not to go. I convince myself I am too busy, or it is too late, or I’ll just run harder tomorrow.

The biggest key to your success in this area is to get into the habit of getting up, straight into your sneakers and out of the door! Get dressed first too.

A key distinction to make at this stage is that the focus has to be on time not distance. By training with the focus on time rather than distance it also means that regardless of your fitness level now, these schedules will suit everyone.

A typical training session will involve exercising in a certain zone (MAP or MEP) for a certain amount of time. This means that those who are at a complete beginners stage will have to employ a mix of running and walking to stay in the zone, whereas someone at a more advanced level will be able to run harder and still remain in the right zone.

To reiterate, it is all about training in the right heart rate zone for a desired amount of time, not running a certain distance at a certain speed. Let your heart rate determine how fast you run. This is why exercising this way is so effective – because no matter what your current level of fitness – you are working at a pace that is perfect for you - not a predetermined regime set out by somebody else. Listen to your heart rate and stay in the right zones and you will improve at your own, perfect rate.

This will be a shift for a lot of you, who are used to running much faster, but remember, if your heart rate at your normal pace is off the chart then this was anaerobic exercise.

This exercise has not been a waste as it will have still build you strong muscles and good short distance speed and endurance. You will find that after only a few short weeks of training in the right zones at the right speed that your aerobic capacity will very quickly increase. It will happen surprisingly fast, so don’t feel like you are taking a step backwards by slowing down for a while. It won’t be long before you are back up to your previous speed, but you will find your heart rate staying low and like you can run forever.

I remember when I was running a LOT, it was fantastic when I got to the point where I felt like I could run comfortably forever. No matter how far I went my heart rate was always around 148-150. Eventually my legs would give out, but I never felt aerobically tired. At that stage I was training for a very specific event and my running schedule was very time consuming - but even now that I am training “normally” it is so fantastic to know that I could easily knock off a 20k run at the drop of a hat and still feel good.

THE most important question you can ever ask yourself!

This is a gem. I wish I could remember where I heard it so I can credit them, because I use it all of the time. If you are EVER feeling a little unmotivated to go for a run or do some exercise, ask yourself this question:

Have I EVER gone for a run and regretted it?

The answer is always NO! When I ask this question I picture how I feel when I get back from a run, feeling all energised, the clarity in my mind, the feelgood factor, smiling and giving myself a pat on the back. I really visualise that feeling, really get a sense of what it looks, smells and feels like.

If I do this, I never then think “Nah, I’ll go another time”! Before I know it my kit is on and I’m out of the door.

Another tip is one I learned from Tony Robbins at Date With Destiny. If he is ever feeling unmotivated to exercise he strikes a deal with himself. He’ll say “OK, but I’ll just go for 10 minutes”. By the time you’re out there and exercising for 10 minutes there is no way you’ll want to go home and 9 times out of 10 you end up going for at least your normal run – often the motivation just kicks in and you go for longer.

Another massive tip

Don’t skip more than one day in a row. Ever. Don’t let yourself skip two days. I don’t need to explain why. Just don’t. If you can stick to this you will stick with your exercise plan! I promise.

Stretching and Warming Up

For the purposes of running and other aerobic exercise, we do not advocate traditional stretching as part of the warm up, just as part of the warm down. When running we believe the best way to warm up is to gently walk/run at a slow pace (in the WUZ) for a set amount of time (relative to the total exercise time). This allows your muscles to gently get used to the exercise and not be stretched before they’ve warmed. The analogy I think of when stretching ‘cold’ is to think of solid glue. When it is cold and you try and stretch it, it becomes brittle and snaps. But if you warm it up in your hands, it becomes pliable and stretchy.

This is not the case for all sports, and any sport that requires explosive movement such as jumping, twisting etc (such as tennis or football) requires stretching prior to starting . However, with exercise such as running, you should warm up by gradually increasing your activity rather than stretching while cold. Research shows that for activites in which muscle length is not an issue (such as running), stretching can damage the cytoskeletal system and mask muscle pain .

Aches & Pains

There is a fair possibility that during the first few weeks (or whenever you really step up a level) you are going to feel some aching – and the simple nature of running means that every now and then you are possibly going to tweak or pull something.

Please do not use medicated anti-inflammatories and painkillers unless your Doctor prescribes you to.

There are so many natural ways to fight pain and inflammation that are so much better for you.

Medicated antiinflammatories and painkillers, when used repeatedly can cause:

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Here are my three top picks for natural pain and inflammation relief:

Dr Vogel’s Atrogel Arnica Gel

This traditional herbal medicinal product is absolutely unbelievable. I use it all of the time and it has an instant and noticeable effect. It can be used for the symptomatic relief of aches, pains and stiffness, sprains, bruises and swelling. Our customers are also reporting that it is brilliant for arthritis, back pain and fibromyalgia.

If you ever get soreness, exercise, arthritic or rheumatic, inflammation, pain or any other complaint like this I really urge you to give this Arnica Gel a try.

Dr Young’s Pain pHree

This is a really interesting and, I have to say it, effective product (customer feedback has been fantastic.

It is a blend of oils that not only have an analgesic effect, but it also has an alkalising effect from the topical application of these natural, alkaline ingredients.

According to Dr Young, many inflammations are caused by localised acidity in the tissues. Pain pHree not only takes away the pain, but it also helps to reduce to cause by increasing the alkalinity of the inflamed tissues.

It also feels and smells great making it a great sports massage oil.

Flexi Herb

Flexi Herb is a 100% natural, herbal supplement that helps ease aches, pains, soreness, stiffness and more. It is a product you actually take (in tablet form) rather than apply topically, so it is fantastic to use in conjunction with the above two products.

It contains a high concentration of Devils Claw, which is known for its anti-inflammatory properties. In a study published in the scientific journal Rheumatology, Devils Claw was compared to 12.5 mg a day of the anti-inflammatory Vioxx for 6 weeks in 79 patients with acute low back pain and was proven to be just as effective as this prescribed drug.

Getting Started

Make no excuses. There is no reason that you cannot start today, within 30 minutes of NOW. Don’t fall into the trap of putting this off. I don’t want to hear:

• I’ll get a heart rate monitor first
• I’ll get some new sneakers first
• It’s too cold today
• It’s late, I’m tired – I’ll start tomorrow
• I’ve just got to get this stuff done today, I’m too busy
• I’ll see if x, y or z wants to come with me…oh they’re busy, we’ll do it tomorrow

I’ll accept no excuses! Do something today…now! Even if it is just a 10 minute walk – the fact that you have done something will give you motivation, confidence and drive to do it again tomorrow. Getting started is the hardest part.

Start Small

If you’re not someone who normally exercises and this is all new and a bit scary, just start small. Commit to exercising every day but for just 10 minutes per day for the next three weeks.

Once you find that you’re forming a habit, and feeling the benefit (even if it is just psychological benefits at this stage, such as the sense of achievement) then you might just find yourself wanting to do more and crank it up a notch.

Start small, start achievable and take it from there.

So go on then. Put this down, get your kit on and do something.

Note: This blog is only my opinion. It is not medical advice or diagnosis. Only opinions based upon our own personal experiences or information detailed in medical/academic journals or other publications is cited. WE DO NOT OFFER MEDICAL ADVICE or prescribe any treatments. Please consult with a medical professional before making any diet or nutrition changes. Refer to our full disclaimer for more information.