An Excerpt from The Near Perfect Life
Never could I have realized that my Near Perfect Body was only four and a half months away.
While it involved the loss of 25 pounds and some significant toning up of my muscles, I gained so much more from the journey. It taught me that simplicity, friendship, optimism and consistency are all that were necessary to get everything I wanted.
The feelings that came to me in learning these lessons were profound. Later on, I took one of my “shirt-off” pictures to map my progress on this journey. For some reason, I looked at the picture more closely than I had looked at any of my photos for a long time. And once again, powerful feelings washed over me. I was looking at something I wanted my whole life, yet was always so sure would never happen for me.
But there it was.
And for you to accomplish your Near Perfect Body is nowhere near as difficult as you might think it is. It isn’t.
The self-satisfaction of taking that which felt like such an insurmountable obstacle and having completely obliterated it is just…plain… fantastic.
This obstacle really wasn’t insurmountable at all. It was just me starting to understand that it encompassed my bad habits, improper behavior and self-defeating thoughts that had seeped into my mind which did not belong there. When I came to this understanding, I found that I was already on the path of finding these weak spots and getting them out of my mind. And I am confident that they are gone forever.
If I am wrong and they come back, I know how to deal with them. The real answer was and is grounded in common sense. As my transformation continued, this new me, changing with each day, was really me. These new habits would ultimately be who I would become, as is the case now.
As my new habits were replacing my old ones, I reached what I call the Tipping Point. There was no going back.
Once I reached the Tipping Point, I craved for and felt driven to my Near Perfect Body. Nothing could stop me.
To some, this transformation may seem impossible. You may have lost your way and, like I once had, found that you are unhappy with your body. Realize that any seemingly huge obstacle and/or feelings of helplessness are merely phantoms. The right approach can make them vanish like the morning dew before the brilliance of the sun.
Your Near Perfect Body is waiting for you. It always has been. Here you can develop good habits that have a major role in bringing forth the body and health you desire.
These habits will guide you toward things like healthy eating and eagerly participating in meaningful exercise. For when you learn to love these things, they will love you back.
General Exercise Suggestions
The best fitness advice we can offer to NPB candidates and achievers is to stay consistent with their workouts and to change the actual exercises they (you) do from time to time. Never get into an exercise “rut”! Exercise is beneficial and desirable for most of one’s lifetime. While we, of the NPB Society, encourage vacations for rest and recreation, that doesn’t necessarily mean taking a vacation from exercise! Having said that, we do recommend occasional intervals of rest from exercise.
Consult your doctor first before trying any of the following exercises!
For strength training and body-building:
Warm up first. Try to loosen your joints and loosen and warm up your muscles. We feel this is important and may help protect you from injury.If you are doing, for example, back and triceps, you’ll want to start with your back, which has larger muscles, and then, after you have done all of your exercises for your back, work on your triceps, as they are smaller muscles. Begin with single sets of 10 to 15 reps with weights that you can manage. You want to feel that you have worked that particular muscle(s) well, but you should not be straining terribly with it.
Now, increase the weight and decrease the reps. This time, try for 8-12 reps. Again, you want to feel strain, but you should not be overdoing it too much. OR maybe you are doing more of your body during your visit to the fitness center. If you are doing legs and upper body, the following is a suggestion that might help you.
Again, exercise bigger muscles first and then smaller muscles. A close-chained leg exercise (that being where the hand or foot is fixed and cannot move) such as a squat or leg press is a good place to start. Leg extensions and leg curls should be next followed by some body-weight calf raises and toe raises (you don’t want to drag your feet as you age).
For the upper body, begin with a pulling motion. The seated row is a good place to start. This is an exercise where you pull the weight toward you while your body stays stable and stationary. The most important part of this exercise is to squeeze your shoulder blades (scapulas) together in a retraction motion. Hold for two seconds and slowly release.
Shoulder injuries are treacherous, especially for people over 60 years old. Keep that posture correct. Keep those scapulas back. Get an expert to show you this so you may better protect yourself from injury.
After this exercise perform the opposite motion which is pushing away. This could be a push-up or a chest press. For shoulders start with external rotation first using a band attached to something while you use your outside arm. Your elbow is flexed at a 90-degree angle as you move the band away from the body.
Lastly, perform bridges (lie supine with knees bent and lift your bottom squeezing your glutes) and bird dogs (all fours lift opposite limbs and hold for 2 to 5 seconds). Remember when you are starting out don’t add a lot of weight. The first three months are acclimating the muscle for more intensity later.