Why I like to do some of my aerobic exercise outdoors, especially in the presence of nature. Stress Reduction: Just 20-30 minutes outdoors can decrease cortisol levels by 9.6% for urban dwellers. [1] Mental Clarity: Nature walkers experience diminished activity in brain areas linked to overthinking and stress. [2] Cleaner Air: Running in natural settings offers a reprieve from the heightened air pollution of urban areas, reducing exposure to inflammatory agents. [3] #Fitness #Running #EverydayOctober Studies: 1. Urban Nature Experiences Reduce Stress in the Context of Daily Life Based on Salivary Biomarkers 2. Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation 3. Association between gaseous air pollutants and biomarkers of systemic inflammation: A systematic review and meta-analysis

If you want growth and progress then you must challenge yourself. Words of wisdom from @bradschoenfeldphd from episode 78 of the FoundMyFitness podcast. #everydayoctober #fitness

Just finished my outdoor run for day 5 of #everydayoctober! When exposed to outdoor light, which varies in intensity from about 1,000 lux on a cloudy day to over 10,000 lux on a sunny day, sensors in the eyes called melanopsin play a role in regulating our circadian rhythms. To get the benefits, spending 30 minutes outside on a sunny day or 60 minutes on a cloudy day is ideal. When these sensors detect strong blue light, it signals our brain that it’s daytime, prompting wakefulness. This reduces the production of melatonin, a hormone that induces sleep, thus promoting alertness. At the same time, exposure to bright light stimulates cortisol release, a hormone integral to our morning wakefulness. A healthy spike in morning cortisol, known as the cortisol awakening response (CAR), has been linked to better cognitive performance. While this acute rise in cortisol helps increase alertness, it’s important to understand that chronic elevated levels can be detrimental to health. Moreover, bright light exposure boosts serotonin production, the “feel-good” hormone, which enhances mood and energy. This boost in serotonin not only elevates mood but also can enhance cognitive functions like motivation and attention. #everydayoctober #runoutside #optoutside #circadianrhythm #serotonin #cortisol

Jump rope is a full-body workout challenging the cardiovascular and muscular systems (legs, arms, shoulders). It's a weight-bearing exercise, so it's beneficial for bone health, yet it can have a lower impact depending on the jumping surface and better on the joints than running, mainly if done right, like jumping on the balls of your feet. There are also massive coordination and agility benefits. Jumping rope is an excellent option for something new during #EverydayOctober. I share a few of my favorite tips and some of the benefits of jumping rope (as I see them). #everydayoctober #jumprope #jumpropeworkout #aerobictraining #hiitworkout

Day 2 of #EverydayOctober. I started my morning off with a time-efficient workout. One of the things I love about high-intensity workouts, particularly during Everyday October, is that it does help me stay true to the commitment to exercise every day, even during moments when I might otherwise feel like I need to make compromises. In this case, I did a 10-minute Tabata class by @leannehainsby (a favorite @onepeloton instructor). This is a type of sprint interval training, which I talked about with Dr. Martin Gibala in my recent interview. My goal was to fully engage the time-intensity trade-off during this class. There are other forms of high-intensity interval training. Dr. Gibala emphasized during our discussion that doing longer 3 to 5-minute intervals might be better for improving VO2 max. You can hear about that protocol in episode 82 of the FoundMyFitness podcast. I plan to do some resistance training later today. I hope you guys get something in! #hiit #tabata #fitness

Everyday October is here! Inspired by @joerogan’s Sober October but focusing just on the exercise aspect, last year I endeavored to do something challenging every day for October. This year, I’ll do the same. More than anything, this is an opportunity for making discipline a habit. Reporting back a full year later, what have I discovered? More discipline! After October of last year, I generally did a better job of being more active. If any of you would like to join me this October, maybe you’ll find the same. My priority is to emphasize the habit of exercise and stick to it. This can be agnostic to any particular style of exercise. Ideally, whatever you choose for the day should be challenging in the sense there’s a pattern of encountering your own mental resistance and ultimately overcoming it. Break a sweat. Get your heart rate up. Get some muscle fatigue. If you always do the same exercise routine, you may also use this as an opportunity to try something new. Bring a friend. I look forward to giving you updates and talking a little bit more about the benefits of exercise. I enjoy the commiseration and measure of shared accountability. So, thank you all for making up a beneficial reinforcing mechanism participating somewhere in my neural wiring that perpetuates my own health habits. Excited to talk to you all more soon! #everydayoctober #exercise #fitness

You can be sedentary even if you’re active and meeting exercise guidelines. The solution? Exercise snacks or taking opportunities to turn ordinary everyday situations like ‘taking the stairs’ and making them a form of vigorous, unstructured exercise. Even modest three to four minutes of daily vigorous physical activity were linked with a notable 25-30% drop in overall mortality risk in a study involving 25,000 people. Increasing this activity to around nine minutes daily further reduced cardiovascular mortality by nearly 50% and cancer mortality by 40%. Listen to Dr. Martin Gibala explain the benefits of short bursts of highly vigorous physical activity. You can find the rest of this interview on my podcast, YouTube channel, or my website. This is episode #82 of the FoundMyfitness podcast, which is also on Spotify. #hiit #exercisesnacks #highintensityintervaltraining

While it’s tempting to think of exercise in terms of calories burned, we know the role is much more nuanced. Exercise plays multiple roles: it aids in muscle building, enhances insulin sensitivity, promotes better sleep, and even manipulates the homeostat of our appetite, influencing our hunger and satiety cues. We can generally think of nutrition as the main regulator of body mass, with exercise playing a supporting role. But a burning question remains: Can we really boost our metabolism post-workout? This effect, sometimes called the ‘afterburn effect,’ does have some scientific basis, according to recent podcast guest Dr. Martin Gibala. In scientific terms, it’s known as EPOC or Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption. The rest of this interview featuring Dr. Martin Gibala, author of “The One-Minute Workout,” can be found on the FoundMyFitness YouTube channel, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. The episode is numbered 82, and the podcast is called FoundMyFitness. #hiit #afterburn #metabolism #fitness

Cardiorespiratory fitness is not just about being fit – it’s about dramatically reducing our risk of early death. The gold standard for assessing this is VO2 max. To truly elevate your VO2 max, relying solely on low to moderate-intensity training may fall short. It’s essential to diversify and intensify your workouts. In my recent podcast discussion, Dr. Martin Gibala elucidated on the efficiency of interval training in bolstering VO2 max. He emphasized that the best way to maximize gains is through three to five-minute intervals of maximum sustainable intensity. Such a regimen, executed four times, could be a 20-minute morning commitment. But the benefits? Astounding. One significant takeaway: Not all interval training is made equal. The metabolic challenges vary between short and long intervals. For instance, a 10-minute workout of Tabata style contrasts with a longer-duration interval in terms of metabolic response. Dr. Gibala’s recommendation? Alternate! Some days could involve three to five-minute intervals, while others might lean on a minute-on, minute-off approach, repeated multiple times. This diversity challenges the metabolic system uniquely, culminating in marked improvements in VO2 max. You can catch episode 82 on the FoundMyFitness YouTube channel, or listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Comprehensive show notes are also available on my website at http://foundmyfitness.com. #hiit #hiitworkout #vo2max #intervaltraining #highintensityintervaltraining

In a world where Type 2 diabetes affects 8% of adults in the U.S. alone, the consequences are severe—not just on lifespan but on quality of life. Traditional medication like metformin has its merits, but let’s talk about lifestyle modification, specifically through exercise. A large randomized trial of over 3,000 participants have found exercise and modest weight loss to be even more effective than metformin in reducing the incidence of diabetes in people at high risk. We are talking about a staggering 58% reduction in the incidence of diabetes. Now, that’s compared to a 31% reduction for those on the drug metformin. Proactive lifestyle choices can literally rewrite your health trajectory. My recent podcast guest Dr. Martin Gibala talks about how exercise and particularly, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), can lead to such significant improvements that some Type 2 diabetes patients have even been able to reduce their medication. Even more intriguing is this idea of ‘exercise snacks,’ brief one-minute bursts of high-intensity exercise spread throughout your day, being studied for their impact on markers like insulin sensitivity. It’s a perfect storm of time-efficiency and effectiveness at a metabolic level. So we’re on the cusp of potentially revolutionizing how we utilize exercise to combat the diabetes epidemic, which could have far-reaching impacts on both quality of life and longevity. If you’re keen on diving deeper, don’t miss the extensive 2.5-hour conversation with Dr. Gibala. You can catch episode 82 on the FoundMyFitness YouTube channel, or listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Comprehensive show notes are also available on my website at foundmyfitness.com.

Exercise is essential, but we often find excuses like lack of time. I think high-intensity interval training is a great solution to defeating that potential for self-deception. It was for me, at least. That being said, Marty had some great advice for building on my success with these 10-minute workouts towards a protocol that would enhance my VO2 max, but without sacrificing time efficiency. In this clip, I talk a little bit about what excites me about high-intensity interval training and Dr. Gibala talks about how to better optimize the protocol towards improving VO2 max, which studies have shown is paramount for reducing mortality risk. Even minor gains in VO2 max can have a significant impact. For those passionate interested in learning more, I urge you to tune into the full 2.5-hour episode with Dr. Gibala. You can find it on the FoundMyFitness YouTube channel, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. The episode is 82 and the podcast is called FoundMyFitness. You can find additional highly detailed show notes on my website at foundmyfitness.com. #hiit #hiitworkout #hiittraining #vo2max

Should you train hard or should you train long? That’s the theme this week on the FoundMyFitnesss podcast. High-intensity interval training is about the option to achieve more by doing less, but with greater intensity. The option to make every workout minute count, whether you have five or fifty. It’s about creating more physiological stress in a very short period of time, tapping into a time-intensity trade-off where greater intensity yields nearly exponential benefit for the time you put in. Recently, a hint of controversy has begun to emerge, dividing the discourse into two camps. On one side, proponents emphasize the benefits of the sustained, lower-intensity “zone 2 training” for its aerobic and metabolic adaptations. On the other side, advocates argue for the time-efficient and metabolically intense benefits of high-intensity interval training. Which side is the right one? Some studies show that there is no upper limit to the benefit of cardiorespiratory fitness on mortality. Elite athletes can have a nearly 80% lower risk of mortality than their less fit peers of the same age. And more importantly, some people will not experience meaningful cardiorespiratory adaptation if they only meet the guidelines for moderate intensity exercise but don’t also incorporate some vigorous intensity work. Listen to this week’s podcast guest Dr. Martin Gibala discuss the benefit of incorporating vigorous intensity exercise, particularly interval training, into your routine.