P.A.C.E. 12 Minute Fitness Revolution

A few months ago a friend of mine recommended reading this book. I ordered it, started reading, and it has completely changed my perspective about exercising. In fact, it kind of scares me for my friends who exercise an hour a day. They look fabulous, but, I worry about the long term effects.

I have long believed that it shouldn't be necessary for people to exercise so much and so hard in order to stay in shape. Yes, it is combined with what we eat, however, people are still dying of heart attacks at a young age. Marathon runners die ever year. Maybe the strain on the heart from training like this isn't a good thing. According to Dr. Sears, it is lung health, not heart health, that keeps the rest of the body healthy throughout life.

Our ancestors were hunter gatherers. They "exercised" in bursts - either running after prey or running from predators. When they ran, they ran at top speed to the point that their lungs were bursting. Then, they stopped. Their breathing and heart rate returned to normal. These days, that kind of workout is called HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training. It is recommended by most that HIIT should only be done 2-3 days a week, and that it should be done at the most for 20 minutes including warm up and cool down.

Enter P.A.C.E. The 12 Minute Fitness Revolution. That is what this book advocates essentially. It also promotes a low glycemic index diet - lean meats, eggs, berries, nuts, vegetables. Nothing really new. It talks about the effect sugar has on our systems. I like it because it makes sense and it is simple.

The other beauty of this program is that you don't have to have ANY equipment to do it. In fact, he doesn't recommend using free weights at all. He says there is no point to tearing muscle, and that you should use your own body weight - good old fashioned pushups and squats. And, even better, if you do the pushups and squats in the right way, it can count as a PACE workout.

I would highly recommend reading the book and deciding for yourself if it is a program that would work for you.

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