You should address each and every part of your body on a daily, or at least near-daily basis! For me, each day when I arise, I go through a brief limbering session right away, in the bathroom before going downstairs- rotating all of my joints, and gradually awakening with deep breathing and simple mobility movements. (I hesitate to call them ‘exercises’, since they are simple, easy, and enjoyable, taking a maximum of 2-3 minutes total).
Next, downstairs, I brew my coffee, feed the cats, and go into my workout area. (The Living Room!) I start the TV, and my workout at the same time, only pausing to sip my organic brew… it is the very best, most satisfying part of my day! It not only grounds me, it gradually energizes me in that early morning hour or so that I devote to both myself, my sanity, and my overall health.
You can either look up exercise at www.paleojay.com, or get my book Perfectly Paleo Exercise to understand everything that I do. Or email me: I’ll be glad to let you know what to do- it is my mission!
But I know that, even if you follow my prescription of early morning exercise, daily, in front of your TV- you are probably ignoring some of the most important parts of your body! Most everyone does…
Stretching! Just crucial- lie on the floor and stretch in every way imaginable-this becomes more and more important as you age, crucial really.
Exercise your FACE, NECK, HANDS and FEET!
This is ignored by pretty much everyone, and really- what is more important to your overall health and well-being than having a good looking, healthy FACE?
There are all kinds of facial exercises, and the ones I do take perhaps 1 minute, two at most. They tend to be virtual resistance types of exercise, which means that you make faces while flexing throughout the range of motion. That is really what virtual resistance means, whether it if you arms, shoulders, legs or face- it really is the very core of paleo exercise. NOT weight lifting! Lifting heavy weights is a joint destroyer, and unnecessary for maximum strength anyway.
Your neck can be exercised this way, but the best way for the neck, as delicate as it is due to the vertebrae, is to use manual resistance. Simply resist the forward movement of your head with your two hands, to the fore, and then back. Push against the resistance of your hands hard, and keep resisting for perhaps 5 seconds or so. Then, repeat to each side, pushing isometrically with effort- you are done!
Then, grasp your jaw, and resist the upward pull of your jaw muscles isometrically for the same 5 seconds. Done!
Lastly, fold a towel on the floor, and do a back bend, rising up on your toes while lying flat on your back, and simultaneously lift your upper body up using your head, and coming to rest on just your forehead and toes- hold for a good minute, if you comfortably can! This is actually a superb whole body exercise, but puts wonderful stress on the neck, while stretching your back very beneficially.
The face, neck, and jaw can be exercised fully in a small fraction of time, but the benefits are off the charts important! Small muscles don’t need much time, for massive improvements not only to your overall function, but also to your appearance. People focus overall far more to the appearance of your face, than to your chest or biceps!
The hands and above all the grip are essential to overall health and functionality! You can manually resist both the upward and downward motion of the wrists by resisting with the other hand, and also the side to side movement, endin