Health, Fitness and the Dentist
Fitness has always been an important part of my lifestyle, it not only serves as a great stress reliever, but it also keeps me physically strong to avoid common injuries in the surprisingly physical field of dentistry. Leaning over and contorting all day, running around from room to room, and long nights in front of a desk takes a toll on your back, neck, and pretty much every other part of your body! I find it extremely important to have a consistent workout routine in order to combat the physical weariness that this type of work can bring on. And though my weight has fluctuated throughout the years, a consistent schedule of cardio interval training and weight lifting has always been at the core of my routine. Recently I’ve had a few patients ask me what my typical weekly workout routine looks like, and it just so happens that fitness is one of those passions like dentistry, that I am always happy to talk about! As I stated earlier, the foundation of any good workout routine involves two main components, an aerobic component and an anaerobic one. For your aerobic workouts, high intensity interval training is not only quicker and more fun than steady state cardio (long boring stretches of time on an elliptical or treadmill), but research has shown it to be more effective for increasing key markers of cardiovascular health. For those that don’t know, HIIT is a training technique in which you give all-out, one hundred percent effort through quick, intense bursts of exercise, followed by short, sometimes active, recovery periods. The specific bursts of exercise can be tailored to your particular body type and current level of fitness, but I enjoy sprints. I can do it in any empty parking lot, without anything but a pair of comfortable shoes, and it really gets my blood pumping quick. If sprinting in a parking lot isn’t your idea of fun, at specialty gyms like Empowered Fitness in Perry Hall, you can find fantastic personal trainers like Melissa (see our video) to give you plenty of ideas for fun, intense, interval exercises! For your anarobic workouts, a routine of heavy compound lifts that work large muscle groups together really goes a long way to keep your body strong and healthy. I prefer a power lifting centered combination of squats, deadlifts, and bench. Having your lifting routine centered around compound lifts not only burns a heck of a lot more calories than isolation exercises like machines, but more importantly it ensures that each muscle group is developing proportional to one another, and avoids muscle imbalances that can be a catalyst for injury. Again, if you’re new to all of this, I would recommend finding an experienced personal trainer like Melissa at Empowered Fitness in Perry Hall to walk you through a typical routine and make sure that your form is on point. Compound lifts are deceptivally complex biomechanically and doing them wrong can cause some pretty major injuries. I hope this helps to get you started on your fitness goals for 2019. Next time you’re in for a hygiene visit, let me know your workout routine and how it’s going for you! Dr. Weng Team #DDWM