Switching Up Your Exercise Routine

[Tom]

Have any of you seen the infomercial on P90X where they talk about the
secret to unlocking your body's potential is "muscle confusion?"

I love that term since it's so easy to understand and so very true.
It's important when we exercise not to fall into a rut where we do the
same thing day after day. When I injured myself while training to run
a marathon, the physical therapists called this an "overuse injury"
due to the high number of repetitive movements that were straining my
heel. The best way to prevent these types of injuries is through
cross-training that uses the same muscle groups but in different
ways. High impact activities that strain the joints (such as running)
need to be complemented with low impact activities (such as swimming,
biking, eliptical machine etc.). Weight training should be in the mix
too, but I always make sure that I never run the day after I do leg
weights (running on stiff, sore muscles was part of the reason I
injured myself). Also be sure to stretch both before and after your
workouts.

So how are you all doing with this? I'm really curious about how Mike
is doing with the Wii fit. Kevin, have you read any of the "Younger
Next Year" book yet? John if you ever run out of yard work to do and
are concerned about not getting enough exercise, I have the perfect
solution for ya. With all the weeds growing through my rocks my yard
would be the ultimate work out. :o)

For the past several months my weight has stabilized at 5 lbs over my
goal weight. During the year that I wasn't running I gained 30 lbs.
Now it's been about a year since I started running again and I'm down
25 lbs, but that last 5 lbs just doesn't want to go away. The scale
keeps teasing me because on some weeks I'm at +4 and I think I'm
finally making progress again. Then the next week it's back at +5.

So now I'm mixing up my routine again and introducing 2 new activities
- swimming and a weekly circuit training class. John and Andrew,
since you are both big into swimming I'm open to any advice you might
have. I started swimming laps but since I'm not a real strong swimmer
I'm switching between backstroke and sidestroke. Even though these
are probably the "easiest" ways to swim (for me), I find that I'm
running out of breath at the end and slightly dizzy when I get out of
the pool. When I try to mix in other types of swimming (front crawl,
breast stroke) I get so out of breath I need to stop. Should I just
keep going with the backstroke and sidestroke until things get easier?

Thanks,

-Tom

[Michael Peterson]

So how are you all doing with this?  I'm really curious about how Mike
is doing with the Wii fit. 

Don't know the answer to any of the rest of the e-mail, but I can answer this.  Terrible! :)
I think the idea is great, I just think they missed on the execution a bit.  (Either that or I'm just not in the right mindset for it to fit in with how I do things)

Thanks for asking.
Moo

[Thomas Anderson]

That's a bummer - I was wondering if this might be something good for my boys.

 

If at some point you decide to give it up for something else, I'd be willing to trade you a 7 station weight & pully setup I bought from Sears a few years ago for around $400.  Karen and I used it a lot at first, but since we've joined the gym it's just collecting dust in our basement.  The 7 exercises are:

 

1) Assisted Dips

2) Assisted Pull-Ups

3) Lat Pulldown

4) Fly

5) Leg Extension

6) Leg Press

7) Bench Press

 

[Michael Peterson]

Heh.  Thanks.  There's part of me that would be interested in taking you up on the offer, however the way my house is laid out I do not have a good place to put an exercise machine (or a pool table but that's a different story) which is part of the reason a compact Wii accessory was intriguing.  And I don't think the actual activities on the Wii Fit game are worthless and at some point I may incorporate it into my activities.  But it does expose what I feel is the weakness in the package.  There isn't a real direction/guide in the "game" itself to help you along in achieving your goals.  I'm not sure that I should have expected it, however it would seem a "video game" environment would have been the perfect place for it.  And really the way it's structured (it breaks out the exercises into "Balance, Strength, Cardio... and errr. something else. :)  It also records your information (it acts as a scale)) so it seems that shouldn't have been too hard to add something that would help you along a little better.

But, it didn't and doesn't (at least for me).  So there it is.
-Mike

[John Wright]

I do believe variety is an excellent idea. Unless you are
specifically trying to be competitive, I would avoid repeatedly
pushing yourself on a single exercise.

Variety applies to swimming too. I think the real value is just to
raise your metabolism. So I see nothing wrong with doing different
strokes and hesitating at the edge of the pool (or as I do at the
shallow end). It's nice to stop for a moment, admire nature, let your
muscles have a short break and then do a few more laps.

The yard work is more stressful, so with such good swimming weather
I'm letting our son do more of the yard work and I'm using my
"exercise time" to be in the pool doing laps.

I'm "stuck" between 5 and 10 lbs heavier than I think I want to be. I
don't worry about it too much. Weight isn't really important, being
in good shape is. So if you trade a pound or two of fat for several
pounds of muscle I don't see a problem with that. I'm not a slave to
my scale, but I do use it to encourage myself (when my weight creeps
up I have that reminder / mental push to cut back a bit on the snacks
and portion sizes).

This might not be obvious, but I believe that unless you want to
consume a ton of supplements, burning more calories and eating more
(nutritious food) is necessary for optimum health. I don't believe we
get enough nutrition from food if we live a sedentary life style and
consume less than 2000 calories a day. So just being at a healthy
weight isn't enough, we need a fair amount of exercise so we burn off
the calories that we need to consume in order to get enough nutrients
for all the parts of our body to function well. (I cheat and take a
lot of supplements - largely because I think in the modern world it is
flat out IMPOSSIBLE to eat a healthy diet)

[Andrew P. Tasi]

Hey Tom,

A few thoughts:
1) A friend of mine bought the P90X system a few months ago. He stuck with it, lost a bunch of weight, and really likes it.
2) When I started weightlifting regularly years ago, a very muscular friend of mine would always say "Your day off is as important as your day working out. You build muscle during recorvery". He was also very big on breaking up the routine by using different exercises, machines, and/or ranges of motion when working the same muscle group on different days.
3) Although it's been years since I swam competitively, I'd be happy to go swimming with you and offer tips on any stroke. The backstroke is a fine stroke, you should not feel bad to continue using it. If you find yourself getting winded, slow down, and let's work on your technique. I find the breaststroke very relaxing; it's my default whenever I don't have goggles with me.

Regards,
Andrew P. Tasi

----- Original Message ----
From: Tom <mr.thomas....@gmail.com>
To: A 2 G <a-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 9:01:16 AM
Subject: [a2g] Switching Up Your Exercise Routine

Have any of you seen the infomercial on P90X where they talk about the
secret to unlocking your body's potential is "muscle confusion?"

I love that term since it's so easy to understand and so very true.
It's important when we exercise not to fall into a rut where we do the
same thing day after day. When I injured myself while training to run
a marathon, the physical therapists called this an "overuse injury"
due to the high number of repetitive movements that were straining my
heel. The best way to prevent these types of injuries is through
cross-training that uses the same muscle groups but in different
ways. High impact activities that strain the joints (such as running)
need to be complemented with low impact activities (such as swimming,
biking, eliptical machine etc.). Weight training should be in the mix
too, but I always make sure that I never run the day after I do leg
weights (running on stiff, sore muscles was part of the reason I
injured myself). Also be sure to stretch both before and after your
workouts.

So how are you all doing with this? I'm really curious about how Mike

[Andrew P. Tasi]

I wholeheartedly agree with John on a number of points. I don't worry about my weight. I just pay attention to how my clothes fit.

Regards...

----- Original Message ----
From: John Wright <Mith...@gmail.com>
To: A 2 G <a-...@googlegroups.com>

[Tom]

Just wanted to send an update on my swimming. I'm now up to swimming
3/4 mile twice a week without getting winded. Although it's good
progress for me, I'm still an extremely slow swimmer (average speed is
less than 1mph and I know most swimmers are 2 - 3mph). Probably the
main reason for this is my swim style of switching between sidestroke
and backstroke.

Andrew, you mentioned earlier that I shouldn't feel bad doing the
backstroke, but I didn't make it clear that what I've been doing is
"elementary backstroke" where both arms are moving down at the same
time that I do a whip kick followed by a glide.

So now I'm debating between whether I should "keep doing what I'm
doing" (which I'm enjoying very much and most comfortable with) or
"getting out of elementary school" and switching the elementary
backstroke to a normal backstroke or possibly building on my strong
scissor kick and trying to learn CSS (which looks very complicated).

What are your guys thoughts?

-Tom

[John Wright]

Tom, how many minutes are you exercising each day? 3/4 of a mile at 1
mph would be 45 minutes.

I've never attempted to have good swimming "form". I just goof around
and do what feels good to my body so every session is made up of a lot
of variety (I suppose I actually spend most of my swimming time in
three basic strokes but with subtle alterations all the time).

I thought you already knew CSS?

[Thomas Anderson]

Last time I swam 3/4 of a mile in 53 minutes - so it's a bit slower than 1mph.  I'm sure if I keep at it long enough I'll eventually get it down to 45 minutes, but this still seems really slow.

 

Well technically I know CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) but I don't know CSS (Combat Side Stroke). :o)

[John Wright]

Are you aware that it's recommended that you only exercise for *less*
than 45 minutes?

[Thomas Anderson]

No I wasn't.  Do you mean for swimming or for other things as well?  Certainly I would agree it's possible to "excercise too much" but would think current fitness level and intensity of exercise (based on % of max heart rate) need to weigh in on this.  You mentioned earlier that you like to do yardwork for exercise.  I think that is a great idea and I'm hoping to add it to my routine as well - even if it's just 15 minutes a day pulling weeds when I get home from work (our landscape is growing into a jungle).  But you aren't recommending that I reduce my morning workouts 15 minutes to compensate for this are you?

 

John, do you remember the Daily Health Message from a few weeks ago on exercise where they recommended "1 hour of exercise for every 1 hour of time spent sitting in front of a TV or computer?"  I'm guessing that whoever thought that one up forgot that there are a lot of guys like you and me that spend over 40 hours a week in front of a computer.  Either that or we need to figure out a way to exercise while we sleep.

I probably need to read your 45 minute recommendation in context.  Do you have a link?

 

Thanks,

 

-Tom

[Thomas Anderson]

By coincidence, Karen just sent me some links - one of them was on this very topic!

 

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/08/16/an-hour-of-exercise-five-times-a-week-is-the-only-way-to-lose-weight.aspx?source=nl

I thought it was interesting how at the end they talked about the people who did 20 minute intense interval workouts lost three times as much weight as the 40 minute low intensity cardio workouts.  No wonder these 45 minute circuit classes are kicking my butt!  :o)

 

I was debating about training to run a marathon (or half marathon) again this fall since some friends are running in a race and invited me.  But now that I've read the part where it says "If you aren't careful with your exercise program and focus exclusively on long distance endurance training it can actually be counterproductive and decrease your longevity by accelerating oxidative stress. If you aren't careful with protein replacement you can also lose muscle mass." - I don't think I'll ever do more than a 10K again (on a treadmill I'm currently covering this distance in under 48 mins).
 

[Andrew P. Tasi]

Hey Tom,

First off, swimming is great exercise, even if you don't use one of the four strokes approved for competitive use (butterfly, breast stroke, back stroke, and front crawl). Good for you for adding to your exercise palette with something that you find enjoyable.

If you're going to learn a different swim stroke why not learn the breaststroke instead of CSS? It's very versatile and easy, and can be swum normally (with head nearly, but not quite, covered by water), or with your head fully out of the water. That's really useful if you're having a conversation with somebody, or when you don't have goggles and don't like otherwise opening your eyes underwater. Lastly, you can use it in freestyle competition as you'd find in a triathalon, even though it's not nearly as fast.

The backstroke I use was the first stroke I learned, and is the same as that used in competition. It's also very easy to learn. We should hit the pool some time together, IMHO.

My 2 bits,
Andrew P. Tasi

----- Original Message ----
From: Tom <mr.thomas....@gmail.com>
To: A 2 G <a-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2008 11:04:13 PM
Subject: [a2g] Re: Switching Up Your Exercise Routine

[Thomas Anderson]

Thanks Andrew - I actually think I'm leaning toward your recommendation for learning the breaststroke.  In addition to having the option to keep my head out of water (I think you picked up that I like this), I also like that it will be a more intense workout for my arms rather than my legs (please correct me if I'm wrong here).  This way I'm giving my leg muscles a break from all my running.

 

Maybe I'll try to add a couple laps of breaststroke (probably all I can handle to start) and build up from there.  If I can grow more confident in my breathing rhythm I'd even be willing to put my head in the water too (I'm so brave).  :o)

 

I also love making sentences with parenthetical statements (it's really great you should try it).

 

Thanks again,

 

-Tom

 

[John Wright]

The (less than) 45 minute recommendation is from a book by an author
that I trust. I could dig it up and type up the exact wording, I
don't want to try and paraphrase incorrectly here. But I've also read
other books on the impact that marathon type training has on your
immune system and it's not good. I'm having to retrain my own
thinking to accept and realize that a 20 to 30 minute work out each
day (or even every other day) is extremely healthy and it is totally
not necessary (and even counter productive) to spend a lot of time
exercising.

I've experimented with swimming with my head at various levels of
being "out of the water". If you are survival swimming you'd really
better keep your head down as much as possible because it burns a LOT
of energy to keep your head up. But since I'm not trying to survive a
shipwreck, I prefer to keep my head up and use the extra energy for
exercise.

[Thomas Anderson]

Thanks John - that's helpful.  The book that we did for the A2G meeting "Younger Next Year" also recommended 45 minutes 6 days a week.  It also recommends high intensity workouts (workouts that cause you to sweat and breathe hard but you should still be able to carry a conversation) that alternate between cardio and strength training - or combining cardio and strength in interval strength training (circuit training) is ideal.  The book also says that exercising every other day is recommended if you haven't been exercising at all, but within a month should switch to every day.  From the number of books I have read on exercise, they all seem to be in that 30 minute to 1 hour range.  45 was a common number but I never interpretted this as a hard and fast rule.  Not that I'm doing it now, but for several years there were a lot of days where I would exercise in the morning and then spend a couple hours practicing or teaching karate at night.  Does your book say multiple workouts during the day is bad?  If you find the title of the book (or author name) let me know - I'd like to read it.

 

One thing that seems clear to me is the prolonged running I was doing while training for the marathon was sending me down the path of looking like a typical marathon runner - thin but kinda whimpy looking.  Something about that just "seemed" unhealthy.  Maybe it's not so bad that I'm 5 pounds over my marathon training days.

 

[John Wright]

Here is what I read:

"The body is a highly adaptive piece of machinery. When it is
repeatedly presented with the same challenge, it will adapt to allow
it to meet the challenge with less effort. This is what I call the
efficiency trap. Because of the body's adaptive responses, long-
duration exercise, such as long distance running or biking, actually
works against the goals of an anti-aging exercise program.

Over time, exercise sessions that involve intense and sustained
effort for periods longer than forty-five minutes will actually
encourage your heart, lungs, and muscles to become smaller. This
allows them to expend less energy during long bouts of activity. So
instead of burning more calories, the body becomes more efficient and
burns fewer. And while they might be able to go for hours using
relatively little energy, a smaller heart and lungs have less reserve
capacity. This means they are less able to respond to a sudden
extraordinary demand for effort."

This is from the book "The Life Extension Revolution - The New Science
of Growing Older Without Aging" by Dr. Miller. The title is a bit
dorky but this is an *excellent* book. So far what I've read has been
perfect advice, nothing that I'd disagree with, it is well presented
and understandable.

[Thomas Anderson]

Excellent info and it goes well with our topic "switching up your exercise routine."

 

So based on that information, it might be ok to exercise more than once in a single day so long as the exercise is varied?  I'm loving the circuit training courses because it's never the same thing twice.  Maybe  I should do this more than twice a week.
 

Thanks John - I'll definitely read that book!

[John Wright]

I'm not sure you'd be interested in that book Tom. It is mostly about
balancing hormone levels and understanding blood test results. I'd
definitely consider it a "must have" for those looking for optimum
health, but I know you're aversion to blood tests. And messing with
hormone levels is *not* something that should be done casually, it
should only be done by an expert (with test results and monitoring).

I think the main point (not of the book, but of this discussion) is
that your body will do (and adapt to) whatever you tell it to do. If
you park your butt in a chair and read all day for years you'll get a
big butt and vocabulary. If you run 20 miles a day then you'll get
efficient long distance muscles. So you have to decide what is most
important to you. For me, my exercise program goals are to be
"healthy". I have no desire or need to be a fast runner, nor have
extraordinary stamina. I also exercise for the benefit it gives my
mental functioning. I want my body to provide good oxygen flow to my
brain.

While becoming an Olympic athlete is impressive, it comes at the
sacrifice of other aspects. Once again we get to the basic concept
that variety and moderation is good. Too much of anything probably
means too little of something else. This applies both to diet as well
as exercise.

[Thomas Anderson]

Thanks John.  Have you heard of this Dr. Al Sears guy?  He's recommending a 10 - 20 minute workout with interval training where you push yourself to go anaerobic.  Just like the "drink plenty of milk for strong bones and teeth" his teaching is 180 degrees in the opposite direction of what we always grew up hearing about how cardio strengthens your heart and lungs.  Even the book "Younger Next Year" (co-authored  by a medical doctor) only suggests going anaerobic once a week.  With so many "experts" telling us different things, it really makes it difficult to know what to do.

 

Here is a rather lengthy article of his.  Let me know if you think this guy is right, wrong, or only right on some points.

 

Two Fitness Disasters That Are Threatening Your Health

By Al Sears, MD

Finally, The New York Times has turned critical of cardiovascular endurance exercise and aerobics, the two big fitness trends of the last three decades. But they're still missing the big picture. Cardio will not protect your heart, and aerobics makes your lungs shrink. These are not your best exercise strategies to get lean, and both accelerate several negative consequences of aging and cause other health problems.

"Whatever Happened to Jane Fonda in Tights?" was the title of one of two critical articles that recently ran in the Times. But instead of revealing the real problem with aerobics, it focused on aerobics instructors who developed joint injuries from too much jumping around.

Though overuse injuries are a common side effect of aerobic workouts, the real problem with aerobics is that it's designed to keep you in your "aerobic zone." And if you want to keep fat off without starving and extend your "healthspan" (the number of years you can remain active, vigorous, and self-reliant) by pumping up your heart and lungs, you have to exercise beyond your current aerobic capacity.

Move Beyond Aerobics and Train Your "High-Energy Output System"

Aerobic means "with oxygen." So your aerobic metabolism combines oxygen with carbohydrate or fat to make energy. Because walking is not a strenuous activity, you have plenty of oxygen available to make enough energy to do it. That is why you could walk for hours.

But let's say you start sprinting. You can't sustain that high output of energy with oxygen alone. So that's the point at which your anaerobic system kicks in. When you're using both aerobic and anaerobic energy production, you're training your high-energy output system. This is also known as "crossing your aerobic threshold."

By exercising in your supra-aerobic zone and building your high-energy output system, you build your lung volume. When you push yourself to the point of needing to stop and pant, you've asked your lungs for more oxygen than they're able to provide at that moment. That triggers your body to increase your lung volume to be better prepared for the next time it encounters that same challenge.

As I told you in my ETR article "The Aerobics Craze - a Monumental Mistake," lung capacity is the best predictor of longevity - hands down. Simply stated, the bigger your lungs, the longer you live. Yet, unless we do something to prevent it, we all lose lung volume with age. By the time you're 70, you've lost about 50 percent of your lung capacity.

That is why training your high-energy output system and signaling your body to build lung capacity is so critical. If all you do is aerobic exercise, you'll make that loss even worse. At the end of the day, you'll have two forces working against you: time and aerobic training.

For a Strong Heart, Heed This Lesson

Aerobics is not the only fitness disaster threatening your health. Duration cardio like jogging and treadmill workouts are probably worse.

There's finally a body of clinical evidence to support what I've been telling my patients for two decades. Long-distance workouts - especially marathons - traumatize your heart and mimic the effects of heart disease. The New York Times took a step toward exposing this problem with an article called "Is Marathoning Too Much of a Good Thing for Your Heart?" But, as they did with their article on aerobics, they missed the big picture.

I began to investigate the dangers of durational workouts 20 years ago. During a marathon race where I was working at an emergency aid station, I saw two runners drop to their knees in cardiac distress.

In 2006 alone, at least six runners lost their lives in marathons in the U.S. In March, two police officers, one 53 years old and the other 60, died of heart attacks at the Los Angeles Marathon. Three runners in their early 40s all had fatal heart attacks during marathons in Chicago, San Francisco, and the Twin Cities. And at the October Marine Corps Marathon, a 56-year-old man collapsed at the 17-mile marker, never to recover.

We're Finally Catching On to the Problem With Marathon Running

Dr. Arthur Siegel, director of internal medicine at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard University, has authored more than two dozen studies on runners of the Boston marathon.

For one of those studies, published in October 2001 in the American Journal of Cardiology, he drew blood samples from 80 middle-aged male runners - one sample just before, one sample immediately following, and a third sample the day after the marathon. The results: Twenty-four hours after the race, the men - none of whom had any history of heart disease - exhibited early-stage signs of cardiac damage similar to the symptoms that appear during a heart attack.

In a more recent study,  published in the November issue of Circulation, Dr. Siegel and his colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital tested 60 runners (41 men and 19 women) before and after the 2004 and 2005 Boston Marathons. Each runner had a cardiogram to look for abnormalities in heart rhythm. They were also checked for evidence of cardiac problems in their blood. Troponin, a protein found in cardiac muscle cells, was used as a marker of cardiac damage. If the heart is traumatized, troponin shows up in the blood. Its presence is also used to determine whether heart damage was sustained during a heart attack.

The runners had normal cardiac function before the marathon, with no signs of troponin in their blood. Twenty minutes after finishing, 60 percent of the group had elevated troponin levels and 40 percent had levels high enough to indicate the destruction of heart muscle cells. In addition, most had noticeable changes in heart rhythm.

Dr. Siegel said, "Their hearts appeared to have been stunned." Bingo! During long-duration exercise, your heart is under constant stress with no time to recover. If it goes on long enough, your heart is traumatized and your body reacts by triggering a wave of inflammation.

Inflammation is a natural response by your body to initiate repairs. But if you trigger it recurrently and purposely as a result of exercise, you induce chronic inflammation of your heart and blood vessels - putting you on the fast track to heart disease. In fact, in The Doctor's Heart Cure, I showed that inflammation, NOT cholesterol, is actually the leading mechanism of heart disease.

Dr. Siegel concluded that running a marathon causes injury to the skeletal muscles, which, in his words, "sets off a cascade of inflammation in the body."

In a related study at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, men who had completed at least five marathons were given an advanced type of heart screening called a spiral CT scan, which measures the amount of calcium plaque buildup in the arteries. The researchers found that about 35 percent of the marathon runners had significant buildup in their arteries - indicating they were at higher risk for a heart attack. Only 22 percent of non-marathon runners in a control group had the same amount of blockage.

Sidestep This Trap and Exercise Naturally

You may think that running a marathon is good for you because it gives your heart endurance training that will keep it going far into your old age. But don't forget that your heart was designed by nature to beat for a lifetime. So what it needs is not endurance training but a signal to build and maintain capacity. It's that reserve of extra power that will help get it through times of stress that challenge maximal output and cause heart attacks.

You can build up your heart's reserve capacity in as little as 10 minutes a day. By gradually increasing your exertion and following that with focused recovery - the basis of my PACE (Progressively Accelerating Cardiopulmonary Exertion) program - you build both your heart and your lung power.

Here is a simple starting program to grow your cardiopulmonary power by using an elliptical trainer. (You can substitute any exercise that challenges your heart and lungs.)

Set the trainer to manual and warm up for two minutes at 50 RPMs and a resistance level of 2. During your warm-up, gradually increase the speed to what feels like a 5 out of 10 exertion level. (For me, that's about 75 RPMs.) Then increase the resistance by two levels every minute until you start to breathe hard or reach an 8 or 9 out of 10 exertion level. (For me, that means working up to a resistance level of about 14, which takes about five minutes. One minute at 4, one at 6, one at 8, one at 10, and one at 12.)

Now decrease the resistance to a level of 2 and watch as your heart rate recovers. If you've entered your supra-aerobic zone, your heart rate will continue to climb a bit during the first few seconds of this recovery period. That tells you your heart is paying back the oxygen debt you created, signaling your lungs to grow in capacity.

When you've recovered to a heart rate within 20 beats of the resting heart rate where you began, you're done. Go hit the shower. Do this three times a week.

Remember, if you have medical problems, check with your doctor before starting any new exercise. And don't forget the first principle of PACE: "progressivity." Always start out easy and gradually increase your exertion, week by week.

[John Wright]

This is interesting Tom. I can't say that I've put a lot of time into
studying exercise metabolism so I'm not an "expert" on this. I don't
find any real flaws in what is written. The one caution I would say
is that I'd want to study this more and give it some thought. Cancer
does a lot of anaerobic (without oxygen) metabolism, as a byproduct of
this you get a lot of lactic acid. This can turn your blood to a more
acidic pH level (not good as this will draw calcium out of your bones)
and might even lead to what's known as "lactic acidosis".

This is the same process that muscles use for energy when they can't
get enough oxygen. Same end result: increased lactic acid in your
body.

So I would caution that such an exercise program should be done in
moderation (as he is advising). You definitely want to give your body
plenty of opportunity to recover from such "stress".

In a healthy person this might be excellent advice (and actually
mimic's my natural exercise tendencies - I've always been a
"sprinter"), but if you aren't in good health, especially if you are
vitamin D or calcium deficient or have cancer then I'd be very careful
of such exercise. I guess I'd have one more tidbit of advice... if
you intend to implement a serious training program along these lines,
I would test your vitamin D level and take significant Vitamin D
supplementation perhaps for several months before you engage in an
intensive oxygen deprivation exercise program.

[Tom]

Thanks John. Based on your recommendations I'm switching from
regularly running 10K distances to 5K and starting today I'm adding
the D3 (I've been on the probiotics for about a week and a half).
Part of me feels like I'm giving up on what I've worked so hard to
accomplish (since my 10K times were improving every week) but it's
more important to me to know that my exercise is slowing down (or in
some cases reversing) the aging process rather than accelerating it.
I just wish I could find more information that supports what Dr.
Miller and Dr. Sears are saying. If running marathons accelerates the
aging process and sprinting slows it down, what about all the stuff in
between? Without any evidence it's real difficult to say that "10K is
too much but 5K is okay."

[John Wright]

Well Tom, I don't think it's the volume of information but rather the
quality of information that is important. I can't say that there
isn't any evidence. There certainly is evidence. I have a couple
books on exercise but I have only "spot" read them. The study results
clearly show "marathon" type running and training is seriously
unhealthy. And those books are by an "expert" I'd classify as
"conventional" medicine and contain some poor nutritional advice but
they certainly document the negative health impact of long distance
training.

And just about every reputable source (and disreputable source too)
agrees that moderate exercise is very important to health.

What is the right amount and type of exercise? I don't know, I can't
answer that. I am sure it is more than "sitting at a desk" and less
than "running marathons".

[Thomas Anderson]

Sorry didn't mean to imply "no evidence" on marathons - just that I couldn't find any on 10K vs. 5K.  I ran 5K yesterday at a slightly faster pace and at the end felt a bit like I "cheated" on my exercise.  So long as I don't gain another 30 lbs I'm willing to be a guinea pig and continue this experiment.  squeak

[John Wright]

I do have one book that has data on the suppression of the immune
system by endurance (marathon) training. I could look at it and see
if there is anything that we could compare 5K to 10K or other
distances.

Try a *much* faster pace rather than a slightly faster pace and you
might not feel as cheated. Add in bursts of sprinting where you have
to stop to rest or slow to a slow walk to recover your breath.

[Thomas Anderson]

Thanks John.  I'm gradually working up to the faster pace but also giving my body a little time to adjust to this new training.  Since I'm still running 3 times a week, I'm staying on the treadmill (so I don't cheat) and increasing by .1 mph each session.  So Sunday was 8.1mph, this morning was 8.2mph, etc.  At some point (maybe next week?) I'll be stepping off the treadmill out of breath.  Then maybe I'll go back to my normal routine - running outside or on the track and only doing the treadmill once a week.  This is when I'll try your suggestion of adding in bursts of sprinting.  I'm still doing some sprinting during the circuit training courses which I've now increased to 3 times a week as well.  Swimming is down to once a week for 25 minutes where I'm alternating swimming one lap breast stroke (which is enough to get me breathing hard) and one lap elementary back stroke and side stroke (allowing me to catch my breath again).  I'm not comfortable yet pushing myself to the point where I'm totally out of breath in the pool.  I've also added interval training on the recumbant bike twice a week for 25 minutes and interval training on the arm bike twice a week for two 12 minute sessions (back to back with a minute rest in between).

[John Wright]

I scanned one of my books quickly and noticed that one study showed
that 600mg of vitamin C reduced infections by 50% in endurance
athletes. (but other studies show that it doesn't help for the
athletes on the higher end (20K / 2.5 hours of exercise)

Also it seems many of the studies on immune suppression are on people
doing 20K or 2.5 hours of workout. So those results may not be
relevant to what you're interested in.

[John Wright]

More info:

"The interaction between the immune system and exercise is a
paradoxical one. It seems that low to moderate intensity exercise can
stimulate the immune system and make one less susceptible to
infection. However, as I'm sure you well know, high intensity exercise
often leads to immune suppression and a higher incidence of infection
(respiratory tract and gastrointestinal)." - Dr. John M Berardi, Ph.D.
(he goes on to state the key to recovery from exercise is to get
quality nutrition)

I'm now a member of the A4M (American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine)
and some of their recommendations are:

""limit water intake to 400-800 ml (14-28 fluid ounces) per hour of
physical activity." - consuming large amounts of water (in a short
period of time) without salt can cause the brain to swell

"Exercise can help you stave off a premature death due to your weight
woes, the researchers finding that working out for just 1/2 hour a day
can increase your chances of reaching age 90 by up to 31%."

"Strength-training exercises can raise our metabolic rate by about
30-50 calories per day, and over the course of three months of
strength-training that is appropriately designed for your needs, you
can gain about 3 pounds of muscle, amounting to a total boost in the
basal (resting) metabolic rate of 7%"

"A Few 30 Second Sprints As Beneficial As Hour Long Jog" - a study
found that a training program consisting of between four and seven 30-
second bursts of "all out" cycling followed by four minutes of
recovery three times a week worked very well and resulted in a
doubling of the endurance of the athletes.

"The world's best athletes stay competitive by interval training,"
Brooks said, referring to repeated short, but intense, bouts of
exercise. "The intense exercise generates big lactate loads, and the
body adapts by building up mitochondria to clear lactic acid quickly."

Another article studies the comparison of resistance training vs
endurance training on hormone levels and it appears that resistance
training is far superior.

All of this seems to point to long endurance training as not being the
best form of exercise. Short bursts of extreme exertion combined with
rest periods appears to be healthier.

[Kelly Menzel]

Hey Tom,

 

Does that offer stand for someone willing to buy a Wii Fit?  I'd really want to get into weight training and have room for a machine in my basement.  Let me know.

 

Kelly 

On Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 9:27 AM, Thomas Anderson <mr.thomas....@gmail.com> wrote:

That's a bummer - I was wondering if this might be something good for my boys.

 

If at some point you decide to give it up for something else, I'd be willing to trade you a 7 station weight & pully setup I bought from Sears a few years ago for around $400.  Karen and I used it a lot at first, but since we've joined the gym it's just collecting dust in our basement.  The 7 exercises are:

 

1) Assisted Dips

2) Assisted Pull-Ups

3) Lat Pulldown

4) Fly

5) Leg Extension

6) Leg Press

7) Bench Press

 

On 7/29/08, Michael Peterson <mapete...@gmail.com> wrote:

So how are you all doing with this?  I'm really curious about how Mike
is doing with the Wii fit. 

Don't know the answer to any of the rest of the e-mail, but I can answer this.  Terrible! :)
I think the idea is great, I just think they missed on the execution a bit.  (Either that or I'm just not in the right mindset for it to fit in with how I do things)

Thanks for asking.
Moo
 

[Thomas Anderson]

Hey Kelly,

 

When I first offered it to Mike, I didn't mean to make it sound like it was conditional upon him giving me the Wii Fit CD.  I'm happy to give you the equipment free of charge.  Since my whole family is very active at Dakatoh Fitness (including playworks for the little ones), the equipment has just been collecting dust since last year.  Just knowing someone else would get some good use out of it is payment enough.  Are you able to make it on Saturday?  If so, you can take a look at it (test it out) and let me know if you think it will fit in your basement.

-Tom

 

[Kelly Menzel]

Hey Tom,

 

That is very generous of you.  Trust me, it will get used by both my roomate and me.  I originally RSVPed that I'd be able to make it on Saturday.  Unfortunately, I forgot that I already had plans with Matt (my roomate) and his dad to go to an air show in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  The Blue Angels will be performing.  The show ends at 3 so we'd be back in the cities around 5.  I don't know if i'd be able to make it for much of the event but I might try to stop by anyway.  I could at least check out the gym set.  I can try to let you know for sure if i'll be stopping by.  Thanks again for letting me take a look at it.

 

Kelly

[Thomas Anderson]

Over the past year, I've continued to do shorter (20-25 minutes), more intense (interval) workouts. Jen was recently asking about this so I thought I'd reply to this old thread so she can read some of the older discussion around this.

In general I would say that I've seen some very positive results from this change in routine. When I first started doing this I felt like I was "cheating" since my workouts were so much shorter. As the intensity of my workouts gradually increased from last fall to this Spring, I definitely don't feel that way anymore!

 

Jen, the part you might find most interesting is the "Dr. Al Sears" message I posted in this thread on 8/21/2008. If you can't find it, let me know and I'll send out a more direct link.

 

Thanks,

-Tom

[John Wright]

Thanks for the update Tom. It's good to hear that the shorter
workouts are working out for you.