Should We Exercise? (part 3!)

OK, we’ve covered whether or not we should be exercising at all in part 1 – the answer was yes, even though the costs of injuries due to exercise and recreational activities is exceeding the associated costs of obesity.  We should exercise, just with better judgment than we currently use.  In part 2, we went over the “dos” of exercising safely, so we can be fit and healthy without becoming one of those injury statistics.

Today, we’re going to cover the “don’ts”.  These are things you should not be doing if improved health and fitness are your goals. (Of course, if your goals are to injure yourself, then by all means, ignore my list here and keep doing what you’re doing…) 

Don't: be a macho asshole.

Exercise is not a contest nor is it a “sport” as jackasses who are trying to sell you sneakers will suggest.  It is a tool to improve your health.  Ego and machismo encourage you to do more than you safely can and therefore lead to injuries.  As discussed, this only leads to lost training time, and lost training time always equals NO RESULTS. “It is always better to stop a little early than a little late.” is written on the wall of the TR.  And always remember, the person who coined the term “no pain no gain” was a learning impaired individual.

Don't: sit all day.

Seriously, if you have a job where you sit all day you’re going to have orthopedic issues.  It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.  If you have a long commute your odds of avoiding musculoskeletal issues are increased exponentially as well.

If you have both a long commute and a sedentary job, you’re screwed.

Seriously, there is no way to avoid the premature aging and discomfort that are coming your way if you’re seated for 10, 12, 14 hours per day.  It’s just not possible to have your spine in the shape of a letter “C” for an elongated period of time and not think that’s going to screw up the surrounding tissue and joints. If this is the case, you're going to have to make some changes to your routine. 

Don't: stretch incorrectly.

"Loose" knees and lower backs are NOT good - they are injuries waiting to happen.  Some areas of your body require a lot of mobility – ankles, hips, and thoracic spine for example.  But other areas need to be restrictive and stiff so you can remain upright when moving.

The knee for example is a hinge.  It is supposed to move in ONE direction – forward and back.  Stretching it so it can move laterally or worse – so it can rotate - is asking for trouble.  

In fact there’s a term for a rotating knee: AN ACL TEAR.  Loosening your knee is like loosening the hinges on a door – it’s only supposed to move in one direction, by allowing it to move in others, you’re creating a safety issue.

Ditto for the lumbar spine (lower back).  Have you ever heard the term “spineless”, or have someone say “get a backbone”?  There’s a reason for the implication that said person is weak or a pushover: because people who have soft, pliable, lumbar spines ARE WEAK and ARE PUSHOVERS, LITERALLY.

Because of this, your lumbar spine has almost no movement capabilities – only a few degrees in each direction and as defense mechanism only (similar to the way skyscrapers can move very slightly in the event of high winds).  But just because they can move, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea, and your body will tell you so one way or another.  Remember this the next time someone tells you to doing crunches or flipping truck tires in a parking lot is a good idea.

Needless to say, there are plenty of other bad ideas, but these seem to be the most common.  If you can check the ego at the door, if you can spend the day upright, and if you avoid stretching incorrectly you can greatly increase your chances of staying injury free.

Stay healthy my friends…

Interested in Fat Loss? Read this:

I know you’re interested in losing body fat.  Do you know how I know? Because I’ve yet to meet anybody on the planet who did not want to lose body fat.  That, and in the decade plus I’ve been in the business, the topic of fat loss outnumbers all other discussions combined about 1,000 to 1.  Ultimately, as our lives go on, we realize how big our biceps are, or how good our 100 meter dash is are irrelevant discussions.  Even the thickest of the thick eventually figure out that we all just want to be lean, strong and healthy.

Because I know these things about you, I’m writing to tell you about two studies I recently re-read that I’m sure you’ll find interesting:

Study # 1:

During “The Marathon of the Sands”, weight and body composition were measured before and after the competition.  What is “The Marathon of the Sands” you ask?  It’s a 156 mile run (6 MARATHONS) spread out over 7 days.  Oh, by the way, it takes place in southern Morocco, i.e., the Sahara desert.

Study #2:

5 people – 3women, 2 men – each completed 10,000 kettlebell swings over 10 days.  Body composition measurements were taken both before and after the 10 days.

Results:

Group 1 (the marathoners), on average, lost 1.1% body fat.  (Man, if you told me I would have to run 6 marathons in a week to lose ONE PERCENT BODY FAT, my head would explode. In fact, I’m getting fired up just typing the words!)  Interestingly enough, and more importantly perhaps, they lost 5 times more lean muscle mass than body fat.

Group 2 (kettlebell group) lost 2% body fat on average, or twice as much as the marathoners.  Additionally, they increased lean muscle mass. 

Yes – not only did the “kettlebellers” lose twice as much body fat as the marathoners, but they got stronger as they did it!

Side note:

These studies, like ALL studies, have variables that cannot be accounted for.  And I’ll be the 1^st to say that both methods are extreme and I wouldn’t recommend them as training modalities to anybody. But the take home points are irrefutable.  And these take home points are ones that any Training Rim member could have told you before reading the studies:

Picking up and projecting heavy weight requires an extremely high energy demand.

 

Trudging along at 1mph does not require a high energy demand.

Extremely high energy demands burn more fat.

High energy expenditure is better for fat loss than low energy expenditure.

Strong people burn more calories than weak people.  So if losing body fat is your goal, you need to get stronger.

Strength training is NOT tricep pushdowns and smith machine squats.  It is total body functional movement with resistance.

Slow, steady state training is not an efficient method of fat loss.

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Here are the articles/studies if you want to check them out yourself:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/ten_thousand_swings_to_fat_loss

http://www.iutasport.com/files/articles/Athletic%20Performance%20and%20Weight.pdf

And if you prefer visuals:

One of the kettlebell participants:

And a winner of the marathon of the sands: