The Necessity of Weight Work

I know what I said the other day about weight lifting. but, to be at the top of your game physically, you must lift weights. As you read the following paragraph you will learn about an important and often forgotten benefit to lifting weights.

Although aerobic exercise will burn calories, it doesn’t really change your metabolism.
What does: lean muscle mass. “Muscle helps you burn more calories even after your workout is over,” says Halevy. The more lean muscle mass you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate (the baseline amount of calories you burn in a day), says Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., the director of fitness research at Quincy College, in Quincy, Massachusetts.

And if you are still not convinced, read this--Here's what a regular weight lifting routine will do for you.

Health:
Increases HDL - High Density Lipoprotein (good cholesterol) and decrease LDL - Low Density Lipoprotein (bad cholesterol). Reduces risk of diabetes and insulin needs.
Lowers risk of cardiovascular disease.
Lower high blood pressure.
Lowers risk of breast cancer - reduces high estrogen levels linked to the disease.
Decreases or minimizes risk of osteoporosis by building bone mass.
Reduces symptoms of PMS (Premenstrual Syndrome)
Reduces stress and anxiety.
Decreases colds and illness.
Strength:
Increased muscle strength, power, endurance and size with enhanced performance of everyday tasks.  You will be able to do everyday tasks like lifting, carrying, and walking up stairs with greater ease.
Flexibility:
By working the muscles through a full range of motion, weight training can improve your overall body flexibility.  Increased flexibility reduces the risk of muscle pulls and back pain
Likelihood of Injury:
Strong muscles, tendons, and ligaments are less likely to give way under stress and are less likely to be injured.  Increased bone density and strength reduces back and knee pain by building muscle around these areas.

Body Composition:
Boosted metabolism (which means burning more calories when at rest) with reduced body fat.  Your overall weight may not change, but you will gain muscle and lose fat. Over time you should notice decreases in waist measurements and body fat measurement.
Muscle Tone:
The conditioning effect will result in firmer and better-defined muscles.
Posture:
The way you sit and stand are influenced by the health of a network of neck, shoulder, back, hip and abdominal muscles.  Stronger muscles can help you stand and sit straighter and more comfortably.  You may notice improved balance and stability.
State of Mind:
As you begin to notice the positive physical changes in your body and develop a regular exercise routine, your ability to handle stress effectively will improve. Weight training allows you to sleep better, i.e., fall asleep quicker and sleep deeper.  Clinical studies have shown regular exercise to be one of the three best tools for effective stress management.

 

It's back to lifting 3x's a week for me.

 

35 minutes easy running in the woods, stretching after.

 

How was your day?

 

The first day of the week is an excellent time for new beginnings. 

On Running

The joy and love of running. It's hard to explain to those who haven't done it. It's a feeling.
Dr. George Sheehan, as he so often did, really nails it as he describes the simple pleasures of running.



"For every runner who tours the world running marathons, there are thousands who run to hear the leaves and listen to the rain, and look to the day when it is suddenly as easy as a bird in flight. For them, sport is not a test but a therapy,not a trial but a reward, not a question but an answer."

The fall--autumn marathon time---a very special and exciting time of the year. When I lived in Buffalo, you could feel the excitement in the air as you did your laps in Delaware Park preparing for the fall Skylon Marathon. A single focus and purpose by so many people.
The good old days of running.

25 minutes at 2/3's pace--felt worse then it should have--stretching after.

What did you do?

Negativity

"We have so many negative influences out there that are pulling us down. I try to keep all the negative stuff out of my brain because negativity is like a poison, it develops an acid condition in your body." Jack Lalanne.

Negative thoughts prevent you from going for it; they tell you, you can't do this because you're too old, or you have too many commitments or it's all just child's play.
Negative thoughts keep you locked into the safe and familiar.

What you want to do is as worthy as you believe it is. It has nothing to do with other's opinions. Never discount the fact that 'misery loves company.' Most people who have resigned themselves to playing it safe can't be expected to enthusiastically encourage someone who is doing something  they wish they could do.

Take the next few days to plan out a new goal, challenge or adventure. Plan a journal and begin this Sunday.

Surround yourself with positivity and people of like mind.

40 minutes easy---stretching after with a little swimming.

How was your day?

Three From Teddy

It's a short day today--got in late but I definitely wanted to put something out there.
I don't know much about Teddy Roosevelt but he has a huge number of quotes attributed to him that are so insightful and true.

Keeping with the theme--'no, success is not just for someone else, it can be for you'--consider these:

"With self-discipline most anything is possible."

Too many people are not quite as disciplined as they think they are.



"The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything."

What do they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained?



"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."

This quote by Thoreau comes to mind--
"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."

I have met many people through the years that have told me that their lives are boring. Others are living each day in a kind of stupor, existing, not truly living.

Challenge yourself---step out of your comfort zone.Your life will take on a whole new meaning and dimension.

Work day today--just easy stretching before and after.

How was your day?

Learning From Diana Nyad

In case you haven't heard or read about it, 64 year old Diana Nyad completed a 110 mile swim from Cuba to Florida.

At the end of this post there is a link to an excellent New York Times article which chronicles her swim.

Not surprisingly,we can learn a few things from her remarkable accomplishment.

First off, she is 64 years old, well beyond the age that most swimmers would even consider such an endeavor.
Secondly, this was her fifth attempt. As you will read in the article, her success was built on her past failures. After each unsuccessful attempt, she reassessed, made adjustments and continued on. Sound familiar?


Two things Nyad said really hit home to me:
"We should never, ever give up."
"You are never too old to chase your dreams"

Many of us think that when others achieve success it's because those people are 'special' or unusually gifted. We tend to put them in a certain class or up on a pedestal and say--"that's them, it couldn't be me, they're different. Too often, the only difference, especially in the case of older athletes like Nyad, is that they believe and have the determination and persistence that we folks haven't developed.......yet.

30 minutes continuous hill running up a 70 meter hill in the woods--Hey--when you live near the ocean you have to use whatever incline you can find. Stetching after.

How was your day? Check out the link below.

                                                                                                                                                                                

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/sports/nyad-completes-cuba-to-florida-swim.html?_r=0

Lifting

As much as I would like to think that it is, running is not the only exercise you should do to stay fit and healthy all your life. I mean, it can be your primary athletic choice but it needs to be supplemented by things like calisthenics, stretching and.....weight lifting.
Weightlifting, to me, is boring, it's something I have to force myself to do. But, I recognize the necessity and benefits of doing it, especially as I get older. Also, since when did everything you do for your health and longevity have to be 'fun' ?
The benefits of weight training  are well documented. Of course, an important benefit for those of us who are getting older is that it helps deal with and slow the loss of muscle mass and tone.

Consider the following:

'The limited research in this area (weightlifting)suggests that men and women of middle age will respond to systematic progressive resistance with weights by becoming more powerful and more flexible, with more endurance and less fat. The reasons why this is true are rather complicated, having to do with the body's biochemical goings-on following the stressful exercise of this sort. Some of the studies indicate that one of the reasons workouts with weights cause middle-age men to gain more power and muscular shape then workouts of the jogging track or handball court may be that the stress of progressive resistance weight training causes the body to produce more then the normal amount of the male hormone, testosterone, whereas the stress of the other exercises doesn't." by Terry Todd.

As an aside, as I read the above it made me think of the older runners I've known over the years whose sole exercise was distance running, Too often I've seen poor posture, spindly arms and legs, as well as a slight paunch, even on the slim runners.. I'll be honest, they were (are) hardly the picture of health.

If you aren't lifting, now is the time to start, 20 to 30 minutes 3 times a week is all you need. It will make you a better overall athlete, no doubt about it.

10 minute slow warm-up,  15--100 meter strideouts with a 15 minute easy warm down--stretching after.

What did you do today?

The True Benefits

To be at the top of our game mentally and physically I believe it is essential to challenge ourselves physically. I believe the best way of doing this is through competition. Preparing for competition accomplishes many things. It gives us a goal, demands that we be organized, disciplined and follow a plan.
As a word of caution, I would add that too many people equate athletic success with trophies, medals and age group victories. Those 'successes' are superficial and temporary. The real,deeper benefits are described below by the Australian athlete/coach/philosopher Percy Cerutty:


 "Perhaps the greatest success is found when we achieve victory over ourselves. And that, perhaps, is the greatest reward that can be obtained from participation in athletics and sport, generally--the victory over our own nature, our  weaknesses, our tendency, perhaps, to rush to alibis, palliatives, and excuses, rather than to admit our moments of weakness: of capitulation(surrender). So we come to the realization that the qualitative factor in success is purely personal, and that it is not something that can be measured only by the distance ran, the time recorded, the weight lifted or thrown, the height jumped, or the victories achieved over others. In this way success is subjective although the aims and ambitions may appear purely objective."

I have read the above quote many times and I'm always amazed by the truth and depth of his words.

If you haven't as yet committed to an athletic goal that includes some form of competition I would encourage you to do so today, on this, the first day of the week.
It has the potential to be life changing.

45 minutes easy running in the woods with stretching and walking after.

How was your day?