Exercise 'Must Be Tough to Work'

re: Exercise 'Must Be Tough to Work'

KalikoKat — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 20:06:37 GMT

Does anybody out there think that running a marathon (for the first time at the age of 42) is a good thing for the "older" body?

Every time I mention it, people's reactions are negative, and they say how bad it is for the body.

I've been running 3 miles every other day for a couple months, and can see increasing it to 5 in one month's time.

I thought after I can comfortably run 5, I'd run a 7 just one day out of the normal week. Then I'd go for a 12 mile run once the 7 milers seemed comfortable.

Perhaps when I do a few 12 milers comfortably (one every other week), the marathon would become just a mental game.

I'd welcome your comments at christy@kalikos.net.

Thanks

re: Exercise 'Must Be Tough to Work'

dempoolguy — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:08:36 GMT

Best exercise? Get a dog. When I just want to lounge around, I wind up either playing catch or out for a stroll without even thinking. Nothing else works on those days when you don't, absolutely don't, feel like getting up off the couch, which I think is the most critical time to exercise.

re: Exercise 'Must Be Tough to Work'

bagarino — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:50:33 GMT

Several comments. Firstly, I never bought into this 'gentle exercise' lark. I was always what you would term 'very active', walking several miles a week, gardening, dog-walking. It wasn't enough to stop my weight ballooning to 260lbs, blood pressure reaching 150/105 and resting pulse at 90. Only weights / aerobic activity 3x a week and dietary control, following most of Dr. Mercola's advice, brought me back to health.

In the gym I see people (especially women) essentially wasting their time with weights. 5lb dumbells for 30 reps. What's all that about? The basic exercises (squats / deadlifts / bench press / lat pull downs) for 3 sets (8, 6, 4) AT 80% OF YOUR MAXIMUM (whatever that is), each one once a week, will do far more than all the diddly little movements with small weights in maintaining your muscle mass - crucial to your long term survival and health. Add 3 sets of a dozen crunches 2x a week and that will take care of the abs. What you MUST do is determine your "80% of max" and do it.

For a normal, healthy but untrained (but supervised) 50 y.o man this might look like this (woman in brackets):

squat: 70lbs (50lbs)

deadlift 60lbs (40lbs)

bench 60lbs (40lbs)

pull-down 40lbs (25lbs)

Within 3 months the men should be adding 20lbs, and the women lifting what the untrained men were doing. You've got to push yourself. Squats (testosterone) and deadlifts (growth hormone) in particular have dramatic effects on the hormone profile. None of this detracts from the role of cardio / aerobic work in cardiac health. No need to bust a gut though. 20 mins 3x a week is more than adequate once you are normal weight for height.

re: Exercise 'Must Be Tough to Work'

Magnolia — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 03:30:32 GMT

Exercise gurus have been offering advice for decades; advice that has changed over the years with the pendulum swinging back and forth from gentle exercise to strenuously punishing workouts being the best thing to increase your health.

Where is common sense in all this? Determine your level of fitness, first. Then, based on where you are in the fitness scale, tailor your workout to be somewhat challenging without causing an injury. As you become comfortable with your current workout, increase the intensity or the duration to make it a bit more challenging. This way, you'll just get better and better. Without pain. The better you get, the more you'll enjoy your workout. Take your time. You'll still get there.

re: Exercise 'Must Be Tough to Work'

Mercola Fan — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:53:41 GMT

This used to be common sense in the 80's when everyone loved to exercise. My humble opinion as a nationally certified aerobic instructor is purhaps people are not exercising as regularly or as vigorously in part because of the music of this generation. The music of the 80's got you moving! Of couse MANY things have changed. Another important one is few people had a personal computer in their home. I wonder how many folks have traded jogging for "surfing">?

re: Exercise 'Must Be Tough to Work'

Rogway — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 03:12:09 GMT

My youngest daughter and I got a real workout and really got the sweat flowing from a ditch digger that threw us around worse than any moncho in a wrestling match could, and using a sledge hammer busting rocks that the digger couldn't. That 8 hours of hard inhumane excersise experience should last us a few days I guess.

re: Exercise 'Must Be Tough to Work'

mmc88121 — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 23:36:06 GMT

If all you have to do is break a sweat, I know several overweight people who can do that just by going out to their mailbox. Exercise needs to be individual prescribed and monitored.

Mary

re: Exercise 'Must Be Tough to Work'

Russ Bianchi — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:50:24 GMT

No Pain, No Gain.

re: Exercise 'Must Be Tough to Work'

foxtroter_203 — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 10:39:53 GMT

Diabetics who watch their blood sugar--know that 20-30 minutes of walking with their pulse below 90 after each meal helps control blood sugar. Walking burns more sugar than fat. To build more muscle mass, interval training for 20 minutes three times a week is known to be the most effective way of doing so. It also trains the body to burn fat. Aerobic exercise, while it burns more fat while doing it, trains the body to store fat while it actually breaks down muscle. People over 35 have reduced capacity to build new muscle and thus have a net loss of muscle mass eventually with aerobic exercise.