Older Bolder Life

Stronger | Leaner | Sharper | Longer - From Older Bolder Fitness

fitness

Picking the Low Hanging Fruit: Walk, and Walk Some More

By

Continuing our series on picking the low hanging fruit (the simpler, foundational principles) along one’s path to restoring (or improving) your overall wellness and health, today’s installment focuses on an activity that is accessible to just about everyone on the planet and can bring immense health benefits – the simple act of walking.

As noted in prior Low Hanging Fruit posts, what follows is again primarily aimed at those who are following an approach to fitness and nutrition much more aligned with the Standard American Diet (the infamous SAD approach) and largely sedentary modern lifestyle, not necessarily those thoughtful folks who have already begun to take a hard and discerning look at the healthy – and the unhealthy – aspects of their activity and nutrition plans.

And once again, of critical note, your best fitness and conditioning plan will be one that is UNIQUE TO YOU, given, for simple example (out of many possible factors), your current body composition, your overall metabolic health, your daily activity package, your current health, wellness, and fitness objectives, your overall general health, and where you happen to be in your “recovery” journey.

The Benefits of Walking Have Been Known for Years

I’ve been writing about the benefits of walking here on the Older Bolder Life for months now, for example looking at walking and longevity here, walking as a foundational part of basic fitness here, studies looking at walking versus jogging (including specific cardiac benefit and injury rate comparisons) here, and ten ways that walking boosts brain health and function here.

There’s a host of good literature and research that’s been penned over the years covering walking; I’m working on an extensive review to post a few weeks down the road.

So How Much Do I Need to Walk to Derive Genuine Benefit?

Of course the best answer depends on your personal health and fitness specifics as they stand today, though there are some ballpark recommendations you’ll see noted again and again.

For example, the venerable American Heart Association (drawing from the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd Edition published by the Dept. of Health and Human Services) recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week (or at least 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity). Using those guidelines, if one were to simply walk six days per week, that’s only 25 minutes per day.

For clients I’m coaching who are faced with the duel challenge of dropping weight AND reconditioning from a very low fitness level, I encourage an initial goal of at least 30 minutes of walking a day, 6 or 7 days per week, with an hour (or more) bringing additional benefits to the table.

Amazing, I’ve had people who have been so astoundingly sedentary they can only tolerate 15 to 20 minutes of walking a day; one is now walking 90 to 120 minutes per day, six days per week, and got there in a matter of months with consistent effort, and has become an entirely new person in the process. It can be done.

I’m a huge walking fan myself, starting off just about every day with a 45-60 minute walk on trails in a nearby park, and taking another 30-60 minute walk later in the day as well, six or seven days per week.

Lace up those walking shoes and git ‘er done.

The Tuesday Ten: Walking Boosts Brain Health and Function

By

Today we’re starting a new feature here on the blog, a list post that will feature ten different items of interest focused (more or less) on a particular topic. It’ll cover a host of different topics, everything from science and health oriented topics like today’s post, to food and recipes, equipment and gear, books, and more.

Today let’s look at some examples of the expansive literature that supports how walking, and other low-intensity, aerobic exercise boosts brain health and function.

Brisk walking for 30 to 50 minutes three or four times per week improved blood flow to the brain by as much as 15 percent.

Walking improves cognitive function across all adult age groups.

Even in bursts as short as 10 minutes, walking and other exercise can work to quickly elevate a depressed mood and relieve anxiety.

Even light to moderate activity (walking) leads to noted improvements in psychological well-being.

Consistent exercise, such as walking, boosts self-esteem and a sense of accomplishment.

Creative thinking improves while walking and for a time thereafter.

Walking (and other forms of low level aerobic exercise) increase energy levels and the sense of mental and physical fatigue.

Walking and other exercise can make your sex life better.

Walking and other exercise improves the quality and quantity of sleep.

Walking and other exercise increases productivity over your lifespan.

Getting Kids Outside Makes Them Happier Adults

By

Our 9 month (and change) old grandson Brantley took his first trip into Yellowstone National Park this past weekend, touring the Mammoth Hot Springs with mom above, and otherwise looking pretty mischievous while enjoying some of Spring’s first bright days in Montana and Wyoming. (Images via our son, Jake.)

That little excursion on Saturday brought to mind something I’d run across in the Adventure Journal – Study: Kids Who Spend Time in Nature Become Happier Adults.

It’s based on this research piece published a few weeks back in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences US), and backs up what many of you who love being in the outdoors have know for years – humans thrive when connected to the physical world around them, getting their hands dirty, skinning their knees and elbows, soaking up the sun, and literally connecting with the earth around them.

I’m truly astounded at how disconnected many children and youth are from the natural world today; make sure kids (and grandkids!) you influence in your world are getting a healthy dose of “outside” each and every day.

Question of the Day: Fitness Pursuits and Longevity

By

I was at an event yesterday in the DFW metro where the question came up as to “what’s the very best fitness activity to promote longevity?”

Anytime someone throws out opinions about the very best anything related to individual health, physiology, and wellness, the little man holding the red flags in my head jumps up and starts waving like mad. Why? Because the very best anything (food, nutrition plan, exercise, etc) for a given individual depends of course on their specific health, wellness, fitness, metabolism and physiology, and even their beliefs and biases at the time.

That said, I shared a two-part answer to the question…

Physical Activity and Longevity in the Copenhagen City Heart Study

It just so happens that this week I came across this study in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings detailing the associations between various leisure-time physical activity pursuits and varying life expectancies in the study group.

The Copenhagen City study was a fairly robust one, following almost 9000 participants longitudinally over a span of up to 25 years for all-cause mortality.

The study was of course an observational one, meaning causality can’t be established, though in the analysis participants playing tennis gained 9.7 years of life expectancy compared to the sedentary group. Badminton aficionados gained 6.2 years, soccer players 4.7, cyclists 3.7, swimmers 3.4, with those pursuing “health club activities) following along at 1.5 years of life expectancy extension compared to sedentary folks.

The full study is behind a paywall and inaccessible for quick review; there are of course a number of questions raised by the conclusions drawn (diets, comorbidities, etc), including the authors’ inference that leisure-time sports with greater social interaction appear to be associated with greater longevity.

So should we all pick up tennis and badminton racquets after 40? Perhaps, though I’d argue there’s one fitness pursuit almost anyone can pursue at some level, and that probably offers the easiest to access longevity benefit for most of us…

Lace Up Those Walking Shoes

Count me among those prone to argue that walking, simple walking, something that most of us can readily incorporate into even a busy daily routine, may very well be “the best” fitness activity to promote longevity.

Back in July I looked at the debate of health benefits accrued from Walking vs. Jogging, and referenced a number of studies looking at health benefits from walking.

For example, even modest walking, done consistently, has been shown to invoke risk reductions for hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hypercholesterolemia. Men in the 65-74 band experienced a reduction in all-cause mortality, increasing the more they walked. Even moderate walking was effective at improving glucose tolerance in a group at risk for T2DM. There are more links out to supporting data in the July post above, including several looking at injury rates in runners vs. walkers.

Bottom line, hacking longevity is a hot topic these days, and a fun one to ponder (now and then anyway). That said, unless one is willing to pick off the low-hanging fruit here – optimizing your diet, getting good sleep, managing stress, developing solid baseline fitness at least – jousting over the very best fitness pursuits via which to live long and prosper is probably barking up the wrong tree.

See you on the walking trail tomorrow…

Today’s Question: METs and Meaningful Exercise

By

Today’s question of the day comes from Sue K. in Dallas (emphasis mine) –

…a friend told me her trainer insists that all of her exercise be tracked by METs, and that if anyone doesn’t do it that way, they’re framing their entire approach to exercise wrong. When I asked her to define for me what a MET actually was, she wasn’t sure, but said they were something related to units of exercise. I’m just coming back to the workout and exercise game after 20 years of sedentary life, have things changed and I’ve totally missed out on something here?…

Sue, in a nutshell, of course the answer is no, you don’t have to frame your thinking about exercise around the concept of METs to “do it the right way”. METs do have their place in describing physical activity; for instance, you may see METs listed on various pieces of exercise equipment in a gym, though as described, the trainer’s admonition doesn’t hold water.

So Just What is a MET?

A bit of background is in order here. We all understand that muscle cells consume oxygen as they generate the energy to contract, more calories are burned as you burn more oxygen (we as humans burn approximately 5 calories of energy to consume 1 liter of oxygen).

One MET is defined as the amount of oxygen consumed while at rest; it’s roughly 3.5 ml of O2 per kg of body weight, per minute. METs are measures of metabolic cost, and have been tabulated as the ratio of metabolic rate (expressed as the rate of energy consumption) against a given physical activity – for example, walking, running, resistance exercise, housework, they’ve even calculated the METs required for sex.

More practically, one MET is for practical purposes the amount of energy produced relative to your body mass at rest; reading this blurb on your computer requires one MET of energy at rest.

The Master MET List: The Compendium of Physical Activity

The powers that be have compiled a fairly comprehensive list of the METs required to complete a host of different physical activities – it’s posted in The Compendium of Physical Activity, most recently updated in 2011. There are several apps that list the various MET values for different activities as well.

Here’s a sample list from the Compendium –

METs and Exercise for Most of Us

In defense of the (reported) trainer’s comment above, you could reasonably argue that if you know the particular MET value for a given physical activity, how long that activity is performed, and some basic metrics about the person performing the activity, you can estimate the caloric burn (consumption) that person should experience as a result.

That said, while I used the concept of METs in roughly developing rehabilitation plans for severely compromised patients (strokes, massive cardiac events, brain injuries, etc.), I’ve never framed exercise goals in terms of METs for anyone at anytime otherwise.

Why not? There are a host of reasons, though most importantly two in particular.

One, the concept of using METs to track exercise often tends to be framed in the context of “calories in, calories out” (and its kissing cousin – “a calorie is a calorie is a calorie”), which as we now understand, particularly in the context of someone above their ideal body weight and metabolically compromised, probably doesn’t hold water and can lead one down the wrong path.

And two, for most of us, tracking METs, really tracking your METs for both exercise and all activities during a given day, can end up being a handful (to say the least), and can smack of (at least in some contexts) compulsive behaviors and orthorexia. It’s critical to remember that for almost everyone, your food plan determines 80% of your body composition, with exercise (again, for most of us) impacting roughly 10%.

Your approach to activity simply doesn’t have to be that complicated; move, move, move (at aerobic levels of exertion) + lift heavy things occasionally + sprint now and again wins the day for just about everyone.

A Short Roundup on Plantar Fasciitis

By

The Quick Backstory

As part of my own condition and wellness program, I’ve been walking 30 to 35 miles per week now for about five months, typically walking six of seven days per week and enjoying my time on the trails immensely.

About three weeks ago, pushing through a new facet of my resistance training, I tweaked my left sacroiliac joint and began to experience what typically was a nuisance mechanical lower back and left posterior pelvic pain about 25-30 minutes into a ninety minute walk.

Determined to push on through, I kept up my routine (minus the newer resistance component), monitoring my discomfort, without much difficulty. At one time I questioned whether or not I was having to adjust my gait significantly; I didn’t think so…

That all changed about ten days ago, when I seemingly woke up “out of the blue” with a fairly impactful left plantar fasciitis, which worsened impressively with that morning’s walk.

Those symptoms have sent me scrambling to review the current thinking in management of plantar fasciitis, which I’ve been implementing with reasonable success over the past ten days. My plantar fasciitis episode has clearly been multifactorial in origin (the gait pattern change above, shoes at the end of their functional life, slacking off on calf/leg/hip stretching over the past couple of months, and potentially even some terrain and trail changes altering foot stresses).

I don’t have time to delve into plantar fasciitis comprehensively here this week, though I thought it might be useful to post a few useful videos and references now, and we’ll come back and deal with PF in more detail at a later time.

A Few Very Useful Plantar Fasciitis Links and Vids

How to Treat Your Plantar Fasciitis Naturally – Dr. Phil Maffetone and team; very well done, downloadable PDF

Plantar Fasciitis – Fix Your Feet! from the StrategicAthlete, good vids included

How to Cure Plantar Fasciitis – October 18 post on Mark’s Daily Apple

2 Stretches to Heal Plantar Fasciitis – video by Brad Kearns; note his explanation re: bent vs straight knee is reversed, but otherwise well done and core essential stretching

Plantar Fasciitis from MobilityWOD/Kelly Starrett; very well done…

More to come; don’t waste another day if you’re suffering from PF and haven’t made any progress in your rehab and recovery.