Older Bolder Life

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

resistance training

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Podcasts, Recipes, and More 26 August 2020

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Top of the Fold This Week: Short Power Walks, the Power of Honey, Low Carb / High Fat for Mature Folks, and More

A daily 7-minute power walk cuts the risk of early death by 30%?

Interesting claims that honey is better treatment for coughs and colds than antibx. Here’s the study the article is referencing.

Low carb / high fat diets don’t just work in the young. Here’s the study the article is referencing.

Nifty human study review: IF paired with resistance training maintains lean body mass and helps burn fat.

Interesting read: Remote Work Nationalism.

Interesting COVID-19 Roundup from the Week

There’s been a lot of talk (in some circles) of late about T-Cell immunity in COVID-19; here’s a nice lay review, and the research article it’s based on.

Impressive evidence that IV NAC blocks the inflammatory COVID-19 cascade.

Interesting suggestion that breast milk protects against COVID-19 infection and viral replication.

Podcasts of the Week: Two Worth Your Time

Hugh Jackman on Best Decisions, Daily Routines, The 85% Rule, Favorite Exercises, Mind Training, and Much More.

Q&A time with Brad Kearns is always interesting.

Food, Glorious Food

Sous Vide: Not Just the Hunter’s Best Friend

How caffeine changed the world.

Spicy strawberry avocado salsa – maybe the best salsa recipe we’ve ever posted.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Recipes, and More 3 August 2019

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Food, Glorious Food: Nutrition News This Week

From the “How Can This Be News?” file: Packaged food is ultra-processed.
The Wall Street Journal weighs in on the “fasting fad” (really, you’re going to call it a fad?)

Foraging foodie and chef: Sarah Glover. (Our photojournalist daughter has been invited to Australia for a series of stories and hopefully will have time scheduled with Ms. Glover…)

The Southern Foodways Alliance fall symposium.
Tart cherry juice for improved cognition? The lay report and the study it’s based on.

Turning the tables on the fake meat game, here’s a radical process for turning vegetable matter into meat protein.

Food, Glorious Food: Our Recipes from the Week

Spicy Thai-Inspired Shrimp Stir-Fry
Chile Peanut Cauliflower Rice
Garam Masala and Cucumber Dip

Older Bolder Health News Roundup That Caught My Eye This Week

Resistance training improves neural plasticity in a rat dementia model.

Speaking of resistance training, here’s an interesting interview with Charles Polquin – Aerobic Exercise May Be Destroying Your Body, But Weightlifting Can Save It.

Should the Alzheimer’s amyloid theory be put to rest? (Free MedScape account required).

Walking makes us happier, healthier, and brainier. You have to appreciate their tagging walking as a superpower.

How to think about your own mortality – at least one view on the issue. The author’s bio is fascinating…

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Older Bolder Links, Reads, Recipes, and More 27 July 2019

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An Eclectic Collection of Fitness Reads for the Week

Resistance training without weights works just as well?
Training to failure: load and rep count really don’t matter.
Exercise (8,900 steps per day?) offers some form of protection against Alzheimer’s.

Geoffrey Miller on Sexual Fitness and the Paleo Movement. You likely won’t agree with everything he says, but interesting…
6-year old nails push-up records.
Does foam rolling help sports soft tissue injuries? (Free MedScape account required)
Why did we wait so long for the bicycle?

From the Halls of Conventional Medicine…

Should you stop taking aspirin for heart health? A lay article recently published and the American College of Cardiology’s 2019 Guidelines.

Laminotomy beats laminectomy for lumbar spinal stenosis. (Free MedScape account required).

No added benefit for half of drugs introduced in Germany? A lay article recently published, based on a study published in the BMJ (see this and this).

Food, Glorious Food

The health writers at Vox have been busy taking on an overview of fiber here and the Keto diet here.
A saturated fat tax? Bollux.
Global meat consumption over the past 50 years.

Spicy Hanger Steak Lettuce Wraps
Grilled Leeks and Zucchini with Pecans
Simple Salsa Criola

Keeping Track: The Power of Charting Your Progress

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At the risk of sounding perhaps a little too obsessive, and before you ridicule my analogue handwritten tracking forms, hear me out.

For friends, family, and clients who have a long path to travel to restore their health and fitness, just as I personally have done, I consistently suggest they keep a fitness journal of some sort to track their progress along the way.

There are host of great digital tools available today, and being somewhat of a techie myself, I’ve played with a bunch of them, though I still track my weekly overall fitness plan by hand, as well as almost all of my resistance workouts in a fairly detailed manner. Personally, I hate jumping on and off my phone in the gym when lifting – it’s damned distracting – and I like seeing the readily-tangible record of week to week and month to month progress laid out before me when heading into my next resistance session.

For what it’s worth, I set out one year and nine months ago to seriously rebuild my overall muscle mass and strength; back then a purely wild-assed guess was that it would take two years of consistent, diligent resistance work to rebuild a meaningful strength base. The first few cycles (basically 13 weeks or a quarter year each) didn’t seem to yield much in terms of body composition results, though my written record documents consistent and notable progress in my training routine.

The last three cycles have yielded consistent, and notable, results, and I’m genuinely looking forward to starting my eighth and final 13-week cycle of this particular routine next week before moving on to something else mid-fall.

Of course it’s not an absolute essential you track your fitness routine (digitally or in whatever manner floats your boat), though it can be a wonderful source of encouragement, reinforcement, and guide you as you get stronger, faster, leaner, and sharper along the way.