Hello
friends, and welcome to this month’s Joyinmovement newsletter.
friends, and welcome to this month’s Joyinmovement newsletter.
This was
the joke of the day that appeared on my calendar on March 14.
Two
men were hiking through the forest when they heard a bear approaching.
One man dropped his hiking gear and searched through it until he found
his running shoes. Watching the man put on the running shoes, the other
man said, “What are you doing? You can’t outrun that bear!” The man
said, “I don’t have to outrun him. I just have to outrun you.”
men were hiking through the forest when they heard a bear approaching.
One man dropped his hiking gear and searched through it until he found
his running shoes. Watching the man put on the running shoes, the other
man said, “What are you doing? You can’t outrun that bear!” The man
said, “I don’t have to outrun him. I just have to outrun you.”
Whether
you run for your health, to lose weight, or the joy of taking it on the
road, calling ourselves runners is a badge that many of us wear with
pride. So before we begin this month’s discussion, please ask yourself
why you run or fitness walk. The answers I get most often are:
*It’s
good for my health
good for my health
*I
want to lose weight/control my weight
want to lose weight/control my weight
*Anyone
can run, so there’s nothing I have to learn
can run, so there’s nothing I have to learn
*It
helps me handle my stress
helps me handle my stress
*I
like to run and like the way I feel when I’m done.
like to run and like the way I feel when I’m done.
I’m
thinking for most of us those answers would rank high on the list. So
let’s consider each of these answers and whether or not they are indeed
the benefits of running.
thinking for most of us those answers would rank high on the list. So
let’s consider each of these answers and whether or not they are indeed
the benefits of running.
It’s
good for my health and helps me handle stress: maybe, maybe not.
Aerobic training increases adrenal stress which can make you
fatter and produce other undesirable health consequences. We are going
to address adrenal fatigue very soon in another newsletter, as it is a
topic I have been concerned about with my clients and students. For
right now know that when you do too much continuous aerobic exercise the
adrenal glands are stressed in a way that disrupts your hormonal
balance causing adrenal fatigue. This leads to tiredness, allergies,
frequent colds and flus, arthritis, anxiety, reduced memory, insomnia,
feeling worn out and the INABILITY to lose weight even after extensive
effort.
fatter and produce other undesirable health consequences. We are going
to address adrenal fatigue very soon in another newsletter, as it is a
topic I have been concerned about with my clients and students. For
right now know that when you do too much continuous aerobic exercise the
adrenal glands are stressed in a way that disrupts your hormonal
balance causing adrenal fatigue. This leads to tiredness, allergies,
frequent colds and flus, arthritis, anxiety, reduced memory, insomnia,
feeling worn out and the INABILITY to lose weight even after extensive
effort.
So
while you are gaining cardiovascular and respiratory benefits, which I
believe are the health benefits we think of when we say “we run for the
health benefits,” please be aware that TOO much of a good thing can be
stressful. Remember, being fit and being healthy are not the same. It’s
important to bring a level of self awareness to your running so you know
when you are dipping into an unhealthy stressful state.
Dr. Alan
Sears, the author of “Pace: Rediscover Your Native Fitness” says
“forcing your body to do the same continuous cardiovascular activity
over and over again is unnatural. Long-duration exercise downsizes the
heart’s capacity to provide you with big bursts of energy when you need
them, increases LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, elevates
clotting and inflammation factors and creates loss of bone density.”
When looking for a population that blends low-intensity exercise with
quick bursts of energy resulting in great health we look to the Amish.
Amish men average 18,000 steps a day and get 10 hours of vigorous
physical activity a week. The women average 14,000 steps a day and get
3.5 hours of vigorous physical activity a week. Obesity in the Amish
community is only 4% compared to a sad statistic for American adults of
31%
Also,
when I think of how to link health and movement I prefer to think of
becoming generally athletic and then taking that general athleticism
into whatever exercise or sport I play. In other words, I want to move
well, REALLY well. Istvan Balyi and others wrote an article, “Long
Term Athletic Development and Canadian Physical Literacy.” By physical
literacy he means fundamental movement skills and fundamental sport
skills.Think
agility, balance, coordination, speed, jumping, walking, hopping,
swimming, skipping, throwing, kicking, catching. Too many of us have
focused on too few of these. The idea is to be active throughout your
life and discover your own pathway to joyinmovement. We can learn all of
these skills , which by the way most of us learned when we were kids,
if we take the time to train and learn them and we can continually
improve. The first rule is to practice and master these fundamental
movement skills before sport specific skills. Balyi also talks about
the ABC’s of athleticism: agility, balance, coordination and speed. Most
of us probably went through a learning phase before we were in our
teens and acquired many of these but they have been forgotten due to
lack of practice and use. We have spent too much time in the training to
win/compete phase of our specific sports and lost our general physical
preparedness. Adapting a philosophy towards sports/movement and
health/fitness like the one I’m suggesting might take a paradigm shift
for you, however, I encourage you to be open to what I’m saying. As we
all age these fundamental movement skills will keep us functional as we
go about our days and keep us less prone to injury.
Best
way to lose weight and burn fat: NOPE.
Not
steady state running at least. Going for miles and miles or for hours
and hours is not the best way to burn fat. Will you burn calories? Of
course. Want to burn fat? Listen up. Remember, we are talking
about CONTINUOUS aerobic exercise called LSD (long slow distance
running) or steady state cardio. There are other ways to train that are
more effective and take less time. We unfortunately have been
brainwashed with the idea that to burn fat you have to do continuous
aerobic work. It is not the most effective choice and I’m all about
effectiveness and efficiency. In order to lose fat we need to stoke the
body’s furnace to burn up our fat reserves. To do this we need intense
oxygen-depriving anaerobic exercise. This does two things:
steady state running at least. Going for miles and miles or for hours
and hours is not the best way to burn fat. Will you burn calories? Of
course. Want to burn fat? Listen up. Remember, we are talking
about CONTINUOUS aerobic exercise called LSD (long slow distance
running) or steady state cardio. There are other ways to train that are
more effective and take less time. We unfortunately have been
brainwashed with the idea that to burn fat you have to do continuous
aerobic work. It is not the most effective choice and I’m all about
effectiveness and efficiency. In order to lose fat we need to stoke the
body’s furnace to burn up our fat reserves. To do this we need intense
oxygen-depriving anaerobic exercise. This does two things:
1-It increases the percentage of calories and fat burned as
compared to the percentage of carbohydrates burned
compared to the percentage of carbohydrates burned
2-It raises your metabolic rate, which helps you burn off even
more calories when you are at rest. This is called EPOC, and we’ll go
into this more in a minute.
more calories when you are at rest. This is called EPOC, and we’ll go
into this more in a minute.
Intensity
(% of your max HR) is what’s important in the number of calories burned
per minute. The kind of running that is most effective for fat loss is
called interval training. You alternate minutes of high intensity
exercise with low to moderate intensity exercise. You will more
effectively burn fat and improve both aerobic and anaerobic fitness.
There are many different ways to set up an interval protocol (and
intervals can be done with many different exercise modalities) so we
won’t get more specific about that in this letter. I am also assuming
that you have a good understanding of the differences between aerobic
and anaerobic exercise. If not let me know and we’ll cover it in more
depth in another newsletter.
EPOC stands for excess post-workout oxygen consumption, and some
in the fitness field assign great meaning to it so it’s something you
should be aware of. There is a higher increase in caloric expenditure
that occurs during the EPOC phase after resistance or anaerobic exercise
versus aerobic exercise. And the EPOC over the 12-24 hour period
following your exercise session can be from 10-150 calories. Not a huge
number but worth noting.
Also,
let’s consider something else with steady state running and fat
burning/calorie expenditure. If we are economical and mechanically
efficient when we run we will expend LESS calories than if we are
unskilled and utilize unnecessary movements during physical activity. At
first you might think, great I don’t (run, swim bike ) well so I’ll
burn more calories, but remember, inefficiencies increase
musculoskeletal stress and lead to overuse injuries. So it’s an
interesting Catch-22. Though it takes time to develop efficient running
mechanics, your economy will improve over time and you’ll be able to
prolong the activity and get a greater total energy expenditure but that
means running for longer and longer time periods. This may not be what
you want: longer runs to burn the same number of calories.
As
for a fitness take on all this let’s look at what Charles Poliquin, a
well know strength and conditioning coach has to offer when he talks
about why aerobic work can be counterproductive. He includes many of the
things we have already mentioned.
- Continuous
aerobic work plateaus after 8 weeks of training so anything more is
counterproductive. - Aerobic training worsens your power locally and
systemically making you slower. If you play team sports needing speed or
jumping power this is of interest to you. - Aerobic training increases oxidative stress which
can accelerate aging. Oxidation is a process that forms free radicals in
the body. Normally we use antioxidants to neutralize them. If there is
an excessive build up due to excessive aerobics your body will be
challenged to handle all the free radicals. This will change your
metabolism and can accelerate aging. - Aerobic training increases body fat in stressed
individuals by contributing additional stress. Again, stress to an
already stressed organism actually adds body fat as it messes with your
hormone balance. - Aerobic training worsens testosterone/cortisol
ratios which impede your ability to add fat burning lean muscle. Adding
lean muscle will help increase the caloric expenditure that we need to
lose fat.
Anyone
can run, so there’s nothing I have to learn…NOT!
can run, so there’s nothing I have to learn…NOT!
Yes, running will burn calories, and you can ease joint stress
and move with less effort if you take the time to learn how. And running
can be learned by anyone. It involves understanding physics, physiology
and your anatomy. Too often though, what I see published in articles is
something that says “if you can walk, you can run.” This is not the
case and I surely would not want most of the people I see walking to
take their walk into a run!
and move with less effort if you take the time to learn how. And running
can be learned by anyone. It involves understanding physics, physiology
and your anatomy. Too often though, what I see published in articles is
something that says “if you can walk, you can run.” This is not the
case and I surely would not want most of the people I see walking to
take their walk into a run!
Everyone
needs exercise, yet why do so many people interpret this to mean all you
need to do is RUN. Unfortunately, I see too many people who have never
given credence to the idea that it is important to learn good
biomechanics for running. I see bobbers, swayers, shufflers, prancers
and clompers all of whom think they are doing something good for
themselves by running. A lot of people out there running look miserable
and in pain and as I often say, “Running is something we do in the name
of good health that makes us miserable.”
Biomechanics–technique–how
we move as runners–is easy to address. It is, after all, under our
control. Yet it is often forgotten. Runners don’t understand the “why”
of the running movements starting with why they should even be concerned
with “how” they move. The injury rate amongst runners is alarming and
changes all the time so I won’t give you an exact number. I can say that
I’ve never read a study that quoted less than 50% of all runners having
had an injury during the year. Learning how to run with correct form
will make running less punishing so your fitness efforts won’t be
constantly derailed by injury. You can be comfortable while you run!
Correct running form is not for most of us second nature, and contrary
to what many people think, it is not just stepped-up walking.
What I
wanted to do with this letter is to have us look at the exercise we do,
in this case running, and ask ourselves why we are doing it, and are we
in fact getting the results we seek. Mindlessly doing anything, and
particularly running, can do just as much harm as good and we need to
know the difference between when running is helping us or hurting us.
In
closing I want to share with you a story from this year’s Boston
Marathon. It’s one that shows the spirit of the running community
and features the Chair of the Exercise Science Department where I
teach.
Go to
this link and check it out:
Then, once you’ve read the
article, go to the link below. Be SURE to read the article from the
first link first, otherwise the 2nd link will make no sense!
article, go to the link below. Be SURE to read the article from the
first link first, otherwise the 2nd link will make no sense!
Until
next month, move with joy!
Shelli
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