Survival is for the Fittest
I am always amazed at how much marketing and the media can dictate what it considered to be truth. And this is especially prominent when it comes to fitness.
With I all I know about health and fitness, people will still argue with me about how training only with machines is the way to go for health and fitness. They believe this because time and again they heard that machines are safer and more effective. They heard it so many times that they came to believe it as the “truth” and no matter what anyone tells them otherwise, they won’t change their minds. They don’t realize that there is a big problem with this “truth”. The truth is that it is a lie promoted by the manufactures of these machines and is only backed up by research that these companies funded.
Nautilus advertises a 12-machine, 12-minute circuit for a great looking and healthy body. Curves anyone. We at BSC Wellesley even have the Xpressline. Thankfully both Curves and the X-line are going the way of the dinosaur as people realize that they are not getting (and will never get) the benefits promised (and the injuries don’t help either). Just not as quickly as they should. Shame.
Typical Curves member’s before and after photo.
Back in the 80’s the Cooper Clinic told everyone that aerobic exercise (slow boring cardio) was the way to go for health and fitness. I bet even you started running when you heard this. And like with machines, people heard this so much that they still consider it “truth” today. The only people really benefiting from this lots of slow, boring cardio mindset are the doctors and physical therapists who are making millions treating and caring for all those that get injured and/or re-injured believing that hours and hours of cardio is all they need.
Long slow boring cardio can also cause emotional trauma.
Don’t get me wrong there are some good things that came about with this cardio mentality. Things like R.I.C.E. and sports medicine became household words. Along with patella-femoral dysfunction, plantar fasciitis and iliotibial (IT)band syndrome.
Now we have group exercise classes, spinning and shoes that tone and lift (don’t even get me started on this one). This means more marketing, more injuries. and more money for the doctors and physical therapists.
You will more likely sprain your ankle or knee than get a toned butt. These shoes are unsafe and were probably designed by a PT that needs the business.
Though some of these ideas are well-intentioned, most are flat out lies said to make money.
Yes, exercise needs to be smart and safe but it also needs to be challenging. Very little can be achieved without hard work and your health and fitness is not the exception.
Some doctors say gardening qualifies as exercise. Others say that walking is great exercise. I believe that this is because people don’t want to be told that something is going to require effort and are looking for the easy way out. Some people will say anything to be popular and liked.
Yes, something is always better than nothing but if you can (don’t have any health limitations), why stop there?
If you want to really see all the health and fitness benefits you possibly can, you are going to have to push yourself as hard as you can when exercising. Sucking wind should be part of your routine.
If it is not hard, it is not helping.
…except to see all those not as fit people eating your dust.
With little media coverage (mainly because people didn’t want to hear it) The New England Journal of Medicine published a study in 2002 that said “…the peak estimated exercise capacity achieved during the test (graded exercise treadmill) was the strongest predictor of the risk of death among patients with cardiovascular disease and among patients without cardiovascular disease.” It also said that “Greater fitness results in longer survival.”
To say the findings in layman terms, this study showed that it is not how often or how long you exercise but how hard you exercise that determines longevity.
Those that can exercise the hardest live the longest.
Your friend and trainer,
Paul F. Sweatt
Wellesley’s Best Personal Trainer
P.S. If you don’t have any sort of medical conditions and you find gardening or walking challenging, you are out of shape. It is that simple.
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