Guest Post: An Achievable Goal or a Mid-life Crisis?

Believe it or not, this is the very first guest post I've ever featured on Fitbomb -- and it's a good one.

The author of this piece is Tim Huntley of My Athletic Life, one of my favorite fitness blogs to hit the scene in quite some time. It's chock-full of rich, informative articles, interviews, and even recipes. The meaty content on My Athletic Life speaks to dedicated athletes, trainers, coaches, and weekend warriors alike. If you haven't yet checked out Tim's site, do yourself a favor and head on over there after you read his post.

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“If you can fill the unforgiving minute, with sixty seconds' worth of distance run, yours is the earth and everything that's in it.” - Rudyard Kipling

For the first 43 years of my life, I was a fairly sedentary person, with the possible exception of my time in college.  And I’m sure that I never had a goal related to fitness or athleticism until this past year.  As a kid, I grew up playing baseball, but I can’t say that it contributed much to my confidence as an athlete. It’s probably a poor reflection on me, but I have focused on things that I have an aptitude for and ignored activities that are challenging.

At the start of 2011, I did some soul searching and self-reflection.  My wife and I have twin 8 year old boys, and I definitely wanted to keep up with them for a long time.  And combined with my Dad’s “mild heart attack” the previous year, I needed to modify how I was living my life.  My diet was pretty good (Weston A. Price and Paleo) but it quickly became apparent that in spite of my self-doubts, I would need to invest in my own physical fitness.

Right or wrong, my approach was to come up with a very specific fitness goal, one that would require a substantial investment of effort over an extended period of time.

Beginning in early 2011, I made a list of 6-8 ideas – things like 100 pushups, 20 pull-ups, bench press my bodyweight 10 times, etc.  After seeking advice, I began to whittle down my list to a single goal so that I could focus my training.  Surprisingly, the one goal that I couldn’t seem to let go of, the one that seemed to light a spark was:

• Run a 400 meter dash in under sixty seconds before I turn 46 (January 2013)

I say “surprisingly” because at that moment, the following were all true:

• I hated to run long distances, but I was willing to sprint.
• My best time for the 400m was 1 minute 45 seconds – and after running it, I fell over in a heap.
• I didn’t personally know a single person my age that could run 400m in less than 60 seconds.

Go ahead, pass judgment.  I certainly did.

Real Men Go To Sleep

I have a ton of photos from the NorCal Regionals to edit and upload to the Interwebs, but:

1. I've been up since 3:50 a.m.,
2. The effects of my 36 ounces of morning coffee (not kidding) have finally started to wear off, and
3. I'm not particularly interested in getting fat, aging faster and drastically lowering my testosterone levels.

From WBEZ in Chicago (dammit, I want to be Ira Glass):

Losing sleep might sap men’s testosterone, according to new research by Chicago scientists. Men release most of their testosterone during sleep, so University of Chicago professor Eve Van Cauter wanted to see if less sleep meant less of the hormone.

She recruited volunteers and restricted their sleep to just five hours per night for eight days. At the end of that stretch, her team took blood samples to test for hormone levels. They found an average 15 percent drop in testosterone.

“And 15 percent is not an insignificant amount, since it is about the amount that occurs with normal aging by 10 to 15 years,” Van Cauten said.

So in one respect, a week of bad sleep is like aging a decade or more.

Hell to the no. The photos will have to wait. Sorry, folks.

This is a great reminder that sleeplessness is not a sign of virility. It is, in fact, the very opposite. So go to bed.

'Night, y'all.

69 Years Young

Who says you have to get old?

[Source]

Can Exercise Reverse Aging?

The video clip above (which Angelo Coppola just posted on the "Latest in Paleo" Facebook page) reminded me of Dr. Jeffry Life. Last year, both the New York Times Magazine and the Los Angeles Times wrote about Life's gospel of anti-aging.

Every year, Life gets a new set of beefcake photos taken. Now 71, he said he put on five pounds of muscle this past year by scheduling extra tae kwon do practices and cranking it up a notch in the weight room. He can bench-press 235 pounds and can do 10 pull-ups, “full extension.”

(That's not all: He also regularly undergoes testosterone and human growth hormone therapy -- something that "Life views as entirely appropriate, even necessary despite the medical evidence questioning both its effectiveness and safety.")

Still, the guy's clearly on the right track when it comes to the importance of exercise for those beyond retirement age. Consider, for example, that:

• Exercise makes you smarter. Older women who regularly weight-trained "saw an improvement in their performance on cognitive tests of memory and learning as well as in executive functions such as decision-making and conflict resolution" while those that didn't saw no such improvement. (Women who hit the weights just once a week "improved their scores in executive functioning by 12.65.")

• Elderly persons who exercised more than three times a week were found to be "half as likely to have developed dementia, compared with the people who reported no physical activity."

• Elderly women who regularly exercised four times a week for 18 months -- doing a variety of moves, including aerobics, balance moves and weight training -- "improved their bone mineral density by nearly 2%." Meanwhile, women who focused only on walking, muscle relaxation and breathing skills saw just a 0.33% increase in bone density -- and had a 66% higher risk of experiencing a fracture-causing fall.

• Research on mice suggests that premature aging can be halted -- and even reversed -- in virtually every tissue and organ in the bodies" of mice that exercised. (Yes, I know we're not rodents. I'm just sayin'.)

No excuses. If Art De Vany can pull his Land Rover around with a rope, you can do a few deadlifts.

The Perfect Holiday Gift for Wobbly Old People

Last year, I wrote that Nintendo's Wii Fit video game system won't do jack shit for most people's fitness. That remains true; after all, "only 22 of the 68 active video games tested resulted in moderately intense exercise, similar to brisk walking." (And as Mr. T has taught us, speed walkers are a disgrace to the man race, so "exercising" with the Wii Fit is almost certainly held in even lower esteem by B.A. Baracus.)

On the other hand, the New York Times points out that the Wii Fit is awesome for the AARP set.

A representative case study published last year found that an 89-year-old woman with a balance disorder and a history of falls significantly improved her scores on a series of balance tests after six sessions of Wii Bowling, an encouraging outcome given that, as the study authors point out, falls remain the leading cause of injury-related deaths in the elderly.

According to another study, older Wii Fit players "improved their balance scores significantly, lowering their supposed “Wii age” (a score assigned by the game system, based primarily on balance tests) by about eight years" while younger players "improved by only about one year."

Lesson: Don't let your kids con you into thinking that a Wii Fit can substitute for actual exercise -- but you might want to consider stuffing one under the tree for their grandparents.

You're Not Too Old for Intense Exercise

A fascinating read in this weekend's New York Times Magazine about aging and exercise:

[Muscle physiologist Tanja] Taivassalo first met [Olga] Kotelko at last year’s world outdoor masters track championships in Lahti, Finland, the pinnacle of the competitive season for older tracksters. Taivassalo went to watch her dad compete in the marathon. But she could hardly fail to notice the 91-year-old Canadian, bespandexed and elfin, who was knocking off world record after world record.

Amazing stuff. Intense exercise appears to be help Kotelko keep performing at a level that (much) younger peers can't.

67 Years Young

This guy rocks. The weighted sit-up / squat / push-up / burpee / overhead press thing he does at the end of the video looks awesome -- can't wait to try it.



(Source: Conditioning Research)

What's the Secret to Living to 100?

(This is not Faity Tuttle.)

The New York Times recently published an article suggesting that a cheery spirit is the reason why certain folks live longer. This, by the way, strikes me as spectacularly dumb.

Do optimists live longer than pessimists? Yes, studies indicate. Dr. Hilary A. Tindle of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, found that among 97,000 women followed for eight years, those deemed optimistic were significantly less likely to die from heart disease and all causes than were pessimistic women, whom she described as “cynically hostile.”

The optimists were also less likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol, suggesting they take better care of their health. Indeed, the pessimists were more likely to be overweight, smoke cigarettes and avoid exercise, indicating, Dr. Tindle says, that negative thinkers make poorer lifestyle choices than positive thinkers.

But can’t we turn this on its head and say that people who make "poorer lifestyle choices" end up being more pessimistic? I mean, isn’t it just as likely that these “negative thinkers” have good reason to be cranky and less-than-active – especially if they’re old, isolated, overweight and suffering from a bunch of diseases?

And shouldn’t we give greater credit to other factors that contribute to longevity, like diet (caloric restriction, anyone?) and advances in medical technology?

Interestingly, the Times article points to Manhattanite Esther “Faity” Tuttle as a shining example of a “positive thinker” who’s turning 100 next July.

Tuttle has “no high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes,” and busies herself with yoga, walking, cooking, corresponding, reading, and watching TV. But here’s the best part: Tuttle “has spurned dairy foods for most of her life” and “still follows the advice of a predecessor of Dr. Robert Atkins who told her to avoid dairy and follow a diet low in carbohydrates and rich in meats and fats.”

That's right: Faity Tuttle is rockin’ a paleo diet.*

*Sort of. Tuttle also eats some oatmeal and a "'very thin' slice of rye toast" each day.

Go to Bed

Seriously. You'll lose fat and live longer.

Sleep debt has a harmful impact on carbohydrate metabolism and endocrine function. The effects are similar to those seen in normal ageing and, therefore, sleep debt may increase the severity of age-related chronic disorders.

(Source: Whole Health Source)

Live to 100?

Good news if you're still in elementary school: Danish researchers believe that most people born in developed countries this century will live to be 100. In fact, the researchers claim,

since the 20th century, people in developed countries are living around three decades longer than in the past. Now some believe that this figure could go even higher. If improvements in health continues, "a majority of children born since the year 2000 will celebrate their hundredth birthday," states James Vaupel, of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, in Rostock, Germany.

Tips on how to live to 100 are summarized on the graphic above (click the image to enlarge), though I have to take issue with the advice to "Have a Baby Later in Life." The writer appears to have confused correlation with causation; while it may be true that "those who have babies later in life are almost 15% less likely to die during any age after 50 than those who had babies before age 40," this is likely due to the fact that women who choose to have children later in life are disproportionately wealthier and more educated -- and therefore more likely to be able to afford and enjoy the benefits of healthier lifestyles and better healthcare. There's no evidence to support the "surprising tip" that waiting to have a kid until after age 40 directly causes you to live longer.

(Source: Executive Healthcare)

Senior Citizens: Exercise!

I linked to a New York Times Magazine article last week about efforts to prolong optimum health through diet and exercise, as well as through (controversial) medical treatments. One of the folks profiled in the piece was Dr. Jeffry Life:

Life’s message is that if a fat, 59-year-old, divorced family physician from eastern Pennsylvania can reinvent himself through a combination of lifestyle alterations and modern pharmacology, so can you. (By the way, that makeover didn’t include his name. He was born Jeffry Life.) In June 2003, Life signed up as a patient with Cenegenics and a year later joined the corporate team, which now includes 40 staff physicians in Las Vegas and in branches in eight other cities, with five more scheduled to open soon.

Every year, Life gets a new set of beefcake photos taken. Now 71, he said he put on five pounds of muscle this past year by scheduling extra tae kwon do practices and cranking it up a notch in the weight room. He can bench-press 235 pounds and can do 10 pull-ups, “full extension.”

Here he is, all beefcakey:

A recent feature article about Dr. Life and his health quest captures his reaction to widespread disbelief that a septuagenarian could look this buff:

"Yeah, I read on the Internet that people think it's digitally enhanced," says the soft-spoken Life (which really is his name, translated from the German by his immigrant great-grandfather) with a laugh. But the body is real -- built by a relentless, six-day-a-week exercise regimen that includes hard cardio, heavy weights pushed to the max, martial arts, Pilates, a strict low-glycemic carb diet and lots of supplements.

In addition, he regularly undergoes testosterone and human growth hormone therapy -- something that "Life views as entirely appropriate, even necessary despite the medical evidence questioning both its effectiveness and safety."

If you're in the AARP set, you might not want to go balls-out with testosterone replacement or HGH injections, but Life's clearly on the right track when it comes to exercise. As Time Magazine reports:

[A] series of independently conducted studies on the effects of exercise in healthy older adults, published on Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, confirms that logging time at the gym not only helps maintain good health but may even prevent the onset of chronic diseases, such as heart disease, osteoarthritis and dementia.

Specifically:

• Exercise makes you smarter. Older women who regularly weight-trained "saw an improvement in their performance on cognitive tests of memory and learning as well as in executive functions such as decision-making and conflict resolution" while those that didn't saw no such improvement. (Women who hit the weights just once a week "improved their scores in executive functioning by 12.65.")
• Elderly persons who exercised more than three times a week were found to be "half as likely to have developed dementia, compared with the people who reported no physical activity."
• Jogging a little is good, but jogging a lot is better: "Compared with women who jogged for 20 minutes a week, those who jogged three hours a week or walked briskly for five hours a week were 76% more likely to age successfully, free of chronic illnesses such as cancer and heart disease, as well as mental and physical impairment."
• Elderly women who regularly exercised four times a week for 18 months -- doing a variety of moves, including aerobics, balance moves and weight training -- "improved their bone mineral density by nearly 2%." Meanwhile, women who focused only on walking, muscle relaxation and breathing skills saw just a 0.33% increase in bone density -- and had a 66% higher risk of experiencing a fracture-causing fall.

The upshot: It's time to turn off the "Murder She Wrote" reruns and crank out some push-ups.

Fountain of Youth?

Check out this engrossing piece in the New York Times Magazine about efforts to "counter the corrosive effects of aging":

Some antiaging proponents make seductive promises about prolonging longevity. Comite steers clear of that camp. Her interest lies in extending the length of “health span,” as opposed to life span. Does the body have to slide inexorably downhill after 40? She says she is convinced that metabolism modulation can help stave off stroke, heart disease and diabetes; can flatten the trajectory of corporeal decline. Ideally, age-management-medicine patients will keep humming along nicely, then crash like a spent computer. As Comite puts it, “Can we maintain optimal health until one day when we just don’t wake up?”