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Tuesday, December 31. 2013

Exercise: It's not the time spent, it's the intensity

For Fitness, Intensity Matters


Almost everybody wants to stay strong, fit, attractive, and ready for life. Avoiding carbs can keep you shapely, but it won't keep you fit. Walking is fine for the elderly for whom a long walk can constitute "exertion," but, otherwise, keeping one's muscles alive doesn't need to take very much time if done right.


The government should provide all of us sedentary cubicle-monkeys and couch-sitters with trainers for a half-hour daily, just as North Korea does. Daily government monitoring of our life-styles via in-home NSA-supplied video systems would be a good start. We all need more free services and more help from our moral and intellectual superiors.

Posted by The News Junkie in Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 11:31 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

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Under Obamacare, you may get your wish and it'd be mandatory PE for everyone as a condition of not having your deductions increased to the point you effectively have no coverage at all.
And of course a mandatory Michelle approved diet of lots of processed grains and soggy veggies with very little meat and other proteins and fats would be a part of that.

With regular checks on your place of living to make sure you're not cheating, restaurants barred from taking cash payments and being required by law to hand over their payment histories to the Obamacare administration (easy to link credit card or bank card to a person...), etc. etc.
#1 J.T. Wenting on 2013-12-31 12:14 (Reply)
Since I have seen a number of varying studies on this issue, I will have to disagree. Walking vs. running...if you are going the same distance you are burning the same number of calories. And are you saying long walks do not build muscle mass or impact health at all?

I also often wonder about the number of people who are intense exercisers who end up with joint problems, arthritis at a younger age, etc. Which makes certain types of exercise pretty difficult to keep up with when you get older.

Sure, there are people who don't have these problems...but wondering on the ratios out of curiosity. I am prone to arthritis, I have found out as time goes on. I am horrible at running and have always disliked it, even though I was forced to run in the military for six years. I was ecstatic when I no longer had to run! 15 years later, I have arthritis in my foot, which means I couldn't run even if I wanted to. I also have arthritis in my wrist...so no more pushups for me. And I am only in my 40s. Could you imagine if I'd been a runner who ran miles every week? I'd be a crumpled up mess!

My only options at this point are low-impact exercises like walking and swimming (and I have no easy or cheap access to a pool, so that is out). I can also ski and snowshoe in the winter without problems.
#2 MissT on 2013-12-31 14:51 (Reply)
Fitness is just a case of doing it. Get to the gym, or wherever, and get going; no magic bullets, no 30 day miracles. If you don't find a reason you'll find an excuse. For me weight training is the ONLY thing that gets me fit and keeps me from getting fat.
#3 M@rk on 2013-12-31 21:22 (Reply)

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