Maggie's Farm

I use Creatine - when I remember.

Creatine is having a moment. Three decades after it first emerged as a safe and effective ergogenic supplement for strength and power athletes, research now suggests that it may offer cognitive benefits as well.

I took a Gross Anatomy class long ago. We did not just have to learn every muscle, tendon, and bone in the hand and foot because our Prof was more interested in how they function as systems, smoothly in unison.

One of the first things he taught, before we began cutting up human bodies, was that we higher apes were designed to be quadripeds, not bipeds. The adaptation to bipedalism came with great advantages but with disadvantages too. Like joint arthritis.

The thing is that to stay erect much of the day, instead of momentarily like other apes, we need extra anti-gravity systems - including balance. That's "the core." Well, many people sit most of the day and that's not so good.

So let's accept that all of our body needs difficult movement to remain functional, but the core is the core. Foundational.

What is core?  It is primarily the "posterior chain", from glutes to upper back. Secondarily, to counterbalance that, the abdominal groups of muscles. 

While there are plenty of posterior chain exercises, the mighty mighty deadlift done right is the best single thing for the entire core, posterior and abdominals. Some might argue that sit-ups, crunches, and the like are useful but I view them as accessory core exercises.

This gal's technique is not quite right - knees way too close and back too arched, but I give her credit for being there: 

Kettlebells are a thing with a Russian history.  It was made for weighing produce.

I use them for swings, farmer's walks, and squats. For squats because my shoulder does not like barbell squats these days.

Although we always get comments and pushback on this topic, I am convinced that strength training and endurance training are different animals. Both necessary for fitness and general functionality, but different. There are plenty of people who are great with the barbells but who cannot run 10 miles, or even keep up a sprint for a mile.

OK, OK, I know all of the arguments. The Maggie's fitness formula includes lots of everything for good reasons. Balance, agility, explosive power, strength, endurance, nutrition and proper weight, etc.

Endurance (say, jogging 5 or ten miles, or hiking 10+ miles with a pack), is about your Slow-twitch muscle fibers and the number of mitochondria they contain. These can be trained, but not with heavy weights: it is more about the slog.

 MUSCLE FIBER TYPES

I see mountain hikers in training. They put on a weight vest and jump on the Stairmaster for an hour or two. At higher speeds, I would consider that cardio plus calisthenics plus leg strength. No need to do that for most people under 40, but sometimes we all have to connect with our inner masochist if we want to improve. 

I have an elderly friend who takes his daily 3-mile walk with a backpack filled with old textbooks.  

From the Harvard Health site:

 How to Lose Weight without Losing Muscle

If you’re trying to
lose weight by cutting calories, you’re likely losing muscle, too. But
strength training can counteract this effect. According to a research
review in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, on
average, 27% of the weight lost by dieting is muscle. Those who combined
dieting with cardio exercise cut muscle loss in half. But when
participants combined dieting and resistance training (strength
training), all of the pounds lost were fat. What’s more, the more muscle
you have and the stronger your muscles are—the more benefits you’ll get
beyond weight loss. You’ll develop a slimmer, firmer figure and have
the energy to be more active. And, you’ll get more from cardio workouts
because you’ll be able to go faster and last longer.

We do not believe that fitness can extend life very much. Fitness is mainly for vitality.

Calisthenics are the best thing for maintaining fitness. If you hate weights too much (weights are for building muscle) or find all "cardio" boring, a daily hour or less of calisthenic workouts might be for you.

They entail enough cardio if you take few breaks between exercises to keep your heart rate up, and at least help maintain muscle strength.

If you take the classes at a gym (recommended) you will do circuits of around 10-12 exercises for 50 minutes depending on rests. Good stuff. If on your own in a gym, it is more feasible to do circuits as below. That's what I do on my calis days.

A sample of my routines below the fold - if you can do all of these circuits in 50 minutes, that's amazing. I can not:

It's a real thing appearing 12-72 hours after a heavy or new heavy exercise.

It's referred to as DOMS.

I've had it a few times, always when advancing either deadlifts or barbell squats. Soreness and stiffness that make you feel old and feeble for a few days. It is not about bad technique, because it's always been with supervision of a trainer or a PT for me.

It's not a bad thing, but short-term it is.

With exertion, the bad thing is rhabdomyolysis. 

We all know this: "I Keep Exercising but I’m Not Losing Weight"

Yeah, we've been over this topic many times. I'm a fan of lifting, HIIT cardio, calisthenics - everything for fitness and functionality. But for losing extra fat, food volume is the main deal for most people.

Lucky to live in a place where food volume is no problem for anybody.

Cause or effect? Is muscle mass a key to longevity?

I exercise for functionality, not longevity. Excess of longevity can be terrible.

Is it a useful thing?

Maybe sorta kinda. I know that for me, after a weights day, it feels good just to walk for 15 minutes.

My foot doc told me that barefoot shoes are terrible for everything. I asked Perplexity.

Oh, you have to make your own query - they don't share.

Short, intense bursts of exercise lower women's cardiovascular disease risk by almost half

Our readers already know this: Protecting Your Muscle Mass Is Vital For Healthy Aging – Here's Why

My view is that it can't hurt, especially if you work out hard. I take a scoop every morning. Might be placebo effect.

How does creatine work?

Interesting, but probably not important. Does Exercise Intensity Modulate Ghrelin?

I have noticed that, but I never have much appetite anyway. I have weaknesses, but gluttony is not one of them. 

Eccentric movement is the more seemingly passive component in resistance exercise. It's the reason a trainer will not you to want you to drop a barbell after a lift, or why a trainer will advise you to do, say, curls, 2 seconds up, 4 seconds down.

Depending on your fitness goals, it might be a good idea to pay attention to it. An academic article:  Physiological and Neural Adaptations to Eccentric Exercise: Mechanisms and Considerations for Training.

 For strength-building or maintenance, a little damage to muscle fibers is a good thing.

I like to term it "the mighty, mighty deadlift" for lots of reasons.

I have been doing Romanian Deadlifts for the last few months, just for a change.

Squats, Deads, and Romanian Deadlifts - all good.

I am a fan of group workouts, with everybody working at his or her level. Well, not "at" but pushing it. I enjoyed a 6 AM group at a gym for three years but moved to a garage gym with no classes to stay with my personal trainer.

From the article, it sounds like Crossfit: How Aussie “Squad Training” Became the Hottest Thing in Fitness. The Athletic Clubs trades in affability, accountability and overly-active WhatsApp groups

High-intensity interval training boosts cognitive function, with effects lasting up to five years

I am skeptical about that claim. HIIT is intended for cardiac fitness and, secondarily, for endurance. I do it once or twice weekly, and I still lost my cell phone twice on vacation.

When you get out of routine, things happen.

I call it the Costco Walk. Even though it is not a body-weight exertion, I put it into my calisthenic days. Nothing is simpler or more basic.

It is a functional total body stressor, especially as your kettlebells or dumbells get heavier.  If you get to a weight where your grip fails due to grip strength or sweat, you can use a towel around the weight. Maintain posture. It's sort of fun to walk until failure.

 Farmer's Walk: Benefits, Techniques, and Muscles Worked

Of course it's good to walk a lot. Swimming is good too. If general mobility is your goal, that's good.

Despite the article, I've never heard of anybody who lost fat by doing either of those things. Well, maybe if you decide to give a month to hiking the Appalachian trail you will lose fat. 

I sort of admire, or envy, people who do not think about their fitness.  

 How Fit Can You Get From Just Walking? Walking is good for you, obviously. But can it whip you into shape?

Nope. Unless feeble, walks are recreation and not "exercise." 

Besides both exercises being upper-body, I link them because they share the same gym machine. 

To get the benefits of enough reps, many people (me) need the machine support for 10-15 reps/set. Fit guys and slender gals don't need it, but many of us do.

Dips, depending on form, can be either mostly tripceps or a chest+triceps exercise. 

Triceps are the major arm muscle, but to balance tricep stresses it's always good to do some curls or bench presses for balance. 

Dips are good, but pull-ups are one of the basic measures of physical fitness. In my first week of secondary school, we were all tested for our pullups, pushups, and running sprints - 100-yard dash. 

(It's funny/sad to recall, but we were all also tested on our singing ability, math ability, and public speaking ability. Whew. As a 13 year-old nature-boy nerd, I guess, all was deeply humbling. Humbling is good for the soul, mostly.)