E-Mail 'Rule 1 for Survival: Fitness - Part 2, by John H.' To A Friend

12 Comments

1. Thank you. This is a well written article. It’s nice to hear people talking about the different muscle types as well.

2. Great article(s). I agree fitness is an important part of any lifestyle, and certainly preparedness. I have a similar early routine (including xc ski/cycling trainer in the early AM). As an arborist, my job demands a lot physically- climbing rope, ‘deadlifting’ logs which aids core strength and stability. I focus more on cardio for my off-work training.

   I think we overlook the benefit of outdoor, physical jobs. Not everyone has the luxury of choosing this kind of employment, of course, but my (anecdotal) evidence suggests that people so employed, if they can maintain (in parallel) good nutrition, strength and conditioning training, and otherwise healthy life choices, will often fare better in the long term. We forget how critically important it is to move!

3. Dr. Joel Fuhrman relates an interesting theory never taught to us. The reason Americans look like they do is diet and exercise. WoW!
   Interesting note on the diet part is ~ our nutritional intake is what triggers “feeling full”. The “Amount” of food that pleases the palette and usually having No nutritional value lends only to stretch one’s britches. Always hungry.…

4. If you are like the majority of smart phone owners, the health Icon on your phone has largely been ignored . I had an awakening or sorts.. One day I clicked on it and found a step counter and was shocked that the phone, unbeknownst to me has been counting my steps.. short story shorter, I went from a 38 inch waist to a 34 inch waist. I cut out all forms of sugar except what comes in the form of fruit, cut out all bread, even whole grain, and lost 35 lbs in a matter of a couple of months. All i did was pay attention to what I ate, and the step counter and miraculously I shrank. some days my step counter says I took 7k steps, other days It says I took 12k steps.. I was 250 lbs when I clicked on the little red heart icon on my I phone, today I am 203, Im 5’10” Simple and uncomplicated.

   1. Larry, this is the best gem of information I have received all week! Wow! I had no idea that my phone had this capability!

      Thanks so much for sharing this. I will start using the pedometer function. I feel silly that I never knew about this!

5. John- how much time is your work out including any warm up and cool down and/or stretching?

   1. I have found that stretching every morning – about twenty or thirty minutes – is really helpful for me. I then stretch briefly, a few minutes, after workout.

      A foam roller is always helpful as well.

      Any stretching is helpful. When I trained during college, I stretched less, but I always had leg and back issues.

6. You are making many important points, brother. Gear is useful only if you can lift and use it.

   I had a complete heart workup last summer after going to the ER with “symptoms”. Part of my testing was a treadmill stress test for a v02 max. I was told that my target max was 122. Wow, was it tough. And, I maxed out at 139. High five. My chart described me as “athletically fit”.

   I attribute that to bicycling for errands and meetings instead of driving. That mode requires endurance and sprinting, both.

   I hope this finds every reader reenergized to choose fitness.

   Carry on

   1. Once a Marine-

      You just hit on another important point. We can exercise and eat okay but without routine diagnostic medical testing we don’t know how healthy we really are. I didn’t yearly physicals until about 4 years ago when I ended up in the ER in the middle of the night. I thought I was reasonably healthy -and for the most part I was/am. My issue would NOT have been detected by any medical test. (Lucky me!) But now I get 2 physicals a year. One by my primary care doc and one by the VA doc. One in the spring the other in the Fall. I just got a shingles Vaccine last week.

      Any medical types got an opinion as to the vaccines we should have anything we should look out for as we get older? Any test we should have. After being in the military I’m pretty sure I got every vaccine know to man. Felt like a human pin cushion more than once.

7. You lost me with “eat less red meat and junk food”. This is just not true. Sounds good. Sounds like something your mother would say. But the science just isn’t there.

8. First, although I think your recomendations might be good, there are better ways of doing habits. Doing a 5k walk that gets faster is better than doing a short run that exhausts you quickly. Cleaning out heavy things – including for your neighbors or church is better exercise than weights. You need to figure out how to lock in a habit for both long walk/jog/runs, and weights, but what you will do is better than what you can aspire to while the equipment sits there.

   Keto is not a fad. Many top athletes do paleo (including and especially red meat). See DietDoctor.com for a series of articles. Including intermittent fasting. But they also say to avoid ALL grains.

   Your suggestions are just another “fad” diet by your own definitions.

   It also may vary based on heritage. Northern Europeans tend to be able to handle alcohol, milk, and meat better since they had to find something with calories during the winter before agriculture, while Italy and Iberia had year round food. Japanese have eaten rice for thousands of years, Europeans not so.

   So I would avoid generalization. Find what works for you. But we eat too much unnatural, processed, low nutrient density, sugary and starchy food. Eat REAL Food as a start. One doctor says not to eat fats and carbs at the same meal. But again, I say find what workd FOR YOU.

9. I am pleased as punch that I have had great success with the Keto fad diet! Over the course of approximately 10 years I gained more and more weight. Over the years I tried numerous diets and forms of exercise with no success. Last April I had surgery which required a six-week recovery, off my feet. I begged the Lord to help me with my weight and He led me to keto. During the 6 weeks of recovery I read everything I could about keto and implemented ‘the diet’. In 7 months I was down almost 50 pounds. I have maintained the weight loss by eating FAT, MEAT, and VEGETABLES. In December I started walking about 3 miles a day, Monday through Friday. My joint pain has decreased and my self esteem has increased! I had lab work done in January and it couldn’t be better. I plan to eat keto for the rest of my life!

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