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Monday, June 21, 2021

The Case for Resistance Training (Live longer, look better!)

Forget Cardio!

 


The truth is definitely in: the whole fiasco of Ken Cooper’s Aerobics mania is dead.  Along with the high fat diet is the worst,  and the even earlier notion of  ‘better living through chemistry’ which promoted the noxious idea that drugs could not only prolong our lives, but improve them.


Despite Elvis and all the other following celebrities who were convinced that those ‘god-like’ prescription drugs could only make their lives better- after all, hadn’t science invented all of technology like cars and airplanes and tv- shouldn’t our biology also be improved upon by science and technology?


Well, no.  As the whole Paleo Diet and lifestyle revolution showed us, basically we are unchanged since our paleolithic past, biologically.  Evolution is very, very slow, just as it is unforgiving of bad missteps.  (We are currently devolving intellectually in the Western world, sadly, because of bad ideas about immigration and multiculturalism, that are lowering our average IQ and diluting the obvious strengths of our culture.  But that is for another podcast.)


And so, by switching to a high-grain and vegetable, low fat and less animal based diet, we severely impacted our health and vigor to the negative!  Just as we did when we succumbed (as most do today) to the idea that more drugs and medication are better.  (They most definitely are not better.)


The NORM should be that a human being should be taking no drugs whatsoever, whatever the age.  Drugs, whether prescription or illegal, can only make our overall health worse, not better!  Our bodies are amazing things, and will inevitably thrive if we do certain evolutionary, and common sense time-honored things:


Live in harmony with the natural world.  Get out in the woods and fields, barefoot, and move in nature.  Breathe pollen and fresh air, drink pure water from springs and wells.  (Not chlorinated/fluoridated pool water as most cities provide).  Stretch and move your joints through a full range of motion daily.


And do strength types of training on a regular basis, not cardio/aerobics!


Since the Aerobics boom in the 70’s and beyond, we expected to see a fit, vibrant group of practitioners flourish all about us, inspiring us to emulate their wonderful health achievements!  Yet, despite them training for and running marathons, half-marathons, and many other iterations of long distance running, the results we see no are just destroyed hips, knees, feet, and backs from meaningless pounding and jarring.  

Also, the endless low intensity work just encouraged the body to shed vital muscle tissue, and even impacted the organs as the body interpreted the conditions of evolution to be such that getting rid of tissue at any cost was a necessity, now that the body was being pushed to carry itself for endless miles, day after day, without letup!  Also, calorie consuming was vital, since it took energy to endlessly run, so eating bad processed carbs and grains seemed to make sense to this aerobically abused body.


And so, people were encouraged to push their bodies like this, at a long, tortuous low-level exertion, day after day, forever.  I believe that this forced the body, over time, to succumb to cancer, since the immune system cannot function while being so endlessly insulted and taxed!  

And when these folks stopped running, because of endless injuries and immune diseases that also proliferated in their bodies because of this constant depletion of resources, without necessary rest and recuperation- why, they just got fat!


Depleted of muscle because of endless aerobic demands, these aerobicized bodies were now just damaged skinny-fat people, stiff and weak and not fit at all!

How sad.  All that hard work left them damaged, diseased, and less fit.


I admit, to some extent back in the 1970’s, I fell for this myself.  Along with bell bottoms, I ran down my country road for a few miles several times per week.  But somehow, instinctively I always knew that strength counted for more than endless mileage being racked up by the human body.  So, strength training took precedence.  

And, as it turns out, strength training is indeed paramount.  Especially as we age, muscle tissue is crucial not only for lifting and moving things (like our own body!), but also for maintaining our sense of balance, and preserving our overall health and sense of independence!  In addition, muscle burns calories, not when we are mindlessly and endlessly racking up mileage on the roadways and sidewalks, but when we are simply existing- sitting, sleeping, walking, and eating- our muscles are constantly burning calories.


And so, my takeaway is this: Do strength training daily, or nearly so.  Stretch daily as well, and confine your ‘aerobic/cardio’ to barefoot walks in the woods and yards and beaches, and bouncing on your rebounder, which simultaneously energizes and cleanses your lymph system while training your balance mechanisms.  

And remember this, too- if you strength train properly, it is more aerobic than running.  While it builds muscle, it also works your cardio system, and does not destroy your body in any way.


So there you have it.  Do Perfectly Paleo Exercise!  And avoid drugs of all kinds, while eating a paleo diet that is animal based, with adjuncts from plants kept at a minimum.  Oh- and get out in nature every day, and avoid big cities, pollution, and our ever-growing criminal populations.  (You will need a gun for that, also.)


That’s it, you are now a modern, enlightened Paleo person who will carve out a future for healthy people on our planet.  You and your family- I thank you!