FRIDAY FIT TIP!
How easy is it exactly to reap the health benefits of exercise?
****SPOILER ALERT****
Much easier than we all think!
New research published by the American Heart Association journal surprised me with statistics of how easy it is to achieve the health benefits of exercise.
They studied the differences between running and walking in relation to the health benefits. They had over 45,000 participants. 33,000 registered in the national runners registry and 15,000 from the national walkers registry. The ages were between 18 all the way up to 80.
In a brief summary here is what they found:
Running significantly reduced the risk for being diagnosed with hypertension by 4.2% while walking reduced the risk by 7.2%
Running reduced the chances of having high cholesterol by 4.3% and walking by 7%
Running lowered risk of diabetes by 12.1% while walking dropped the risk by 12.3%
Running reduced coronary heart disease risk by 4.5% compared to 9.3% for walking.
The results are startling, it appears that walking can give you the same amount if not more of the benefits of exercise. Now let's discuss the results.
Some limitations I see, first I can see adherence to lifelong walking being much higher than the runners. Maybe the runners run for 2 or 3 months then "get too busy," the classic excuse, and take a hiatus. Also, I can see someone being much more likely to walk for 30-60 min a day whereas a runner may be content to 20-30.
No matter which way you slice it. There is always benefit from some exercise. Although if you are wanting to loose weight, running will trump walking on an calorie expenditure scale, walking has it's place in our day to day lives. If you are new to exercise or want a simple easy to follow way to be healthier I think that walking is a good place to start.
As always if you would like some help getting started on a walking program. Feel free to email me questions.
Strength Challenge UPDATE #7
Being on the last leg of my strength challenge, I am starting to feel the effects of fatigue. This could be because I increased my endurance volume, it could be that I keep increasing weights and I am getting closer to the plateau threshold. None-the-less with my test day just 5 days away, I started to taper a little volume off my lifting.
Here is my training week as a whole:
Sunday: Rest
Monday: Lift+ Spin :30 short sprint intervals (35min)
Tuesday: 28 mile road ride. 1:18 total time
Wednesday: Swim 5x200 yrds Spin: power climb + tempo sets (35min)
Thursday: Run 20 min @ 10k pace +lift
Friday: Swim 2x500yrd at pace Spin tempo+speed work (30min)
Saturday: Ride mountain bike 1:00
Total time working out: 6:20 min (estimate) with warming up and rest time.
Here is the latest weights workout. I moved down to four lifts still at five sets of 8.
Deadlift: 275, 285, 290, 295, 275 Last set I wanted to hit 300 but I knew it wouldn't happen dropped down instead.
Smith Bench press: (slow reps) 5x8 @155 dropped to 135 last set
Smith Bent row: (slow reps) 5x8 @155 dropped to 135 last set
Dumbbell pullover: 4x8 @60,60, 65,65
workout duration: 26:00
Be fit, happy, and well.
Andrew
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