I am so tired of hearing that Mississippians are the fattest
and most out-of-shape in the country! Since my return to running three years
ago, I have seen an increasing number of people out on the road just like me.
They are walking dogs, bicycling, running, walking fast, etc. I am thrilled not
to be alone.
One woman in Como who walks every morning has lost over
70lbs and one day I expect to see her break into a jog. Maybe, it is because of
the bad publicity that we are out there, but we are getting out there. Give us
some credit America!
The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can
Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer by Gretchen Reynolds is ready to
help. She wrote the book to inspire us to work smarter no longer and she
provides the science to back her words.
In the first chapter Reynolds retells an experiment to prove
her point. National Institute of Health and Nutrition, located in Japan,
subjected two different groups of rats to a swimming test. Rats are not diverse
swimmers. They basically do a dog paddle move until reaching land.
The first group endured three hours in the water swimming.
The experimenters took them out for a 45 minute rest then exposed them to the
water for three more hours. Afterwards their little feet and legs were
dissected the muscle fibers showed an increase in endurance and fitness.
The next set of rats was subjected to the water, but this
time they had to support 14% more of their weight. These little bodybuilders
swam in short intervals of 20 seconds and rested for 10 seconds. The whole
experiment for them took four-and-a-half minutes.
The shorter but heavier rats yielded the same aerobic and
muscular growth as the seven hour rats. Reynolds provides other examples, but
this one is very direct. Interval training works whether one is lifting
weights, running, walking, bicycling, or forced to do a swimming test in water.
She sums up her call to the masses with this paragraph in
the introduction: “We don’t, after all, have to be athletes to want to know how
best to move. We need only to listen to the voice bred deep into our blood and
bones that says, ‘Hey, let’s go for a walk.’ The body wants to move. Go with
it.”
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