John Kelly's blog

Several years ago I was working out a doctor who described to me the phenomenon of creep. As we get older our physical abilities diminish. Each year we have a little less strength, stamina, flexibility, and ability to withstand trauma and infection.

Slowly the parameters of our world of physical abilities creep in on us. I researched the phenomena of creep and found nothing that was similar to what the doctor described. I think the phenomenon was one the doctor himself coined. Nonetheless, it is very real. We lose a few seconds off our personal records, a few ounce of muscle, and a little range of motion each year. This process will occur more quickly if we are not active. When we exercise we are placing demands on the body that send a message to the body that the muscle, flexibility and stamina are needed for survival. As an act self-protection the body will do what it can do accommodate those demands.

You join the local health club with high hopes that this is going to be the year you get in the best shape of your life. You sign for a year to get the special rate, and the automatic bank draft begins. You faithfully go each week for the first couple of weeks or maybe even the first couple of months. Eventually your attendance becomes sporadic. You miss a couple of weeks and then you miss a couple of months. Eventually you return with the intention of really buckling down. For most that never happens.

Finally you admit defeat so you try to cancel, and that becomes a hassle and expensive because there is a processing fee. You realize that there are just a few months left, and you rationalize that it is not worth the hassle of trying to terminate the contract. You ride it out cringing when you look at your monthly credit card bill and see the card charged for the service you did not use.

That’s what my barber told me. He said,” I just don’t understand it”. He has little free time and hates to exercise, but he does strength train once a week. He said, “It is the perfect workout for me; once or twice a week works”.

In order to achieve results strength training you must work the muscles intensely. Muscles adapt and become stronger as a form of self-protection when they are exposed to more demanding work than they are equipped to handle. Demanding work, work intensely, more than they are equipped to handle – who wants to do that? No wonder my barber said what he did, “I just don’t understand it”.

A solution: Instead of seeing how much strength training your body can withstand see what is the least of exercise that will produce the most results. Yes, it will be a difficult workout (You work up to it slowly.), but it will not take long and you need not do it that often.

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

By Francis P. Church, first published in The New York Sun in 1897. [See The People’s Almanac, pp. 1358–9.]

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Our bodies undergo many changes that can be reversed with proper strength training. Wearing glasses, dying one’s hair, or applying creams for age marks have their place, but nothing compares to the long list of benefits from high intensity interval training for strength:

1. Base Metabolic Rate (metabolism) decreases. Those who are stronger can have the metabolism they had when they were twenty years younger. More muscle requires more calories.

Every January health clubs are crowded for what I call the two week resolution. By the end of the month the crowds are gone. The only thing that remains constant and enduring is the mandatory monthly payment for a gym membership not used.  You go there to lose weight, and the only thing lighter is your wallet.

Seven out of 10 American adults don't exercise regularly despite the proven health benefits, a study released Sunday says - Study: Most Americans don't exercise regularly. That sounds about right. The renewal rate for health club membership is 30 percent. Of those that rejoin a small minority use the club on a regular basis.

One can live well without requiring hours each week engaged in monotonous exercise. Significant strength increases occur exercising as little as once or twice a week IF it's the right exercise program with the right trainer.

Such a workout can be very demanding, but people or any age or fitness level can do this and benefit from it. Clients slowly build up to a level they can handle. It is an attractive alternative for those who often don't have time for exercise.

From this Wall Street Journal article GE's Bob Wright Stays Strong By Lifting Weights Very Slowly:

“Workouts typically consist of one set of six to 12 exercises with little rest between sets…. trainers find a weight load that renders muscle fatigue in 60 to 90 seconds, and take clients through a full-body workout in approximately 30 minutes”.

Just the words “dry, cracked skin” are enough to make people reach for an ointment or lotion. And as the weather turns colder, dry skin becomes a common problem for most people. From this Science News article, Skin Creams Can Make Skin Drier, something to consider: 

Many people have noticed that as soon as you start using a skin cream, you have to continue with it; if you stop lubricating, your skin becomes drier than when you started. And now there is research to confirm for the first time that normal skin can become drier from creams.

 AND THIS: 

Strength training can have a positive role in fat loss. If one goes on a diet with significant caloric restriction the body's response of self preservation is accomplished by lowering it basal metabolic rate. The body does this by catabolizing lean body mass. The weight loss will be both fat and muscle. If one strength trains the body receives the message that lean body tissue is vital to survive the demands placed on it. Rather than losing lean body mass the body preserves it and adds to it.

From Men's Health magazine article 5 Reasons You're Not Losing Weight:

From this article, Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism, this quote:

“The metabolic adaptations taking place in the skeletal muscle in response to the HIIT program appear to favor the process of lipid oxidation”.

And this:

“Despite its lower energy cost, the High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) program induced a more pronounced reduction in subcutaneous adiposity compared with the ET program. When corrected for the energy cost of training, the decrease in the sum of six subcutaneous skinfolds induced by the HIIT program was ninefold greater than by the endurance training (ET) program”

If you want to get the most for your minimal free time or if you hate to exercise HIIT will burn more calories for the time spent. Calories are burned four ways with this workout: