I like to relate my attitude toward exercise to the story of the man who is seen hitting himself in the head with a 2×4. When asked why he is doing this, he responds: “Because it feels so good when I stop.” Yes, I am an exercise physiologist who doesn’t enjoy exercise. I used to think (tongue-in-cheek, of course) that people who claimed to enjoy exercise were either not working hard enough or had a screw loose. Researching for a course I am teaching and reading The Sports Gene, it appears I need to reconsider.
My preparation reminded me of James “Iron Cowboy” Lawrence, who recently completed fifty Ironman distances in fifty states in fifty days. If you don’t know, an Ironman race includes a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride, and a marathon 26.2 mile run. In total, he swam 120 miles, biked 5,600 miles, and ran 1,311 miles. That is a total of 7,031 miles. For comparison, the distance from New York City to Portland, Oregon is 2,896 miles. So, the Iron Cowboy traveled the distance from NYC to Portland and back and nearly to Omaha, Nebraska!!! Unbelievable, indeed.
So, what this tells us is that we tolerate exercise differently and vary in our motivation (or lack thereof) to exercise. Interestingly, research has demonstrated that work ethic may be, in part, genetic. For some, in fact, exercise may border on addiction. Others, of course, prefer to be couch potatoes. Most of us are somewhere in-between.
So, whether you struggle to find the time to exercise or to make the time to exercise, exercise! Your health doesn’t require 7,031 miles in 50 days. Just do as much activity as you can, when you can, and as well as you can. Remember that Kenneth Cooper, the “father of aerobics”, said that “if you run more than 15 miles a week, it’s for something other than aerobic fitness.”
“Exercise is medicine” is a campaign by the American College of Sports Medicine. For most it means that exercise is the prevention/treatment for hypokinetic diseases like obesity and diabetes. For others, it is the “drug” of their addiction.
What this also says is that we recover at quite individual rates. Thus, for some, long frequent exercise will melt you like a Popsicle in August while others are just warming up.
James Lawrence is an unusual specimen. He has the drive and the stamina to push through the pain and endure a tremendous amount of physical effort. He has also developed the recoverability necessary to do something as amazing as run the 50-50-50. It is interesting that he noted that for the half or so of his fifty Ironman distances in fifty days his body adjusted to the stress and the pain of the exercise. In the later half or so of the fifty Iron man distances, his performances actually improved. In other words, he was adapting to the overload—he was able to recover from an incredible amount of work in a short time (traveling from state to state on top of completing his swimming, biking, and running—and consuming the necessary calories—left less than “optimal” time for sleep).
The concept of “maximal recoverable volume”, then, is not only individualized, but seemingly fluid. Thus, there are no charts or specifics to follow. One just needs to know and understand his or her body.
Obviously, the Iron Cowboys of the world are quite rare. Most of us are lucky if we can get out of bed and do some sort of effective exercise. For these, motivation is the greatest challenge. Or others, the motivation is there, but there is just not the time to do everything we might want to do. Wherever you find yourself on the exerciser continuum make yourself exercise—at least minimally. Do what you enjoy, and do it “reasonably” often.
Exercise can be fun. If not? Well, that is no excuse. Do what you need to be healthy and enjoy the rest of your time.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!