Tag Archives: Skyler Tanner

Does Strength Training Affect Aging?

Posted on February 11, 2013 | Comments Off on Does Strength Training Affect Aging?

Skyler Tanner is one of my favorite bloggers.  Watch his video for his answer.

Comments Off on Does Strength Training Affect Aging?

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , ,

How Much Exercise Is Enough?

Posted on January 10, 2013 | 4 comments

“I’m a minimalist when it comes to exercise. A really small, really intense dose is all that is needed for the vast majority of people to manifest all of the health benefits that exercise can provide. This does not mean that you can then get away with bed rest in the face of this concentrated dose of exercise, I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying that if a person is living a fairly “normal” life with a decent amount of non-exercise activity built into their day, not a lot of “exercise” is needed above that to maximize health markers.”

     –Skyler Tanner in a recent blog post (click for the rest)

4 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged ,

For Weight Loss, What’s More Important: Exercise or Food?

Posted on September 25, 2012 | Comments Off on For Weight Loss, What’s More Important: Exercise or Food?

This is NOT diet food

What you eat, and how much, are more important than your physical activity.  By far.

  • Your genetics largely determines your response to an exercise program
  • Physical activity isn’t a great way to lose weight
  • School-based or other programs to increase childhood physical activity probably won’t reverse childhood obesity statistics
  • Disregarding weight loss, exercise has other worthwhile metabolic advantages
  • Highly advanced societies shouldn’t blame our overweight problem on decreased levels of physical activity

Skyler Tanner slaughters some sacred cows in his blog post June 4, 2012. I pulled these bullet points from his post. Click on his embedded links for details.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Comments Off on For Weight Loss, What’s More Important: Exercise or Food?

Posted in Exercise, Weight Loss

Tagged , , , , ,

Should Exercise Be Fun?

Posted on March 27, 2012 | 3 comments

Exercise is not supposed to be fun. If it is, then you should suspect that something is wrong.

That quote is from an essay by Ken Hutchins posted at the Efficient Exercise website.

When I was a young man in my 30s, I was jogging 20 miles a week and ran a couple marathons (26.2 miles). I enjoyed it and didn’t do much else for exercise or overall fitness. I thought I was in pretty good shape. You can get away with that when you’re 35, but not when you’re 50. At 57 now, I can’t think of any single recreational activity that can help me maintain the overall strength, functionality, and injury resistance I want and need as I age.

I’ve come to view exercise as a chore, like flossing/brushing teeth, changing the oil in my car, and sleeping when I’d rather not. I’ve got my current exercise chore whittled down to an hour three times a week. OK, sometimes just twice a week.

Skyler Tanner takes a thoughtful and in-depth look at the exercise versus recreation dichotomy at his blog. If you have comments, more people will see them at his site than here.

Steve Parker, M.D.

3 Comments

Posted in Exercise

Tagged , , ,

Baseline Measurements Before Starting a Fitness Progam

Posted on March 11, 2012 | 11 comments

Impressive jump!

Before beginning or modifying a fitness program, it’s important to take some baseline physical measurements.  Re-measure periodically.  That way you’ll know whether you’re making progress, holding steady, or regressing.  Seeing improvement in the numbers also helps to maintain motivation.   

Not taking measurements would be like starting a weight loss plan without a baseline and subsequent weights.

Around this time last year, I finished a home-based, 15-week, six-days-a-week fitness program called Core Performance, designed by Mark Verstegen.  I was pleased with the results.  The only problem is that it’s very time-consuming.  Perhaps fitness just has to be that way.

I regret that I didn’t take any fitness measurements before and after starting Core Performance.

For much of the last year, I modified Core Performance to a thrice weekly, then twice weekly program, until a couple months ago when I pretty much abandoned it.  I miss the benefits now, but just didn’t want to put in the time to achieve them.  In other words, I lost my motivation.

Who needs this much flexibility?

Intellectually, I know that regular exercise is important.  I’m starting to get motivated again.  Not sure why.  Perhaps because I’ve read that you can be fairly fit with as little as 30 minutes of exercise a week.  I’m not convinced yet.  I’ll be test-driving some of these time-efficient programs soon.

This new style of fitness is promoted by the likes of Dr. Doug McGuff, Chris Highcock, Skyler Tanner, Nasim Taleb,  and Jonathan Bailor, among others.

What to Measure

  1. Weight
  2. Blood pressure
  3. Resting heart rate (first thing in the AM before getting out of bed)
  4. Waist circumference (upright and supine)
  5. Height
  6. Body mass index
  7. Mid-arm circumference, both arms, hanging relaxed at your sides
  8. Maximal calf circumference, both calves, while standing at ease
  9. Maximum number of consecutive pull-ups
  10. Maximum number of consecutive push-ups
  11. Maximum number of consecutive sit-ups
  12. Run/walk one mile as fast as you can
  13. Maximum vertical jump (stand by a tall wall then jump and reach up as high as you can with one arm, noting the highest point above ground your fingers can reach)
  14. Can you touch your toes?  Stand up straight, locking knees in extension, then bend over at your waist and touch your toes with your fingertips.  If you can touch toes, can you flatten your palms against the floor?  If you can’t reach your toes, measure the distance from your fingertips to the floor.
  15. Optional blood work for special situations: fasting blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c, triglycerides, cholesterols (total, HDL, LDL, sub-fractions)

The particular aspects of fitness these measure are strength and endurance in major muscle groups, cardiovascular and pulmonary endurance, a little flexibility, and a hint of body composition. 

You may appreciate an assistant to help you measure some of these.

Record your numbers.  Re-test some or all of these periodically.  If you’re in fairly poor condition at the outset, you’ll see some improved numbers after a couple or three weeks of a good exercise program.  It takes months to build significant muscle mass; you’ll see improved strength and endurance before mass. 

Am I missing anything?

Steve Parker, M.D. 

Update April 4, 2012:  I added the sit-ups today after finding out that’s one of the measurements the U.S. Army monitors in soldiers twice yearly.

11 Comments

Posted in Exercise

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,