Exercise Notes

Hiking by wall of lava, Sunset Crater National Monument.

A follow-up to Anne’s The Joy of Strength: Exercise alone doesn’t make you stronger or fitter. Exercise provides the stimulus; our bodies adapt during recovery. Without enough protein, sleep, and time between demanding workouts, we won't get the full benefit of our efforts. Exercise can even make us weaker rather than stronger.

And as we get older, recovery generally takes more – more time, more nutrition. 

(The same is true of the brain – use it or lose it, some challenge / stress necessary to maintain.)

Avoiding injury is my top goal. But exercise isn’t the only way we can get injured – especially as we get older. (Noticing a theme?) Injury prevention is one of the main reasons I lift. I rolled my ankle while hiking earlier this year (such that Anne … reacted) but wasn’t injured. (Mostly because of the balance work Anne mentioned in her post.)

Longtime readers know I’m a big fan of inversion tables. But even more important, IMO, is having a pull-up bar to hang from multiple times a day. Fight shrinkage! (My dad used to be 1 inch shorter than me, but he’s now way shorter.) 

Before the end of 2023, I had never been able to do a single chin- or pull-up ever. From zero when I turned 55, I can now do at least seven full, dead-arm chin-ups. I used these techniques to get to this point. Anne has used bands to significantly increase her abilities, too. 

When lifting weights, be deliberate and slow on the “lowering” eccentric part. (E.g., don’t just let gravity take over.) 

Do both full-body exercises (push-ups, pull-ups, goblet squats) and isolation exercises (dumbbell curls, dumbbell overhead extensions, calf raises).

Lift unilaterally – one side / arm / leg at a time. E.g., incline bench with a 25 lb dumbbell in each hand, lift left then right (and then together once you close in on failure). Lifting like this helps core and balance. It also better simulates real life. You might be surprised at your differences in strength (I am).

For lifting, I like the three-set over-fifty approach. First, an easy set to warm up the muscle(s). Second set goes to ~2 reps short of good-form failure. Third set is a drop set: lift to good-form failure, then immediately lift with a lower weight to safely increase the stress on the muscle(s) - time under tension.

Finally: If you are ever paying attention to your breath (meditation, calming exercises, trying to get to sleep) try to make your exhale longer than your inhale.