Defining Peak
Defining Peak Think of yourself as a man out of time. You may have a self-image as a turn-of-the-millennium kind of guy who drives to work, takes an elevator to his office, gets e-mail, sends faxes, eats microwaved dinners and watches satellite TV from his vibrating lounge chair. But your body knows you as a different person, someone completely out of place in the modern world.
To your genes, cells, tissues and organs, you''re a man who walks or runs everywhere, climbs a tree or mountain when he needs some height, conveys messages in person, wrests his food from the land and only reclines to eat, rest or have sex. That''s been the physical model for man ever since the time of those slope-headed guys with clubs you see on evolution charts. It has remained the model for man right up until times recent enough to be remembered by some of our living elders.
Our lives don''t match our design parameters. And any time function doesn''t follow form, you get problems. In this case, even though we work like pack mules to keep on top of our careers and family responsibilities, we''ve become (at least in the United States) a species of slackers physically. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, overweight prevalency rates went up a significant 8 percent between 1980 and 1991. In addition, according to Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., strength- training consultant to the national YMCA and senior fitness director for the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts, the latest research on the effects of aging on the body shows that the average rate for loss of muscle mass in the U.S. population is accelerating—it''s now up to a loss of seven pounds per decade.
The Power Within
But population figures have nothing to do with you as an individual. The point is that you''re a man with immense physical potential that''s waiting to be set free. That''s what this book means when it talks about peak conditioning: Each of us has a blueprint for strength, endurance, speed and agility that''s far superior to what our physical states are like right now, says John Duncan, Ph.D., a leading exercise researcher and president of Wellmart, a wellness consulting company also in Denton.
Your mission is to develop your potential to a point that is reasonable for you—to set goals and make it happen. This book''s job is to empower you to do it, by guiding you every step of the way, whether you''ve never exercised in your life or have been dedicated to workouts for years. "It''s like that Army slogan: ''Be all that you can be,''" says Dr. Duncan. "Even highly trained men can improve." And if you''re not trained, your potential is all the greater.
Consider this little-known but astonishing fact: If you''re untrained, your muscles are more powerful right this minute than they appear to be. The reason? Your central nervous system—in the interests of preventing injury and keeping muscles working smoothly in ways they''re most accustomed to—actually holds less-used but strong muscles back from unfamiliar movements or work. According to Dr. Westcott, you already have the capability within your muscles to be 40 to 60 percent stronger than you seem. This latent power is unleashed within four weeks of starting a strength-training program, he says, as a phenomenon called the motor learning effect kicks in—and you''ve still barely touched your potential for growth of new muscle.
Your Fitness Spec Sheet
There''s no end, it seems, to the good that physical conditioning does you. Studies find that exercise reduces the risk of major health problems like heart disease and cancer, lengthens your life, boosts energy, reduces stress and lifts bad moods. On a finer level, it causes lots of small but important changes in the body, ranging from increased insulin sensitivity (which helps to prevent diabetes) to higher levels of antibodies in the blood (which can help fend off disease).
All of which is great, but none of which you really need to think about when laying out your exercise plans. Conditioning is measured in just a few basic ways. All the other benefits of exercise fall into place automatically if you aim to be fit in these fundamental areas, according to Alan Mikesky, Ph.D., director of the Human Performance Lab and associate professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Exercise Light: How Much Is Enough? Ever since aerobics first became a buzzword back in the 1970s, the mantra about exercise was that nothing short of gasping for breath for at least a half-hour (preferably an hour), at least three days a week (preferably four or five), was going to do you any good. Not surprisingly, less than a quarter of the population found it within themselves to follow these guidelines. Researchers are still singing that old tune if your aim is to reach peak condition, but they''ve added a harmonizing line: If you can''t be a dedicated exerciser, simply becoming more active will confer most of the health benefits of vigorous workouts. For example, in a six-month study of walkers that John Duncan, Ph.D., a leading exercise researcher and president of Wellmart, a wellness consulting company also in Denton, calls "the first salvo across the bow" of conventional wisdom, slow walkers lowered their risk of cardiovascular disease just as much as fast walkers did, even though the faster, harder-working subjects became more fit. Other studies, including a similar experiment done with runners, have made similar findings. As a result, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the American College of Sports Medicine published a new, improved set of exercise recommendations in 1995. Two of their key points: * The concept of "moderate-intensity physical activity" has been broadened to the point that stuff you wouldn''t even consider exercise is said to make a substantial difference. Among the activities that the all-star team of researchers say qualify as health-promoting are playing table tennis, carrying a bag of golf clubs, fly-fishing while standing, mowing the lawn and painting the house. * While it''s still a good idea to exercise at least 30 minutes a day, it doesn''t have to be all at once. Exercise accumulates, and every minute you spend climbing staircases, raking leaves, walking to and from your car and playing with your kids adds to the daily tally of active time. Skeptics wonder if exercise advocates haven''t simply lowered their standards to accommodate the slothfully inclined, but actually, they''ve come up with an additional standard for those who might never reach the higher bar. The crucial point is this: Exercise is dose-related—the more you do, the more you benefit in terms of fitness. That''s a standard that hasn''t changed, says Dr. Duncan. |
Strength. Let''s start here. Most men do. Strength is an inherently masculine trait, not only because we have more of it than women but because we measure ourselves against other men based on our physical power and build. (Remember those Charles Atlas ads in comic books where muscle-building "made a man out of Mac"?) Being strong means being able to make muscles work against some form of resistance, whether it''s a barbell at the gym or a ladder in your backyard.
Strength tends to be measured in short-spurt activities like bench-pressing as much weight as you can in eight consecutive lifts. Do enough lifts and, over time, the muscles being used grow stronger and bigger. It''s what exercise physiologists refer to as the overload principle: If you work muscles harder than they''re accustomed to, they adapt by becoming stronger and more powerful. You keep muscles overloaded from workout to workout by increasing the weight lifted, the number of lifts or the speed of the muscle action.
Endurance. The terms endurance, aerobic fitness, cardiovascular fitness and cardiorespiratory fitness generally all refer to the same thing: the body''s ability to generate energy for working muscles during sustained exercise. More than anything else, this depends on efficient delivery of oxygen, which comes down to the heart and lungs. The lungs take in oxygen and the heart pumps it via blood to muscles. There''s a kind of alchemy here in which oxygen is used by the cells to help unleash the energy found in the foods we eat. The more efficient your body is at delivering oxygen and generating energy, the healthier and fitter you are.
Sustained-effort aerobic activities like running, swimming, biking or cross-country skiing not only tone muscle but also improve the capacities of the heart, lungs and blood vessels to deliver oxygen. In addition, they improve the ability of individual cells to use oxygen to generate energy.
Body composition. As a rule, fitness improves when the body has more muscle and less fat. The way to improve the muscle/fat composition is with strength or endurance training. Sustained aerobic exercise burns fat, while strength training increases muscle mass, which raises the body''s daily calorie requirements.
Body composition is also a measure of health, since sizable stores of fat in the body—especially in the abdomen, where it tends to collect in men—are associated with a number of serious problems that exercise helps alleviate, such as high cholesterol and heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer, according to Dr. Mikesky.
Flexibility. Flexibility is an unsung but crucial element of conditioning. Just ask any of the 31 million Americans with lower-back pain, a problem very often caused by tight, inflexible back muscles. Stiff muscles not only can cause cramps but also can constrain movement.
If you can''t put muscles through their full range of motion, any type of conditioning you attempt is going to be shortchanged, because muscles only get more powerful within the range in which they''re used. What''s more, loss of flexibility tends to set in earlier than most other age-related changes, so that even a man in his thirties will start feeling twinges of creakiness if he doesn''t keep his muscles moving and stretching.
Tapping Your Potential
Two of the four exercise parameters are also basic forms of exercise: strength and endurance, each of which requires different kinds of activity, thanks to what''s called the specificity principle. It says that the body responds in highly specific ways to whatever exercise you do, with very little overlap from one form of exercise to another. If you want to run a marathon, for example, power lifting won''t necessarily help you. If you want to bench-press 150 pounds, biking won''t get you there. If you want to improve your all-around fitness, you''ll need to do a little of a lot of different things, but your improvements in any of them won''t be as great as they would be if you concentrated on one at a time.
"It''s difficult to have optimal levels of everything at once because different types of conditioning require different types of training," says Dr. Mikesky. "You have to decide what you want from training to design a program that will achieve satisfying results." Unless your objective is simply to increase your level of activity to reap some health benefits—and that''s certainly a worthwhile goal—you''re not going to achieve peak conditioning by simply deciding, "I''m going to exercise more." Vague ambitions lead to all-too-tangible disappointments. You need to make more focused choices.
The Fast Fitness Test It''s a given: If you want to become better at something, you have to establish a starting point. Even if you think you''re pretty fit, it''s important to take stock of yourself. The following tests provide quick, simple readings on the essential elements of conditioning, with the results gauged according to the criterion we all use in the real world: how well other men our age perform. Once you start exercising, however, keep in mind that the real benchmark is your own improvement. Repeat these tests every now and then to measure progress (or lack thereof) and adjust your objectives accordingly, recommends Alan Mikesky, Ph.D., director of the Human Performance Lab and associate professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Chair Lifts What it measures: Upper-body strength Equipment needed: Sturdy bench or armless chair with four vertical legs What to do: Sit on the edge of the bench or chair with your legs straight out so that your heels are on the floor and your toes are pointing up. Grasping the sides of the seat with your hands, carefully inch off and away from the chair so that you''re supported by your heels and your hands. Lower yourself until your buttocks touch the floor. Hold for one second, then push back up. Repeat as many times as you can. Average results: Twenties: 10 lifts Thirties: 9 lifts Forties: 8 lifts Fifties: 7 lifts Sixties: 6 lifts Slow Squat What it measures: Lower-body strength Equipment needed: None What to do: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Keeping your feet flat on the floor, very slowly bend your knees to lower your body toward the floor, taking 30 seconds to reach a point at which your hips are just below parallel with your knees. Take another 30 seconds to raise yourself back to starting position. If you feel you can''t go the full minute, cheat on time, but try to complete the entire move. Average results (in time to fatigue): Twenties: 60 seconds Thirties: 52 to 55 seconds Forties: 44 to 50 seconds Fifties: 38 to 45 seconds Sixties: Less than 40 seconds 1.5 Mile Run What it measures: Aerobic fitness Equipment needed: A track What to do: This test from The Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas is intended for healthy, active people. Not there yet? Then work up to this by launching a walking program for several weeks first. The concept is easy: See how fast you can run 1.5 miles. If you have access to a 440-yard track, 1.5 miles is six laps running in the inside lane. Don''t push yourself to complete exhaustion while doing this. If you''ve been sick or get symptoms like chest pains when you start running, obviously consult with a doctor. Final notes: Don''t eat for two hours before running, and be sure to warm up and stretch first. Results (in minutes:seconds): Twenties: Superior—faster than 8:13 Good—8:14 to 12:51 Poor—slower than 12:51 Thirties: Superior—faster than 8:44 Good—8:45 to 13:36 Poor—slower than 13:36 Forties: Superior—faster than 9:30 Good—9:31 to 14:29 Poor—slower than 14:29 Fifties: Superior—faster than 10:40 Good—10:41 to 15:26 Poor—slower than 15:26 Sixties: Superior—faster than 11:20 Good—11:21 to 16:43 Poor—slower than 16:43 Triceps Pinch What it measures: Body fat Equipment needed: Ruler What to do: Get a partner to hold the ruler. Extend your arm straight in front of you, palm up. Grab the skin on the back of your upper arm (the side facing down) between your thumb and your fingers, gently pulling it away from your arm, trying not to pinch too tightly. Have your partner measure the thickness of the skin held between your fingers and thumb (not the distance it''s being pulled out). Average results: Ages 20 to 40: ½ inch—good ¾ inch—average Ages 41 to 60: 5/8 inch—good 7/8 inch—average Toe Touch What it measures: Flexibility Equipment needed: None What to do: Sit on the floor with one leg straight in front of you and the other bent with the foot tucked against the thigh of your straight leg, so that your legs make a figure 4. Using the arm on the same side as the straight leg, reach as far as you can toward your toes. Average results: Ages 20 to 40: Wrist to toe—good Fingertips to toe—average Fingertips to ankle—fair Fingertips to sock line—poor Ages 41 to 60: Fingertips to toe—good Fingertips to ankle—average Fingertips to sock line—fair Fingertips above sock line—poor |
 | |
