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Benefits of Weekend Training

&

Weekday Walking

Studies from JAMA and from the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that weekend training is associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality. The British study also found a defined benefit of muscle-strengthening exercise independent of aerobic activities, followed by a gradual decrease. More may not be better.

We also have a article detailing six noteworthy benefits of walking on weekdays.  

The three together open an avenue of training that comes close to what Carol and I are doing.

Weekend Warriors

The JAMA study targets the “Weekend Warrior.”

Elana Spivack discusses the study in everyday language on Inverse that we will look to here; see the link below.

She opens by telling readers not to be uneasy about being a weekend warrior. That the study finds mortality risk to be on par with those who work out throughout the week.

That, of course, isn’t the end of the story.

There’s still a watered-down push for weeklong training.

“While we continue to believe that regular exercise is the better strategy, the most important message to communicate is that any exercise is better than no exercise at all,” Jeffrey Hsu, a cardiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles Health, writes to Inverse. (Hsu was not involved in the research.)

Hsu highlights the pluses of walking.

The key point is that whether you’re a daily exerciser or a weekend warrior, what’s most important is moving your body.

You’ll find a lot more detail on Inverse: https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/weekend-work-outs-health-benefits

The British study provides more clarification.

*  *  *

What sets the British study apart is the focus on defined benefits. How much is too much?

The 2022 meta-analysis of 16 studies found that doing muscle-strengthening activities was associated with a 10 to 17 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality.

Overall, incorporating 30 to 60 minutes of weight-lifting or other strength-building activities per week (without any aerobic exercise) has a clear and positive link to lower all-cause mortality.

Researchers found that a solid 60 minutes of strength training is effective for reducing risk. In short, one workout on the weekend would be good, but perhaps less than ideal.

Adding an aerobic session could improve these results even more, resulting in a 40% lower risk of all-cause mortality. This could be done on the weekend, but walking during the week would probably be more convenient and perhaps more effective (see below).

What about doing more strength-building activities?

The researcher concluded: Muscle-strengthening activities were inversely associated with the risk of all-cause mortality and major non-communicable diseases including CVD, total cancer, diabetes and lung cancer; however, the influence of a higher volume of muscle-strengthening activities on all-cause mortality, CVD and total cancer is unclear when considering the observed J-shaped associations.

Risk reduction from muscle-strengthening exercise peaked at approximately 30-60 minutes. Results tail off after that in a J-shaped association--slowly reversing. Lifting more may be counterproductive.

More is apparently not better.

The entire study can be accessed online: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35228201/

That brings us to the enlightening benefits of walking on weekdays. 

*  *  *

Carol and I have been walking our entire married life.

Photo by Wayne Gallasch

She walked all-the-way across Albuquerque with our baby son Matt on her back, while I was busy practicing law. We now see moms (and dads) carrying, pushing or pulling their young ones every day in our neighborhood, but it was practically unheard of then.

I was biking all over Albuquerque on weekends. Carol and I pedaled up a four-mile hill with Matt snoozing on the back of our tandem bike. He woke up when we got home and said "Let's go again!"

*  *  *

They say never to trust an idea that comes to you sitting down. That has been my experience. Whatever is on my mind becomes clearer while I’m walking.

So we were pleased when our physical therapist friend John Cusic called our attention to a just published article by Ashley Ziatopolsky detailing “6 Unexpected Health Benefits of Walking.”

I’m going to select a sentence from each benefit and then provide a link to the article for more details. I was careful not to pick the most surprising benefit.

1: Walking improves heart health:

The National Heart Foundation of Australia estimates that walking 30 minutes or more each day can reduce the risk of stroke by a whopping 35 percent.

2: Walking lowers stress and improves mood:

Walking releases endorphins, a feel-good chemical in the body that promotes a state of pleasure like laughter and love.

3: Walking reduces depression:

Depression affects millions of people globally and is a leading cause of disability worldwide.

4: Walking strengthens your joints:

Researchers found that people who walked for exercise had a 40 percent reduction in knee pain when compared to a group that didn't walk.

5: Walking controls your blood sugar:

Those who walked regularly had a 30 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

6: Walking boosts immune function:

Walking may flush bacteria from the lungs and airways, reducing your chances picking up cold and flu viruses.

Here’s the link for many more details:

https://www.realsimple.com/health/fitness-exercise/walking-benefits

My Take

What Carol and I are doing fits the guidelines set forth in the American and British studies, while taking advantage of the benefits of walking. 

We do a whole-body weight workout on Saturday—takes about an hour—alternating between home and office. These two workouts train each body part from different angles, keeping the workouts interesting and effective.

So we do each exercise twice a month.

I try to improve in some way every time out. When I top out in an exercise, I move on to another movement.

Carol and I do different exercises, selecting the movements we prefer. She definitely has her own preferences.

Frankly, I don’t know all the lifts she does, but I do know that she pushes herself on our Keiser Hip Belt machine, trying to progress in some way every workout. I know this because I see her progress record. I believe she is training more progressively than ever before.

I dropped back to once-a-week lifting because I didn't feel recovered with greater frequency. I believe Carol trains more often, perhaps dividing up body parts on weekdays.

* * *

As noted above, Carol and I have been walking our entire married life.

She walks twice a day, one longer session and one shorter session--even on Saturday.

I do my Morning Motion and balancing routine on weekdays and walk on the grass in parks for about 30 minutes every day. I rotate between three of the parks near our home. (Albuquerque has many wonderful parks.)

I've come to really like walking on the grass. (Walking on the sidewalk or street aggravates my lower back.) The balance and extra effort required, especially when the grass is high, adds an interesting challenge.

I’ve recently added 50 or 60 reps of marching-in-place at the end of my morning motion routine on weekdays. (See the photo in the new FAQ in this Update.)

* *  *

Our thanks to the American and British researchers for uncovering support for what we've been doing.

Thanks also to Arthur Jones, who called for a single set of each exercise performed to momentary muscle failure once or twice a week. (I don't believe he was much of a walker.)

As always, you should do what you think best.

September 1, 2022

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