With the exception of several college years when I ran off of the fitness rails, I have exercised daily for about the last 45 years. Exercise is as much a part of my daily routine as eating and sleeping. It’s both a mental and physical thing for me and partly motivated by witnessing my parents struggle with their health. Neither of them consistently maintained any sort of fitness program due to lack of time, energy and motivation. In their early 50s, they suffered initial attacks from heart disease that would eventually claim their lives: My dad experienced his first major heart attack and my mom had her first stroke. While I don’t know if consistent exercise would have changed their lives, I harbor my suspicions and exercise partly to avoid the same fate.
I ran cross country and track in high school. Jim Fixx’s “The Complete Book of Running” was a best-seller at the time. Kenneth Cooper’s views on cardiovascular health and aerobic exercise shaped my exercise beliefs. My high school senior thesis regarded the benefits of running. I’m certain my English teacher, a non-exerciser, gave me an A just to avoid having to read it.
I used strength training to enhance my sports performance until my early 20s. However, a pair of compromised rotator cuffs (baseball and weight lifting), a bum left elbow (weight lifting) and a bad right knee (again, weight lifting) sidelined meaningful resistance training. As a result, my exercise regimen became almost entirely aerobic: running, walking, stairmasters, elliptical machines. Plus, I believed aerobic exercise to be the best preventive measure for heart disease.
However, notwithstanding my daily routine of aerobic exercise, my health worsened. I was using armrests to get out of chairs. My running and walking gait were becoming inefficient and imbalanced. My aerobic exercise stamina was declining while joints were aching more. Cholesterol levels were trending the wrong way. I then discovered incredible research about resistance training. It identified correlations between resistance training and health marker improvements such as blood pressure, bone mineral density, chronic inflammation, digestive mobility, metabolism, insulin sensitivity, body fat and cholesterol levels — many of the health markers associated with heart health.
But what about my concerns for (re)injuring myself? My solution is strength training that fully loads the targeted muscle group during both the shortening and lengthening contractions. Each exercise lasts 60 to 90 seconds; each repetition lasts 10 to 20 seconds. The slow cadence greatly reduces injury risk, even more so when combined with computerized fitness equipment that adapts to the exerciser’s unique capabilities. Strength can be significantly increased by performing 8 to 10 exercises per 20-minute session approximately two times a week.
Aerobic exercise remains a part of my exercise routine, but I now incorporate two sessions per week of strength training. I am stronger. My mobility has improved, my stamina has increased and my joint pain has diminished. I no longer use armrests to get out of chairs. Strength training might change your life, too.
Mike Sims has decades of experience in the exercise sector and now co-owns The Exercise Coach with his wife Andrea.
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