Deja Vu All Over Again

This TOJ was searching through the long list of classes offered at our community fitness center  looking for something challenging, but not too hard, fun but not wimpy, energetic but not hyper, tiring but not exhausting. You know, the perfect class for my body that particular day. It had been a long time since I'd been in a fitness class.

I was about ready to give up after seeing the umpteenth Zumba or yoga (on the way to having as many flavors as micro brewed beer) class, when I spotted in bold type: RIPPED with a slogan promising "total body shock" or something like that. The class was an hour and ten minutes long. Promising!

The slogan was trademarked, so I Googled RIPPED and found it's a franchise. RIPPED is an acronym for Resistance Intervals Power Plyometrics Endurance Diet. Like Crossfit, their website showed lots of buff younger people, in their case 10-to-1 women to males, with big smiles. They promised muscle confusion, constantly changing routines, no boredom, motivating and music.

Sure enough, when I arrived before the class, the ratio was 10-to-1 women, mostly young. In the mirrors lining the front wall, this TOJ looked like Santa Claus among a bunch of large Spandex elves. I asked the girl next to me if I needed to warm up, she smiled and said, "Don't worry, you'll get warmed up." I was excited to experience the latest and greatest in fitness.

The instructor bounced to the front of the crowded class with her headset on. The sound started up with siren cue, like what you hear from a garbage trucking backing up warning you to get out of the way. The instructor warned if anybody had a hangover, they wouldn't for long.

Then the music started, some rap song, not too fast. We stepped sideways right, stretched sideways left, stepped right lifted the left knee, stepped left lifted the right knee.

Then a new song came on with a faster beat. More double knee lifts. Then we got into a horse stance (she called it a plie, like in ballet) and did jabs, then lunging left and right, we did uppercuts and hooks. Tons of them. I flashbacked decades to boxing and tae kwon do. The instructor, facing the mirror in front of the class, growled at herself.

After a couple songs, we'd take a minute or two break to get water, wipe off the sweat, and walk clockwise in a circle. The instructor walked counterclockwise giving high fives.

More music. We got out the mats and did conventional push-ups to "We Will Rock You." We did some more. Another flasback to junior high PE classes. Then we did crab walks right, then left, push-up, right, then left, push-up, etc. Then we did side planks. Then another walk in a circle, people chugging the water, breathing hard.

More music. Now feet shoulder width and running in place. Instructor advising to bend over and get low, as we went right, left, right left. Another flashback - high school football agility drills. More punching. Then another short walk in a circle, more people breathing harder.

The instructor said "Pick up your weights!" Not knowing how crazy the class would get, I picked 10 lbs. dumb bells instead of the heavier ones a TOJ wold use for real weight training. To more rap and hip-hop, we did rows, flys, lunge presses, more reps than in any strength workout. I heard the instructor yell, "Get it out, all out it. Out!" Then we put the weights down and did some modified burpees, with a jump emphasized (this must have been the plyometrics).

Then we got the mats again and did some dynamic yoga. I don't remember what the music was, but it wasn't something you'd hear in an ashram in India or at the Integral Hatha Yoga Institute in San Francisco, where this TOJ first tried yoga in the 60's. The fitness center didn't smell like incense either.

The instructor wrapped it up with a congratulations to everyone, circulating through the group with more high-fives.

A TOJ's assessment: RIPPED is close to what it says, though more a cardio-workout than anything else. The resistance and plyometrics are tame, probably because nobody could sustain those for more than a few minutes. The class was right at the edge of aerobic, a good place to build cardio-fitness. If you brought your own intensity, like the instructor did, you'd be dipping well into challenging anaerobic, which is beneficial too, in small doses. I got winded and left drenched with sweat.

Truth is, when it comes to exercise, there's little new under the gym rafters. Human movement is very basic - push, pull, lift, squat, lunge, rotate, walk, run. In the exercises themselves, it was deja vu, been there done that. But there were some tunes this TOJ had never heard before - modern, faster, younger.

Dynamic Stretching: The 95% Solution

This TOJ has a confession to make: I don't do much old-fashioned static stretching, the kind where you assume a fixed pose and hold it for 30 or more seconds, straining, say, to touch your toes. I prefer dynamic stretching for 95% of my warm-up and cool-down because the benefits are proven by good science and it feels more natural.

I learned to not like static stretching when I played high school football and ran track; it was boring and often hurt. I encountered the old ways again when I studied martial arts after college. That was decades ago, and even then I wondered it it really did any good. Since then exercise physiologists have affirmed static stretching is of limited help in preventing injuries, maybe even harmful, and may reduce your athletic performance rather than enhance it.

A couple years ago, Gretchen Reynolds wrote an article about static and dynamic stretching and the scientific evidence for/against both. Check it out because it's a concise overview of the issues and the superior benefits of dynamic stretching. Also included are some good examples of dynamic stretching. The most important take away point is that static stretching is useful only in small doses.

Dynamic stretching is the best warm up. It's very simple: you gently move the joints of your body prior through their range of motion, especially those parts of your body that will be stressed when you start of exercise hard. Prior to running , it might consist of jogging slowly for a couple of minutes, then gradually running a little faster for a couple more minutes. When preparing to lift weights or do calisthenics and jumps, it might consist of rotating the knees for twenty seconds, rotating the hips for twenty seconds, rotating the upper torso right to left for twenty seconds, then windmilling the arms for twenty seconds. This might be followed by a minute of light jumping with feet shoulder width, hands held loose at the side, and the feet barely leaving the ground, or a few squats and forward knee lunges. You want to just start to sweat and slightly elevate your breathing. That's it.

Unless you are a contortionist in the circus, there's no benefit to being super flexible. The right amount of flexibility enables you to generate some power in your running, lifting, x-c skiing, biking, whatever your sport might be. And some flexibility is absolutely necessary if you take a fall on a bike or slip while running on snow. But flexibility is not an end in itself unless you are a yogi. Strength plays an equal role in protecting you.

Flexibility is largely predetermined by genetics and gender. Women are usually more flexible than men. The body stretches less and less as you grow up because of natural bone growth; for example, you won't be able to do the side splits anymore because your mature femurs are more restricted by the fully developed sockets in your hips.

Dynamic stretching of the joints that will be stressed in your particular activity or sport raises your body temperature, allowing collagen in muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints to become more elastic. With the warmer temperatures comes increased blood supply to all these tissues, which in turn aids in producing metabolic energy and helping muscles quickly contract and relax, thereby generating speed and power.

For TOJs, the warm-up becomes even more important because the circulatory system is not as efficient as we age. The discs in your back, joint surfaces, and tendons have a very limited blood supply. These areas are all especially prone to injury. Dynamic stretching, combined with a light aerobic component, gets the juices (like the synovial fluid lubricating your joints) flowing and your body prepared to exert safely.

Static stretching, in particular classic hatha yoga poses, can help after a workout, especially a hard one. The stretches lengthen and relax the muscles, which in turn allows more oxygen rich blood to flood the tissues to remove the lactic acid, promote more rapid healing of damaged tissues (which occurs in all exercise), and reduce post-workout soreness. (Note that my emphasis here is on preventing athletic injuries. Gentle, controlled static stretching, especially as practiced in yoga, induces relaxation, which is effective for stress reduction.)

A favorite hybrid routine that I use as a warm-up which mixes yoga's Salute to the Sun and some everyday calisthenics like push-ups. Going slowly from movement to movement, I never stop, including during the Downward Facing Dog and Cobra poses, which you'll see people on early morning Yoga TV holding for a minute.

Watch how dogs stretch when they rise after sleeping - it's slow, smooth and continuous. Animals mastered dynamic stretching a long time ago.

TOJ's Top 10 Sorta-Resolutions for 2010

2010, this will be the year! I can feel it. Today I packed a snowball. Before I threw it, I vowed, "If it hits the ground, this will be the best year ever. Health, fitness, prosperity, peace, happiness. "

Sure enough, after a short arc through the cold air, down it went, hitting the ground! So with great confidence in the future based on that good omen, here are a TOJ's top 10 (you understand: it always has to be 10...Top 10 Movies of the Year, Top 10 Athletes of the Year -- I only had 7, but made up 3):

1. Eat more vegetables. (I'll try. I used to not eat them, but have learned to actually like some. The evidence is overwhelming that the more and the fresher and the rawer, the better. The complex nutrients in vegetables are better for you than almost any supplement -- and cheaper.)

2. Exercise less. (I keep running into this message. Latest is an article about Melody Fairchild in Colorado Runner. She was a child-phenom distance runner in high school who struggled in college. She realized, maybe too late, that less is more. Rest and recovery are the necessary yin of the exercise yang that enable health and even better athletic performance if that's what you're after.)
3. Drink less beer. (Ummm. I'll have to have a stout and think about that. Alcohol in moderation is supposed to be good for you, but there is countervailing evidence that beer gives you an insulin spike and contains empty calories. On the other hand, beer has also been shown to lower homocysteine (an amino acid that is considered a risk factor for heart disease) levels. Might have to have two stouts and think doubly hard about this.)

4. Stretch more. (I like stretching less than I like vegetables. I've never had an injury that stretching purportedly prevents. I like to do a few yoga positions, mostly along the lines of those in John Capouya's Real Men Do Yoga. For a TOJ it could make sense because as you age, tendons and ligaments tend to lose size and elasticity. A resolution needs the force of a goal: ok, I'll stretch at least 5 times this year.)

5. Warm up more. (Actually, I've gotten better and better with each year. Not before runs, because starting slow is a warm-up. But definitely before lifting weights. Joint sockets need to get lubricated and muscles warmed to avoid pulls and tears, both of which this TOJ has experienced. It takes only a few minutes to rev up your feet to your neck.)

6. Drink less caffeine. (I will go to Starbucks only on weekdays, weekends, and holidays. That's a promise.)

7. Drink more water. (Caffeine is a diuretic so it makes you lose water. Exercise makes you lose even more. Expresso and beer are not substitutes for pure H2O. Being properly hydrated helps your strength and stamina because you pump more blood easier and deliver nutrients and oxygen to cells more efficiently. Sure, you pee more and feel bloated. Tough.)

8. Sleep more. (There's a better chance this TOJ will eat more veggies. When I see recommendations for 8-9 hours for optimum recovery and health, I'm skeptical of the evidence. It seems too long. I'll take my 6-7 and a catnap here and there. Who's the rock star who said, "I'll rest when I'm dead?" Is he still alive?"

9. Take my fish oil. (I am fish-phobic due to childhood trauma from visits to the fish market in Tokyo. I strongly believe that we evolved from the ocean onto land to escape from fish. But the scientific evidence is overwhelming that the Omega-3's in fish oil (the refined stuff with the PCBs and other environmental pollutants removed) are good for both your physical and mental health. I cringe every time I swallow that pill knowing what's in it, but I won't be eating much fish in this lifetime, and this is one pill worth popping.)

10. When stressed, exercise harder. (This is as easy to me as eating chocolate. Whether little stuff at work (and remember problems at work are always minor in the same way most politics are banal) or the big stressors like war, global warming, terrorism, flu pandemics, disease and mortality, you cope better when you work up a sweat.)

Here's to a happy and healthful 2010 for you! Hope to see you out there!