The Catskill Chronicle

by Mort Malkin

The inceptive essay in this unending B & B Trade series addressed the complexity of our bodies in the engineering marvel of its structure and its impossible chemistry. It seems a wonder that most parts function well most of the time. The second piece spoke to the feeding of said body. Today, let’s talk about the musculoskeletal system — bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. These structures take up over 50% of the body. They are there for a reason, indeed for many reasons beyond getting from point A to point B. The use of our musculoskeletal tissues can affect practically every organ of our bodies and the chemistry of the whole works. It is not enough just to go through the motions. How we go about exercise matters mightily. We are neither three toed sloths nor bumble bees and, in general, we should not move at the speed of either.

Let’s get down to actual exercises and results. These days, there are for sale exercise devices of every kind for strong and shapely abs, gluts, hams, biceps, deltoids, pecs … aerobic fitness, each in hardly any time and less effort. But you can be a systems analyst. To know which exercises or sports are specific for which benefits, we can place them in different baskets. The first group is aerobic exercise, the word “aerobic” having been coined by Kenneth Cooper in Texas. It involves using large muscle groups at less than maximal force for a lengthy time. Next we have strength training — high resistance exercises for specific muscle groups over a limited time. Greatest strength is built up in the targeted muscles by using relatively few repetitions at almost maximal force. Third are the stretching exercises for individual muscle groups. Most exercise folks say that covers everything.

But, there are two more groups. Category Four — skills practice — includes many sports. A few examples: tennis, racquetball, basketball, baseball, cricket, gymnastics … The benefits are vital for many everyday activities, Without balance you wouldn’t stay upright pedaling your mountain bike around your ranch. Without eye-hand coordination you would never make the US Ping Pong Olympic team (and certainly not the Chinese team). Senior citizens citizens about to cross the street must use good tracking skills to estimate the distance of the car down the block and judge the speed of the car versus their own walking speed to decide whether to cross at that moment. Teenagers, of course, step off the curb without even looking up the street, figuring they can outrun an oncoming car. Foolish kids — even Jesse Owens could barely run 25 mph.

Category Five — exercise for fun — is hardly ever recognized for what it is. Yet, sports and exercise can be fun and lift your spirits. Kayakers unabashedly speak of playing in the rapids. Hot dog skiers bounce down a hill full of moguls. Even (especially) playing patty cakes with a child is fun. Mental health counts, too.

Of the five categories, aerobic exercise will give you the greatest yield in terms of carbohydrate metabolism, fat metabolism, weight loss, blood pressure, calcium exchange, brain chemistry, strength of the immune system, and on and on. The next question is what activities count as aerobic. No, just because it is your favorite sport doesn’t make it aerobic. Your body will know. “Aerobic” is a function of your body’s response to the exercise, not a matter of opinion. Aerobic exercise is defined as a rhythmic repetitive use of a large muscle mass in a weight bearing way for enough time, at enough intensity, and regularly. These are known as far enough, fast enough, and often enough or just the program. The weight bearing requirement and the need to use large muscles focus on three exercises/sports: running, cross country skiing, and snowshoeing. Others are less highly aerobic. In kayaking and canoeing the paddler is sitting or kneeling, and it is mostly upper body work — not so aerobic. Racquetball — too much stop and go and not enough time spent running. Even though they are my favorite sports, they must be classed as low grade aerobic, at best. Tennis involves running 15% of the time and 85% waiting for your opponent to get the ball and get ready to serve. Basketball is lots of stop & go and may stimulate your competitive juices, but it’s not too aerobic. Golf makes for hours of strolling but is hardly fast enough.

Ordinary brisk walking satisfies the definition except that the muscles used for power are mostly the calf muscles, not the large muscle groups of the thigh and mid body. The total muscle mass is simply insufficient to produce an aerobic effect. Besides, most walkers move too slowly to reach minimal aerobic thresholds. In a classical British study, subjects could manage no better than 12 minutes per mile (5 mph). Yet walking has every other advantage as an exercise. It is weight bearing; far enough and often enough are easily achieved; it is convenient, inexpensive, and safe. So, all we have to do is change the technique of walking to include the hamstrings and gluteal group in addition to the calves. With that much muscle for power, 12 minutes a mile is possible and the total muscle mass will make the exercise highly aerobic. We should rightly call it “aerobic walking”. Then we would have a choice of four exercises — running, cross country skiing, snow-shoeing, and aerobic walking.

We could exercise with the seasons.

*In the interests of full disclosure, Mort Malkin is the author of Aerobic Walking—The Weight Loss Exercise, published by John Wiley.