In regards to Bruce's comment..

"Spinning burns fat first from the abdomen, the so called dangerous fat that surrounds the organs and causes high blood pressure."

Since when is this true? I'm not sure of your sources, but as far as I know spot-reducing is a myth. You cannot target fat loss in specific areas. Fat comes off in the order that it is put on, and everyone stores fat differently.

In regards to everyone else's post, it's motivating to see so many middle-aged people taking such strides to better the quality of their health.

I'm 20 years old now, and I've made drastic changes in my eating habits within the past couple years, and I could never fathom going back into the lifestyle that I once lived. Like the majority of teenagers nowadays, fast dining, chips, soda, candies and processed junk were all staple foods included in my diet. I managed to stay in good shape because of varsity sports and extracurricular sports with friends, but I cringe to think of all the damage those quarter pounders and fries did my to organs.

It's important to find a balanced compromise between eating healthy and enjoying life. Being in the prime of my youth, I try not to let nutrition dictate my life, but I've managed to find an equal medium. I stay away from junk food as much as I can, and focus my diet on: Eggs (whites), chicken, tuna, lean beef, raw veggies, oats, lots of fruits, skim milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, whole wheat products (bread/pasta/rice) and 3-4 litres of water a day.

Throw in some moderate cardio twice a week, and working out three times a week and It's my recipe for success. It seems like a lot, but realistically 5 hours sacrificed in my weekly 168 is very affordable.

Occasionally I'll splurge when my friends drag me out and have a beer or two with some wings, but I can justify it - knowing that I've eaten clean for the past week and let me tell you..it makes those guilt-free wings taste that much better.

As a 45 yr old single parent, it was always my exercise time that got slashed when our schedule got crazy. So I started participating in my kids karate class instead of just watching.

We do 20 mins of cardio, 10 mins of stretch and the 30 mins of skills training (kata, stances kicks blocks and punches) that focusses on control and dynamic tension.

I may be the oldest white belt in the dojo, but I'm in the best shape of my life!

Spinning or indoor cycling on a spin bike will burn many calories and not put pressure on your joints like running. If you combine this with fast walking alternate days for bone density, you will have an almost perfect workout. Another component of spinning is the use of a heart rate monitor. If you use it properly, it can be a form of bio-feedback to achive higher fitness goals. Spinning burns fat first from the abdomen, the so called dangerous fat that surrounds the organs and causes high blood pressure. Extreme forms of spinning are world class cyclists, who are very lean. But if someone spun at 70% of their target heart rate for 30 minutes daily, they would lose weight and get in shape for sure. spinning also uses the very latest form of interval training, shown to increas fitness levels quickly. A $500.00 dollar spin bike has been a great investment for myself. Lost 25 pounds and many inches, and in the position to buy new clothes!

This article does point out an obvious answer to staying slim while aging - exercise more!! Although I don't agree that running is the best exercise out there, it can hurt your joints and also I'm sure that mixing up your exercise routine to include different activities would be more beneficial - and interesting - than running every day.

I'm only 24, so I suppose I should be taking heed of this advice. On the activity front, I don't go to the gym. I don't run. I don't swim. Instead I like to do fun things like hiking and going on long bikes rides. Although I do have an elleptical machine in the basement which I use 3 times a week. I also have some dumbells at home which I use 3 times a week. I belive exercise is important, but I'm not one of those fitness nuts. Far from it.

As for my diet, I'm vegetarian. So no fish or meat. I eat a lot of veggies, fruit, tofu and soy milk. I eat whatever I want, although as a rule I never have anything remotely junky in the house - this means no chips, chocolate, ice cream etc. When I eat out I have dessert, although I rarely have it at home.

As for my weight, I am a bit pudgy. I'm not fat, but I'm no rake. I would say that my trouble spot are my legs, thats where I gain weight. I suppose if I worked out more, and ate less I could look really slim but I figure whats the point. As long as my weight doesn't affect my health of confidence, it can stay the way it is!!

There is much confusion surrounding the word "cardio". This word literally means for the heart. You cannot take your heart out of your chest and work it out on a treadmill in an isolated fashion. You must go through your skeletal muscles. For this reason, strength training is cardio. There is a direct correlation between how hard you work your muscles and how hard your heart pumps to meet the demands of said work. There are 2 main ways to increase demand on the heart. Increase HR (most obvious) as well as stroke volume (blood per beat). Strength training decreases vascular resistance by pushing the blood back to the heart at a quicker rate, therefore the more blood is ejected with each beat, rather than more beats. (As per Starling's law)

If a sustained HR was the stimulus for improved cardiovascular health, than why not drink 8 cups of coffee, or down a few caffeine pills, and sit your way to a stronger heart?? You'll surely enjoy a HR similar to that of moderate "cardio" workout.

I perform two 20-minute (high intensity, low force) strength training sessions per week. Nothing more on a regular basis. In the last year my Resting HR has decreased form 60bpm - 44bpm. What is more cardio than this?

I had 2 clients come of blood pressure meds last week. Nethier are active outside of thier two 20 min sessions with me. What's more cardio than this? These are the direct health benefits we are all looking to achieve with so called "cardio".

As far as time commitment, strength training performed properly does not need to be any more than 20-30 min performed 2-3 times per week for optimal benefits. This is one case where more is not necessarily better. You dont have to replace anything that you like to do, and everything will be enhanced. But if you don't want to do more, that's fine too.

Gentlemen,

Great questions. I wish I had the time (and character space) to go into detail. I'll do this in 2 posts.

First, fitness is defined by your ability to do physical activity or to perform physical work. It is a measure of your "functional capacity." It doesn't reflect the presence or absence of disease, which is the definition of health. You don't need to be "fit" to be healthy, if you get what mean.
If one chooses to be fit, that's great. But fitness is specific to the activities in which you are performing. Meaning, it is goal dependent. If it is your goal to be proficient at many sports and activities, than yes, you must practice each end every one of these activities to be good at them. This is basic motor learning. Running does not make you a better cyclist. But it also doesnt mean you are less healthy. But stating that variety is necessary for everyone is false. One can be perfectly healthy, with out having the conditioning to certain skills.

If you need variation for mental wellness, fine. But to obtain full health benefits, there is no physiological need.

In the end do what works for you. But I strongly urge everyone to unclude a strength training component. You'll thank yourself when your 70 and still able to tolerate the forces that come with the things that you love to do.

The emphasis on exercise is very important. To complete the picture be sure to pay attention to what you eat and drink (and the amounts of course), and get a good night's rest.

Note to Susan W: there is an entry for "hatha yoga" on the calorie counter site. Between that and other entries, you can probably extrapolate a calorie rate for your activities.

I am a very healthy and active 50+ person and have been an advocate of Yoga (power yoga)& Pilates for years. This, as well as a healthy diet has kept me lean and in great shape. I was very disappointed to go into your "calorie & exercise calculator" and not be able to pull up either Yoga or Pilates as a form of exercise. I know there are many people today who chose these two wonderful forms of exercise to stay in shape & burn calaries.

Regards,
susan

Remembering that the article was about staying lean...and before Ryan quotes his sources, I have to agree with Ian and Allison about variety=fitness. I have found that distance running has lowered my basal HR to 50-60, and when I do my hill workout or some high intensity road biking (maintaining a cadence of more than 100), I can get it up to the 180 range. Thanks to yoga and pilates, my flexability and balance is excellent, and when i snowboard with my 20yr old son i have no problem keeping up to him, and it has lowered my golf score. I dont do, nor do I discount weight training persay. But that has to do with my distaste for being cooped up inside, and i get bored quickly. Condemn me to muscle loss, but i think i'm doing not too bad for someone turning 50 in a year and a bit.

Ryan you are very informed about fitness regimes. However weight training cannot even remotely be compared to running for a cardiovascular workout. In order to raise a person's heart rate to 2.5 times its resting rate, heavy weights or many repetitions must be done. In your example a resting HR of 60 needs to go up to 150. How can a person maintain this rate to achieve any type of benefit while on a weight machine? You'd need to bench press 30 pounds for half an hour........But running will build lower body muscle mass without any need for machines or club memberships.

I worked out with weights for 12 years 3-4 days a week. I also mountain biked, played squash, ultimate frisbee, snowboarded and hockey. But what I found was that the added muscle mass of weight training actually hindered my performance in these activities, rather than helped. Reduced flexibility created less efficient movement and less power through the full range of motion. About 5 years ago I began distance running and yoga, and lifted light weights only twice a week. I lost 10 pounds, but actually got stronger since I was focused on whole body fitness rather than isolating and building a specific muscle group. The body works as a whole, and what I found with vigorous weight training was it might give you bigger muscles and more mass, but if you arent working the core and your joints as well, whats the point? Don't look strong, be strong.......

Overall, it isn't about the kind of exercise one is doing, but it is all about getting out there and finding an activity one loves to do to help maintain the waistline. Biking, running, walking, swimming, yoga and other activities have to be enjoyable to the person performing them and if you can find that then you will be more likely to maintain your weight. Then just don't eat the fast food & goodies and you will be set.

Let's all get out and enjoy the activities we love because it's summer!!!!

Be kind & courtesy to all the people enjoying the roads and the pathways this summer.

I am 60 and an avid cyclist. Been from Toronto to Montreal twice on my bike! I also belive that proper supplements and a sensible diet will also make a great deal of difference.

Allison,

My apologies. I did not mean to offend you. The comment about vogue magazine was only to state that most people obtain their health and fitness information from places that have no business positioning themselves as experts, and most of the conclusions from such media are misleading and not based on facts. That's all.

I am glad you are weight training. this is the only exercise that you listed that will slow the loss of muscle tissue,(aging) adequately.

Just because you read it in a book, does't make it true. There is overwhelming evidence to refute that western periodization is necessary, or optimal for continuing strength or lean tissue gains. However, as long as what you are doing is progressive, that is what is important.

Again, sorry if I offended you.

Romie,

Awesome Post!

The current trend in exercise advice is heading in the direction of work out harder, but not as long. Give enough effort so that you can't do for as long, even if you wanted to.

With regards to lactic acid:

This is not the stimulus for muscle soreness. Lactic acid has been shown to be completely removed from a muscle within 60min post activity via your aerobic metabolic pathway. You get sore 1-3 days later, so the time frame is not consistent.

The current accepted theory behind muscle soreness is due to microtrauma in the muscle fibers from eccentric contractions. Also, there is no conclusive literature to suggest any amout of stretching pre-workout will prevent this.

The current understanding of lactic acid is actually showing that it is not a waste product afterall, but is used as a fuel. The body converts glucose or glycogen to lactic acid. It is then taken up, and used as fuel by the mitochondria. If the training is intense enough (and consistent), the mitochondria can actually adapt by increasing in mass, allowing it to absorb more lactic acid, and therefore improving performance. (Training effect)

Don't avoid the burn! Embrace it.

Hey Ryan...how absolutely sexist and judgmental to assume because I'm a woman I read vogue. Never read it in my life. You obviously didn't read my first post or maybe you didn't understand it. Let me try again: I am committed to all 3 components...strength, flexibility and cardio. I've weight trained for 15 years faithfullly and even in the reading I do (I do read you know and I'm moderately intelligent by a lot of standards) I've addressed the aging issue adequately I believe. I run, walk, bike, swim, play basketball, volleball, baseball, weight train (periodiztion training actually...yep read that somewhere..in a real book...go figure)and I stretch everyday atleast twice....again so happy you found something that makes you so fulfilled....

This debate has taken a huge turn to semantics. Lets concentrate on the last line of the article: "Goes to show, exercise is a life-long commitment." This applies to all forms of exercise; i.e. weight training, running, swimming, gardening etc.
I dont care if you are driven and obsessive about exercise, do it grudgingly, or need to be pushed out the door with a cattle prod....the end benefit is health.
Dont limit yourself to one activity, diversity will keep you interested - especially in a country where we are at the whim of mother nature.
Learn that if you inspire others, you will in turn be inspired when you need it - join a club if you have to. You might be surprised how your meager effort can make someone else do another lap, rep or mile.
Dont use an excuse that your chosen activity isn't efficient enough, or it is challenging to other aspects of your health - do what your body will let you do at a level that you will continue to do it at.
Fuel the machine properly! Put just as much effort and research into consumption as you do into combustion - whole foods, in the right proportions. Exercise wont matter if you recover after with a 6-pack of Jos & Louis and a Blue(light).
And for heaven's sake include your kids when you can - break this obesity trend early, before it becomes a national tragedy.
You've been a great audience - Thank you, goodnight!

The issue here is NOT about running, folks, running is just an example of an activity that burns a great deal of calories; but so does swimming, jumping rope, working out on a Summit climber. And you HAVE to add weight training!! Muscles increase your metabolism and continue to burn calories when you are at rest. Watch what you eat and don't forget to stretch those muscles you worked out or you will end up very sore because of the build up of lactic acid in your muscles. Start out slowly and you will see yourself improve in endurance, strength and weight in no time. As a former stunt person who worked out 3 hours a day, at least, and then went to work, now married with a son and a very busy business life, if I work out smart some days I am in and out of the gym in 45 minutes and some days I take more time, 1 hour or more. And I work out hard, I sweat and I push myself. Not to the point of pain and if something starts to hurt I change tactics or exercises. But if you are going to be like so many women I see who take their leisurely lunch time walk, you aren't going to move those pounds, you have to put some effort into it! You have to sweat, you have to challenge yourself a bit more each time you work out. Too many people complain they aren't losing any weight even though they "work out". Well, eat less and work out more, try something different to burn more calories but you have to move your butt to lose it!

I am a good runner, probably even a very good runner. I also happen to hate it, and always have. In the Marines we ran obsessively for physical training, pretty serious runs. I didn't mind so much when the runs were dressed up a bit - mud runs in boots and utes, doing an obstacle course on the way, that kind of thing - but the plain vanilla runs were so dreadfully boring.

My favourite calorie burner is biking. There is much less joint strain. It's much easier to not sweat to death - I'll be soaked after running 5 klicks in 25 degrees, but barely damp after biking the same distance, regardless of terrain. It's much more interesting - you cover more ground. You're less likely to hurt yourself, I think. You can coast at appropriate spots to let muscle burn die down while still covering ground. Alternatively, if you are not running errands or going to work on the bike, but are out on a true PT cruise, you can notch it up to a level that you will not achieve running - not for muscles anyway.

It's good to see people out running, because whatever works to get people out there is cool. But I myself can't understand why anyone would want to run.

Aside from the running debate, there is another issue that's important to address. Actually I wrote about it in my blog post this week; there's a lot of evidence to support the notion that we need to make big changes in order to see big results (diet, exercise, lifestyle). I agree fully with this. However, I do think that - for some people - the impression that it has to be all or nothing can be a huge obstacle, rather than a motivator. I believe that while it may be talking through rose-tinted glasses (sorry for the mixed metaphor) to encourage people to do ANYTHING rather than NOTHING, people need to start somewhere, and for some people, that means starting small.

A recent CBC article said that children need to get 90 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous exercise for good health. I believe the number is probably the same for adults, but no-one's courageous enough to spill the beans. It's too scary an idea, when we can't even manage to walk a block to the store or walk DOWN a flight of stairs. In the face of that concept, or the concept of needing 3 or 4 hours a week of vigorous exercise to stave off weight gain, it's too easy for people to just shrug their shoulders and say, forget it, I'll eat the chips that give you diahrrea. 10 minutes of gardening or whatever a day might not be ENOUGH, but it's SOMETHING. www.seabuckthorn.net

I am 47 years old and started running just under 2 years ago.When I started I was 215 lbs at 5"7". Today I am floating around 175 give or take a pound.
In 2 weeks I run my first marathon, I've done 3 1/2's and 1 30 km race this year.The weight just seems to fall off me. I have never felt so healthy. My cholestoral levels are now in the safe range ( I forget my numbers but my Dr. tried to get me on meds and I refused. My last tests he was simply amazed and said no need for them and congratulations )my gout has dissappeared and my heartburn gone .What can I say about exercise but WOW.

Allison.. I don't think I am reading different things than you, just more things than you. Most of which does not come from vogue magazine or anything else of the sort.
Being exposed to more information, more research, and different opinions allows for a more objective opinion.

Btw, I don't necessarily like strength training. It's kind of like flossing. I have to do it. This is not my recreation. This is my exercise. I play regular squash and floor hockey for fun. But even if I my recreation was knitting, checkers or video games, the fact that I am strength training regularly means that I am exempt of any additional activity for the betterment of my health.

I am glad that you have found some activities that you enjoy right now, but these will do nothing to keep your functional abilities as you age. Maintaining muscle tissue will.

Let's say that you are 35. Statistics say you have alreay lost 5lbs of muscle. What are you doing to address this??

All forms or exercise are NOT equal.

Did everybody miss the point of this Article???

Everybody seems to be caught up debating whether Running is good or bad for you.

The Article isn't even about Running. It's about using Vigorous Physical Activity to moderate certain Health Concerns, only one of them being Weight loss/ Obesity.

The Author uses Running as the basis for the argument for 2 very simple reasons.
1) It is the activity that was used in the research he is referring to;
2) As noted above, it is the most efficient way to burn Calories.

I am a Runner and and work in the Pharmaceutical/ Health Industry.

Sure, running can be bad for your knees, but so can carrying 20-50 extra pounds on your frame.

But, I'm sorry people, the Running is Bad for your joints line just doesn't make sense.
Homosapiens have been running upright, chasing wild game for more than 15,000 Years. Evolution has treated us alright.

It may make a little more sense to say, Running on Concrete and pavement is bad for your joints. Do 10km on a steep technical trail and it will be your muscles, not your joints that are screaming

That said, Running is only one part.
As many others have commented.
Eating a Healthy well-balanced diet with a good macro-nutrient mix, and doing some type of weight or resistance training are key.

The addition of weight/ resistance training can kickstart your metabolism (fat loss), even for an avid runner.

Ryan...guess I'm reading different stuff than you. Glad you've found something that you like. Yep, weight training can be cardio...but not for me...i like my running, walking and swimming.

Allison

Time for my 2 cents.
I know moderately active people who, in their mid to late 40's have developed joint pain without running. I dont think that it an inevitability that with running comes joint pain. The benefits will always outweigh the possible risk.
As Allison pointed out, there is a zen quality to running that takes you away from the mind-numbing pressures of modern life. Between work, being "connected"(although i consider it being comfortably isolated and anonymous)and the mindless drone of the latest reality series, we are turning into a society that has lost touch with our bodies. Running connects mind and body, even if to tell you that you are injured or sick - take a day off.
The secret lies in learning to diversify your activities - if not run; walk, bike, rollerblade, golf, bowl etc. etc. Given the choice, I would much rather run than sit - I get more relaxation from it, but there are times when my body tells me to do something else.
I dont think i'm alone in my thinking either - last weekend i took place in a 10Km race in Sudbury ON. I finished a very respectable 30th of 236 entrants, and yet only finished 12th in the 40 - 49 age group. 15 of the top 30 finishers were over the age of 40, including Ed Whitlock - age 76 finished 9th. So get rid of that spare tire - your body will thank you for it.

Allison,

The 3 factors, strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular efficiency are ALL addressed in a "proper" strength training program.

1. Strength: obvious
2. Flexibility: When you work your muscles through their full range of motion you are addressing functional flexibility. Unless you are an athlete that requires hypermobility (dancer, gymnast) you will have all the flexibility you need for daily living.
It is IMPOSSIBLE to elongate your muscles. What you are doing through stretching programs is elongating your connective tissues making your joints more lax, increasing the chances of injury.
3.Cardio: Often misunderstood and the most misused word in health and even medicine. Literally means for the heart. This stimulus for increasing cardiovascular efficiency comes from demanding the skeletal muscles. The stimulus will be proportional to the demand. Strength training is far more demanding muscular work than any steady-state activity. So, strength training IS cardio. But most "cardio" doesn't give us the other benefits that strength training does.
I personally improved my resting from 68 to 44(measured by EKG) from strength training 2x/week for 20-30 min. If that's not cardiovascular improvement, I don't know what is!

If you want to run, run. I learned long ago not to try to change a runner's mind about this. But it's important for people who don't want to run to know that they can achieve all the positive health benefits that come with running (and then some) through a safer, more time-efficient approach to overall health and fitness through (proper) strength training.

I'm a 54 year young mother of 6 of my own. I've been running for 15 years. It always frustrated me that my legs never developed muscle and weight gain was easy unless I was constantly deligent with caloric intake. I have discovered that weight training is the best way to develop muscle quickly. By focusing on the hips and legs there is a lot of muscle potential that burns calories. I am now maintaining without difficulty not only my weight but my fitness has improved generally. I am now 130 lbs 5'7" , I will always run but now focus on the weights. Further to increasing the mileage - I have been there done that - and it was great. But I can tell that the constant pounding is too hard on the body. I want a future pain free.

I totally agree with the running theory but the problem is that runnung is so hard on your joints. I am 30 years old and exercise 5 times per week as I am aware of what I could be looking like in 5 years. Running has been difficult for me since I was about 19 from various sports injuries so I am now a bike fanatic both stationary and outdoors. I am not against running but many people do not last long with rigurous running routine.

I liked your story on running and weight gain, however you left out the all important DIET issue. I'm not talking about fad diets or starving yourself, but actually not eating junk food. My sister lost 155lbs in a year by walking (much easier on the knees) and not eating junk. Just thought I'd add my two bits.

Jeff

While I do agree that exercise is very important, I also know that I managed to lose 30 lbs just by eating right, basically the following.

1) Cut out sugar from your diet. By that I mean all added sugar. It can cause insulin spikes which can lead to getting hungry a couple hours after youve eaten and youre just hungry for more sugar.

2) Eat complex carbs. Your body uses up more energy in breaking it down and thus you burn more calories actually eating.

3)Eat fruits and vegetables in raw form. Again, your body uses up more energy to break it down and heat it up for digestion.

4) Eat good fats. Good fats will slow down your rate of digestion allowing you to feel full longer after a meal.

5) Eat regularly. Eating and snacking 5 times a day keeps your metabolism going.

Ah, the running issue. I hate running. Even as a kid, and I was an incredibly active kid, I didn't like to run for more than a few minutes. In track I was a sprinter. I enjoyed that and was good at it, but anything longer than 100 yards, and I was resisting with all my being.

And I tried to like running. I really did. But in the end, I prefer walking, swimming, roller skating, and other exercises I believe are just as good and just as fun as running is. Besides, doing these forms of exercise were less of a problem for my joints, my feet, my back and my boobs (yeah, folks forget that about women, especially the very well endowed ones).

And being overly smug is not a very attractive trait. We all have our biases, but gardening has more rewards than just exercise value, as does other forms of exercising.

I'd rather garden than run anyway, and I'm not much of a gardener.

True fitness is cardio, strength and flexibility. Strength training trains the muscles to protect the joints that take a pounding from the cardio, flexibility elongates the muscles so that you can build them...and so the circle goes.

I'm so tired of everyone always pointing out "running is bad for your knees". So was the 55 pounds extra i carried around. I'll take the chance with running. It's brought me so many places physically, mentally and spiritually that I'll do it while I can and I'll do it safely with a commitment to full fitness and the 3 components listed above combined with a healthy low fat diet focusing on healthy fats, lean proteins and wholegrains and definately the occasional guinnes!

Whatever empassions you to move and be healthy and finally get it is what you should do. If running doesn't do it for you, don't bash it, but find something that works.

Good point Rob,

We simply do not burn as many calories as we are lead to believe. If we could efficiently burn calories from activity we would have become exticnt during our hunter/gatherer years of existence when we went long periods without food and performing lots of activity.

When it comes to weight loss it's not what you put your body through. It's what you put through your body.

On top of this, strength training while on a calorie defecit will ensure TRUE FAT LOSS. Very different from weight loss, and a very important concept to understand.

Duh!

The Mystery is a hoax....it has never been a mystery. For anyone who went to a school in Canada in the last 40 years or so, and had to to the Canadian Fitness Test. We learned at a very early age the "fit" versus "not fit"...making specific reference to the waistline!

If you were skinny...you usually could do more sit-ups and flexed arm hangs....and the kids with the "waist issue" (fat kids) did less.

The more you put in our Cake hole, the more calories you intake. You have to remove 3500 calories from your system to lose 1 pound. This is accomplished by eating less or burning them off. Better yet a healthy combination of both.

This stuff isn't rocket science folks.....

I found this article to me misleading. I think that running is hard on the joints and my brother (who used to be a runner) has had a couple of operations on his knee because of it. I have the beginnings of Oseoarthritis and running would surely do me in! I prefer to walk and do non-impact sports to reduce my weight. Also, I agree, it isn't about the calories.....calories, smalories!!!!! It should be just about eating healthy and less obsession about "the weight". Our society is so crazy when it comes to what one "should weigh" etc. I blame the media for this...

I think the mystery lies in the mind. It's the question of how one person is able to pull on a pair of running shoes and blast out the door while another agonizes with indecision "should I? shouldn't I? Maybe tomorrow. Yeah, I'll go the day after tommorow - or not." and on it goes. The one who blasts off is certainly not without their share of "monkey mind" ("I'm a loser. I can't do this. Who am I kidding?") but they just manage it a little more efficiently. But how?

I'm not exactly sure about the science behind what got me, a lifelong non-exerciser, running regularly for the past, close to three years, but I'd say a lot of it has to do with some changes in my thinking. It's a little like the cartoon devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other. The devil is on one side saying "you're a loser. you can't do this. those shins are getting sore, eh? You deserve a break today." On the other shoulder it's "you rock! look how far you've come! just another 4K and you're done!" It's easy to say that you've got to stop listening to the little devil. But really, once you start doing any sort of program - and sticking to it - that voice makes less and less sense. For example, once you've run your first half marathon you're not going to be able to accept any "can't do this" messages. You've already proven - to yourself - that you CAN.

Running has taught me to believe in goals that I cannot visualise. And why not? If I start chanting "Boston. Boston. Boston" as my inner mantra (runners often have a word that they rely on when training gets hard) I'm always reminding myself that I've got big goals and big goals = believing in myself. Even if I don't achieve the goal of Boston (which I sure hope I will) I'll still get a lot of mileage out of it - achieving a lot of smaller things along the way. Even if it means just pushing myself to the next block, it's done something to help me get there.

This is what I spend half my day educating clients about.

It's not because you are getting older. It's because you are losing muscle tissue as you get older.

Saropenia, or age related muscle loss, is the number one reason for a lower metabolism from aging. The average human will begin to lose ~0.5 lbs of muscle per year after the age of 25.

www.sarcopenia.com

The bottom line is that running, while a great activity, does nothing to increase or maintain exising muscle tissue. It uses primarily Type I muscle fibers which do not produce much, if any, physical growth. The changes in these fibers are metabolic in nature. This is why the runners who stopped running packed on the pounds. The did nothing to address sarcopenia. Not to mention put thier joints through tremendous amounts of stress.

People, its not about calorie burning. It's about maintaining muscle. The only safe, time efficient way to do this is resistance training.

And women, if you think weights will bulk you up, think again. Let's put that myth to rest.

It's been well-documented that the weight impact on the knee from running, over time, results in increased incidence of knee injuries. This is compounded for us women, whose knees are already more prone to injury. The increased impact on the knees if one is overweight to begin with, is another risk factor. Furthermore, if one already has a knee injury, running is frequently out of the question.

If running works for the author, and other readers here, that's wonderful. But the article would sound less smug if it also took the potential risks into account and offered alternatives for those whose needs and abilities may differ.

As a woman nearing 50, I can attest to the positive side of running. I am an avid runner. I do not know my mileage each week but I have two or three hard running workouts each week (1.5 to 2 hours in length) as well as 3 "off days" of easy paced 30 - 60 minute runs. I do try and avoid hard surfaces like pavement, which is quite easy when you live in the Ottawa area or live in the country on dirt roads. Now that the nice weather is here I often substitute an off day run with a cycle at twice the time as my run would have been - a 30 minute run is a one hour cycle.

This is also combined with conscientious eating habits. I do like the odd bag of chips or chocolate bar, but certainly feel quite satisfied with yogurt and granola when I crave something sweet. Frozen yogurt and sorbet also feel indulgent. There is nothing like a good Guiness either, but anything in moderation will be alright.

I can proudly say that my current weight and body shape is the same as when I was 20 something.

It truly is a lifestyle.

What about the effects of long-term running on joints? If your knees don't hold up, you won't be doing a lot of running...Seems like if we're going to talk about healthy lifestyles, we should consider the whole picture, not just one metric like weight gain.

Vigorous physical activity is a key component.
Running is not the best way to maintain a healthy physique, at least, not for everybody.
I was a dedicated, if not obsessed runner for years. Running has its advantages, it requires minimum equipment, and can be done most places. However, it is hard on the skeleton, and skin, and especially joints.
Since everyone is different, and subject to different constraints, what is best for everyone is likely widely varying.
The key is deciding to make it part of your self, finding the best approach, and then being flexible enough to stick with it.
Alternatives to running and swimming include, yoga, resistance training, espeicially if set up as a circuit, so that the heart rate is elevated to 2.5 times the resting rate.
The other side to the coin is the intake of sustanance: I follow this basic approach, pay attention to how you feel after you eat; eat more of the things that make you feel stronger, and less of the the things that make you feel weaker, or less good.

Yes, do watch out for the smugness. It's a lot less attractive than a bit of extra weight.

Have we not heard this song before
At 84 perfectly healthy it becomes boring
Bert