Top 10 Reasons to Exercise Regularly (Besides Losing Weight)

Helpful article here.

Why You Should Never Trust the Before/After Pic for Weight Loss Promotion

Great exposé here.

Taking Time To Do Nothing At All

The Wall Street Journal:

After Bernard Lagat competes Saturday in the Fifth Avenue Mile, he plans to do something that would feel completely foreign to many elite runners: He will toss his sneakers in a closet and pig out for the next five weeks. No running. No sit-ups. No heavy lifting, except for a fork.

For a handful of top-notch athletes, including Lagat and fellow U.S. Olympians Matthew Centrowitz and Leo Manzano, Saturday's race will mark the end of a taxing year of competition. There were long training runs last fall, indoor races last winter and meets throughout Europe this summer. Lagat is ready for a long break, so he is going to take one—just like he has every fall since 1999.

"Rest," he said, "is a good thing."

At age 37, Lagat continues to defy the corrosive effects of time. A four-time Olympian, he placed fourth in the 5,000 meters at the London Games in August. He owns seven American records, ranging from the 1,500 to the 5,000. He is the defending champion of the Fifth Avenue Mile—he won last year's race in 3 minutes, 50.5 seconds—and doesn't appear to be slowing down at all. "Talk about a superhero," said Manzano, the Olympic 1,500-meter silver medalist.

Yet for all of the hard work he puts into training, Lagat cites inactivity as one of the reasons for his success. He takes the time to be lazy.

Read the rest.

Work hard.  Rest hard.

Reinventing Running

I am a runner.  If you are too you might want to check this out.  Pretty interesting. Obviously this doesn't come from a Christian worldview but still worth watching.



Get the book here.

What Does Eating, Sleeping, and Exercise Have To Do with Sanctification?

Great discussion here. I think we need to talk about these issues way more.

The Desk Jockey Workout: 8 Ways to Stay in Shape at the Office

Some great ideas for all you "desk jockeys" out there.

Like To Run? Check Out This New Research

Looks interesting.  I think I'll give it a try.

"That Guy" at The Gym

It's funny because it's true.

Do You Walk As a Means of Travel?

Jessie Stankey:

I grew up walking or biking most everywhere. I lived in small towns that were walkable and never owned a car. Yet, hearing that “Americans now walk the least of any industrialized nation in the world” I am not surprised. Compared with my trips in Europe where pedestrians outnumber cars, in the States walking as a form of commuting is rare. 

“We’ve engineered walking out of our existence and everyday life,” Vanderbilt says. “I even tried to examine the word ‘pedestrian,’ and it’s always had sort of this negative connotation — that it was always better to be on a horse or something, if you could manage it.”

Though now I sometimes find myself looking for the easiest way to get from point A to point B. And apparently I am not alone.

And while Americans have cut down on walking, they’ve been putting on some pounds. A recent study found that about 35 percent of adult Americans are obese, as NPR’s Shots blog reported in January. That equals “more than 78 million adults and more than 12 million children.”

We are grateful to live in a very bikeable and walkable city. Whenever the weather permits we try to get most places without our car. It’s been a good practice for us to both save money and get some exercise. 

Read more or listen to the story at NPR.

Running and the Christian Life

ThinkChristian.net:

Running is one of the worst things ever invented. It is such a bad thing that judged on its own demerits, running must be deemed to be a powerful argument against the existence of God (after all, some philosophers claim evil things as evidence there is no God). This must be why God deigned to add grace, so that we might "run and not grow weary."

I say this as someone who, in the words of bluesman Willie Dixon, was “built for comfort” and “not for speed.” The problem of running, at its core, is that it is hard. It tires you out. It makes your lungs ache, your body sore and drains away at your mental resolve with every stride. I’m speaking here of running for its own sake, since running only really becomes acceptable when done for some other good purpose, like tackling a running back or making a layup on a fast break. In these cases running is a necessary evil. Some of the best sports, in fact, are those like golf that don’t require any running at all.

St. Francis of Assisi famously called his body “Brother Ass,” a balky, troublesome thing that represented a drag, shall we say, on his spiritual development, an impediment and a constant temptation to slothfulness. There’s a certain inertia that attaches to bodily life in this world, a tendency that makes us want to rest and be comfortable. Running is decidedly uncomfortable.

And it is the difficulty of running that is perhaps what makes it such a good image of the Christian life.

Read the rest.

Dieting, Exercise and Healthy Motivations

Mike Cosper has a good post about the above issues. Good stuff. His conclusion:

In recent years, I find I'm far more motivated by how I feel than by how I look. When an injury required almost three months off from exercise last year, I once again stared at a bit of a discouraging "spare tire," but I was far more concerned with my general fatigue and weakness.

When we're healthy, we're better able to serve, love, and bless others. We don't wear out so quickly, and we're not daunted by requests to help, whether it's moving a table, leading a kids' Sunday school class, or traveling to Africa.

The dieting roller coaster isn't ending. So long as we have Big Macs and big screen TVs, there will be a host of people who wake up one day saying, "I need to lose weight." And in the world of diet books and exercise tapes, there is plenty of good science and helpful information. We don't necessarily need different goals for our weight and fitness. We need better motivations.

Read the rest.

Daddy Workouts From Home

This is my new workout plan for 2012. Four kids and I am set. If you want to borrow my kids, let me know.

Just A Little Exercise Inspiration For Your 2012

(HT:  J-Buzz)

23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health?

(HT:  Schnee)

The Connection Between Exercise and Your Brain

Owen Strachan quotes a recent NYTimes piece:

To learn more about how exercise affects the brain, scientists in Ireland recently asked a group of sedentary male college students to take part in a memory test followed by strenuous exercise.

First, the young men watched a rapid-fire lineup of photos with the faces and names of strangers. After a break, they tried to recall the names they had just seen as the photos again zipped across a computer screen.

Afterward, half of the students rode a stationary bicycle, at an increasingly strenuous pace, until they were exhausted. The others sat quietly for 30 minutes. Then both groups took the brain-teaser test again.

Notably, the exercised volunteers performed significantly better on the memory test than they had on their first try, while the volunteers who had rested did not improve.

He comments:

Want to do better in school? Remember more things? Memorize more Scripture? Remember that you’re not a brain in a vat, but a holistic person created by God to glorify him in both body and mind–or perhaps the fusion of the two. It’s remarkable how much care for your body affects your overall life performance. A story from The Atlantic a few months back suggested that careful attention to diet and exercise may play a potentially major role in warding off and defeating disease and bodily illness. For more on this point, see Matthew Anderson’s helpful Earthen Vessels.

Evangelical gnostics, take note. Many of us, I’m guessing, could use less snacking, less sugar, and more attention to our health, not because we’re scared of dying, but because we want to steward what the Lord has given us for the glory of his Son.

Running After The Heavenly Euphoria

This past weekend I ran a 5k.

Running a 5k is an exercise in torture.  At least it is for me.  You run as fast as you possibly can endure for 3.1 miles and then you collapse.  There is very little "pacing yourself".  It's really over before it starts.  These are relatively short races.

This past weekend I ran better than I ever have.  I did a 16 week training program and it really paid off.  To be honest, I was quite shocked at how well it paid off.  This led to a certain level of satisfaction in my heart.  It's fun to work hard to achieve a goal and then achieve it.

But there was a level of euphoria that I think transcends this.  It's the deep seated feeling of having run the race, battled the flesh, and endured.  You come out the other side the victor.  You didn't give up (and those thoughts were certainly present).  The finish line was crossed and the inner voices that tempted failure were squelched.

The joy, the high, the euphoria (whatever work you want to use) is unique in these extreme situations of physical effort.

I have a few friends who participate in mixed martial arts.  They have told me that this feeling is VERY intense after you have an MMA competition.  You get in a cage with one other dude who sole job is to force you to submit or knock you out cold.  Physically speaking, those are high stakes.  If you endure those three rounds, the sense of accomplishment and delight is off the chart.  Win or lose, you stared fear in the face and endured.

Recently my buddy Travis Else ran the IronMan here in Madison.  Many of you saw the interview that I did with him for this blog.  As we watched him enter into the final 100 meters of his 11 hour experience of crucifying the flesh, I was surprised at how emotional it was.  For him, for his family, and even me.  There is a sense of joy, relief, and satisfaction knowing that the race has been run, it's over, and victory was achieved.  He longed for it for 11 hours and it finally arrived.

I wonder if this is a minute glimpse into the euphoria that we'll feel in heaven.  We long for that resolution for a lifetime and then it arrives.

Life is a battle.  No question.  There are days that I want it to be all over.  I yearn for God to roll up this world like a scroll and start over.  There are voices that scream at us to give up, give in, and sign out.  There are tears and battles that flare up no matter our stage in the race.

And we get so tired.  I am tired.  We are sweaty and smelly.  The sun is beating down on us.  Our legs want to give out and our lungs are burning.  We wonder if anyone would find us if we collapsed out here.  Would anyone even care?

But there is a finish line in view.  And it's not that far off.  It's just around the corner.  If you squint you might be able to see it off in the distance.  And one day we'll arrive there and the race will have been run.  We'll emerge the victor because of God's grace in our lives. But make no mistake, the flesh got crucified and it was not easy, fun, or simple.  And it required real effort.  But there is a coming a day when the exhaustion of the race will be terminated and the rest will be finally and totally achieved.  The tension will be resolved and the beauty of Christ will consume us.  I imagine the euphoria to be constant and ever increasing.

So get off the couch and get some exercise.  Push yourself to the limit.  You might get to participate in an extremely small version of heavenly realities.  And even that tiny taste is quite delicious.

On Yoga and Christians

Mark Driscoll has an extensive post dealing with the above topic. It's worth the read since Yoga is becoming quite mainstream in our culture.

I have three or four Yoga DVDs that I have used quite extensively in the past. I have found that it is one of the best ways that I can exercise. The instructors seem a bit fruity at times but seem to focus on the physical movements and that is about it.  I greatly enjoy the physical benefits that come from these types of workouts and would highly recommend it.

That being said I appreciated Mark's conclusion. The benefits of stretching and muscle building through isometric holding is just as spiritual (or non-spiritual) as doing 50 pushups. But we may want to watch the words we use to define the workouts we are doing because words have associations that may be unhelpful.  It's all about definitions.  This is an important nuance to this discussion.

He writes:

So, in conclusion, Christians must reject yoga, as defined here. I’d also go so far as to say you should reject the term “yoga,” as it is impossible to divorce it from its historical and spiritual context without much explanation and linguistic gymnastics. Instead, feel free in Christian liberty to stretch however you’d like, participate in exercise, calm your nerves through breathing, and even contemplate the Scriptures in silence. But do so in a way that does not identify with yoga and non-Christian mysticism. Do not seek to negate your mind, but rather renew your mind with the Word of God. Do not seek to empty yourself, but rather be filled with the Holy Spirit. Do not seek to turn into yourself for enlightenment, but rather look out to the God of the Bible. Do not seek to become one with the universe, but rather be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.

Exercise is a gift of God for us to take care of the bodies that he created for his glory. It’s good and important to exercise. But we should never, in our desire to be in shape and be healthy, adopt systems antithetical to Christianity because they make us feel good or have bodily value. Rather, let’s first stay true to God and his Word and work out our bodies to his glory by his values handed down to us through Scripture.

Read the rest.

John Piper on Exercise

Part 1 and part 2.

A Couple of Engaging Documentaries for Your Health

Yesterday I wrote about Whole 30, the diet challenge for 30 days to recalibrate your system, help you lose weight, have more energy, diagnose your food idols, and care for what God has said is "very good".

Recently my wife and I have watched a couple of documentaries that have been quite enlightening and interesting.

First, Food Inc.

Here is a description:

For most Americans, the ideal meal is fast, cheap, and tasty. Food, Inc. examines the costs of putting value and convenience over nutrition and environmental impact. Director Robert Kenner explores the subject from all angles, talking to authors, advocates, farmers, and CEOs, like co-producer Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma), Gary Hirschberg (Stonyfield Farms), and Barbara Kowalcyk, who's been lobbying for more rigorous standards since E. coli claimed the life of her two-year-old son. The filmmaker takes his camera into slaughterhouses and factory farms where chickens grow too fast to walk properly, cows eat feed pumped with toxic chemicals, and illegal immigrants risk life and limb to bring these products to market at an affordable cost. If eco-docs tends to preach to the converted, Kenner presents his findings in such an engaging fashion that Food, Inc. may well reach the very viewers who could benefit from it the most: harried workers who don't have the time or income to read every book and eat non-genetically modified produce every day. Though he covers some of the same ground as Super-Size Me and King Corn, Food Inc. presents a broader picture of the problem, and if Kenner takes an understandably tough stance on particular politicians and corporations, he's just as quick to praise those who are trying to be responsible--even Wal-Mart, which now carries organic products. That development may have more to do with economics than empathy, but the consumer still benefits, and every little bit counts.

The second, Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, is also a "must see".  It's very funny and quite motivating.

Here is a description:

100 pounds overweight, loaded up on steroids and suffering from a debilitating autoimmune disease, Joe Cross is at the end of his rope and the end of his hope. In the mirror he saw a 310lb man whose gut was bigger than a beach ball and a path laid out before him that wouldn't end well- with one foot already in the grave, the other wasn't far behind. FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD is an inspiring film that chronicles Joe's personal mission to regain his health. With doctors and conventional medicines unable to help long- term, Joe turns to the only option left, the body's ability to heal itself. He trades in the junk food and hits the road with juicer and generator in tow, vowing only to drink fresh fruit and vegetable juice for the next 60 days. Across 3,000 miles Joe has one goal in mind: To get off his pills and achieve a balanced lifestyle. While talking to more than 500 Americans about food, health and longevity, it's at a truck stop in Arizona where Joe meets a truck driver who suffers from the same rare condition. Phil Staples is morbidly obese weighing in at 429 lbs; a cheeseburger away from a heart-attack. As Joe is recovering his health, Phil begins his own epic journey to get well. What emerges is nothing short of amazing - an inspiring tale of healing and human connection. Part road trip, part self-help manifesto, FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD defies the traditional documentary format to present an unconventional and uplifting story of two men from different worlds who each realize that the only person who can save them is themselves.

If you have Netflix, you can watch both of these via instant streaming.

New Medicine?

Owen Strachan:

If you’re like me, you’re pretty skeptical about that loaded question. A recent story in The Atlantic made me think more about this subject, though. David H. Freedman’s “The Triumph of New-Age Medicine,” from the July 2011 issue, makes the case for alternative medicine more persuasively than I’ve heard it. You may be skeptical at this point, and you may not come away convinced, but the piece does give you much to chew on.

Read the rest.