PSN No. 7: Exercise

This is one of my favorite topics, pastimes and hobbies, but of course I say that pretty much about everything I do and talk about. "Exercise is not an option." That for sure is one of my favorite quotes. Exercise is a state of mind and a consciousness. Like health and nutrition they’re all connected. They’re dependent on each other.

Someone once asked me, “Cory what’s more important exercise or nutrition?” The answer is neither. They’re both absolutely critical, essential and when homogenized and mixed correctly, and combined essentially, they equate to optimum health and excellent function.

There is a difference between exercise and physical activity. Exercise is structured, it’s something that you measure the effects of, it’s something that you devote yourself to as a science, and the outcome of your exercise program should give you excellent and total physical fitness, which ideally, you learn to transfer out into real life. That’s where the value is. You go to the gym, or you sprint, you do plyometrics, or you skill train for your sport and all of that combined with the weight-training, the stretching and the cardio, gives you excellent form and function,

You nourish your body, you maximize the energy within the cell for recovery so you can do it again and again and ultimately what you do is create the same kind of body and mind that the Spartans had and are famous for. A body that is resilient to stress, that can stand up to the test of time, and that has the inherent strength and vitality that we all need to call upon in our lives at various times and especially when we least expect it.

We live in a society that appears to be terrified of physical work. We’ll do almost anything not to move. We’ll take the elevator instead of the stairs, and we will park as close to the entrance of the shopping mall as close as we can, even if that means screaming and yelling and fighting over the spot or running someone over in a wheelchair in the process. Some people will even steal the parking stalls dedicated to the handicapped.

Our children are obese. They’re inactive and they’re sedentary and they need to be out there moving. When I was a young lad I spent very little time inside the house. I was outside every waking moment and that’s exactly where I wanted to be, rain or shine. There were no computers and no high tech gadgets.

We had to create our own playthings with whatever resources we could find outside. We built forts, we chased gophers, we had our bikes, we lived outside, we walked everywhere, and we definitely did not get a ride to school.

Exercise is a technology. You can refer to it as exercise physiology, in university they teach a science called kinesiology, and it’s all about energy and muscle cells, fibers and filaments and learning about force and contraction. It’s very complex stuff and it’s definitely a science.

Not enough people know what exercise really is and how it can benefit human longevity and quality of life. There are still many who believe that exercise does nothing except make you feel good. Well is does, but there’s a whole lot more to it than that! It is a powerful medicine and it’s more reliable than any synthetic drug that big pharma can come up with.

During our RV tour in the western United States we made it to Texas and eventually to the Cooper Institute in Dallas. That was a remarkable experience, to see how someone full of enthusiasm and desire can take an idea and make such a strong point. The point that Dr. Kenneth Cooper made is that exercise can reduce blood pressure, it can improve blood flow through the vascular system and arteries, it can change your body, it can enhance your wellness, and it can strengthen your immune system. And all of this is backed by evidence. Exercise can do some extraordinary things when it comes to helping people in need. People who are weak and frail and lacking the structure that they could or would have if they actually exercised on a regular basis.

At the end of the day, exercise should have an anabolic effect, that means it’s going to increase growth, as opposed to overall having a catabolic effect. For example, if you run long distance, at the end of that run your testosterone levels will be lower than when you started. Howeve, at the end of weight-training for say 15 minutes the opposite effect will occur. Your testosterone levels will be higher than when you started.

The next effect of exercise should be to improve your health and performance. It should not injure, waste or destroy you. There certainly is an exhaustion component to exercise but when it’s controlled, and tapered, and periodized correctly, it works out just fine. This is what exercise is all about, It’s a technology, like a computer or a television or a rocket ship, there’s a science to it, there’s a way to do it right and there’s a way to do it wrong.

Most people in public gyms have never been taught HOW to exercise correctly. They’ve never received professional instruction from people who know how to train correctly, who train themselves and who also understand nutrition.

For more details regarding how to exercise correctly please refer to my book Five Steps to Health. I think that training five days a week, one hour each day, one body part per workout, five components, five phases, five meals per day, five principles to live by, it’s all about FIVE. I designed this approach for everyone, including myself and seniors, for beginners, and Masters Athletes and young people. It’s what I teach to my students who enroll in my mentorship training partner program.

Exercise is not a dirty word. It should be embraced. It should be viewed as an essential component to the intellectual integrated modern lifestyle and philosophy associated with achieving the highest level of health and quality of life.

So train hard, train smart, and train natural. Think about all three of these components using your mind first. First, there’s a component of intensity that many people do not understand or apply.

Of course natural means whole food, dietary supplements, and none of the crazy doping agents that destroy health and that are banned by most athletic associations because they’re ruinous to human health.

In simple terms, we have to use it or lose it. The concept of Sarcopenia comes to mind here. Losing healthy, functional lean mass is not ideal and unlike days gone by, we now know why lean mass slowly disappears and fades away in the bodies of our senior citizens. It begins at age 25, but it is preventable.

Exercise creates within us a surplus of anabolic reserve and life, and that pushes out from inside against the forces that grind us down. This inner force is called negative entropy and it counter balances positive entropy, which can be explained through the science of physics and thermodynamics. The good news is that we know that there are forces working from within and without that can be understood and controlled. In this regard it is far better to know and understand reality than not to.

To last long enough in a functional state, to enjoy the wisdom and talent of our years, this is where the sense comes in. The pragmatic, wise and calculated incorporation of physical exercise, performed consistently and correctly until the day we hit the big wall disappear into the void. Live long and prosper my friends!

“Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it.” ~Plato

PSN No.7: Exercise - Clinical Review (Audio Tutorial) SNU V10N5

As always...stay well and live free.

Dr.C