Philip J. Goscienski, M.D.
October 2008
We no longer call it a gym. It's now a fitness center. Instead of grunting, sweating wannabe bodybuilders you're more likely to find wannabe-young-again Baby Boomers. That's the biggest change that I've noticed since I had my exercise awakening a couple of decades ago. Back then I was the oldest guy in the weight room. After more than 20 years I'm not the oldest any more!
There is no argument that persons who exercise live longer, healthier lives. Some experts in the field of type 2 diabetes refer to it as an exercise-deficiency disease. Regular physical activity lowers the risk of a range of diseases, from Alzheimer's to stroke. Americans are gradually getting the picture.
When Dr. Kenneth Cooper launched his aerobics program more than a generation ago he showed that fitness matters. Aerobic exercises include walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, etc. True fitness goes beyond aerobics and includes resistance exercises as well. That's especially important to prevent osteoporosis. Resistance exercise, whether through the use of free weights (dumbbells and barbells) or the myriad of machines that provide safety and convenience, is the other side of the exercise coin.
Mega-gyms are not the only kids on the block any more. There has been a proliferation of small facilities that cater to the busy working class and to older persons who feel a little self-conscious among intense, athletic, Spandex-clad youngsters. Often located in a renovated storefront surrounded by residential neighborhoods, these mini-gyms tout a short, 30-minute workout in a circuit of exercise machines whose settings can be adjusted easily and whose seats are comfortably padded.
Without a barbell in sight, these unobtrusive fitness centers provide the very kind of physical activity that kept our Stone Age ancestors fit and lean. With proper instruction members should be able to exercise every major muscle group and most of the 700-odd individual muscles that humans have needed for ordinary living during the past several hundred thousand years. The labor-saving devices of the 20th century gave us convenience at a price. Obesity and its complications and osteoporosis are the direct result of modern humans' 75 percent decline in physical activity since the early 1900s.
When we stop using any muscle for as little as 2 weeks it becomes smaller and weaker. It's a matter of bioeconomics; nature will not maintain structures that are not being used. They are a drain on the body's economy and nature will cut back on their supply of oxygen and nutrients. Thus begins a crippling cascade that leads to all of our so-called diseases of aging.
A 30-minute circuit of moderate exercise 4 or 5 days a week is a good start and it will keep muscles toned, preserve bone mass and limit weight gain with a proper diet. Unfortunately it usually takes about one hour of daily exercise to bring about a significant loss of body fat. A very rough estimate is that one hour of brisk activity will burn about 300 calories. With no change in food intake that could amount to about a pound a week. Just imagine what you'll look like in a year!
Philip J. Goscienski, M.D. is the author of Health Secrets of the Stone Age, Better Life Publishers 2005. Contact him at drphil@stoneagedoc.com.