No to nata

Portuguese pastries are not my favorite. I suppose, though, after walking 3.6 miles in total to take my son to school, stop at the gym, cruise the grocery isles, and walk home, I might find room for a Pastel de Nata. I didn't, but as a dear client can attest to, it's because I have an on-again/off-again secret obsession with gummy worms which are my 'go-to'. Of course, I don't eat them all the time or even regularly, but we always lean towards balance, which includes the occasional handful of gummy worms or a pastry filled with egg custard. Every culture - including Portugal's - has its indulgences and most have found a way to balance them.

And balance has been a topic for me lately. As I am currently studying for the Corrective Exercise Specialist certification, it reminds me of the little habits we SHOULD undertake to keep our bodies healthy and for which we never seem to find the time. 'Should' is always in close proximity to 'Shame' in that we often don't have the energy for all the 'shoulds' out there. We lower our eyes while describing what we should be doing but not even coming close to starting or completing. This is why I love Kelly and Juliet Starrett's 'Built to Move' because unlike their first book 'Suptle Leopard' (It was amazing, nonetheless) there's an acknowledgement that you're probably not going to check off all the 'shoulds' - life get's lifey. They built in behavior change as described in this video and worked to find those windows in a day that you can accomplish your goals without adding to an already hectic 'morning routine'. A key example is the 'Old Man Balance Test' seen here. Little tricks like this are what make a difference over time!

Gut feeling

Let's not bury the lead. Neuroscientist Peter Strick discovered a connection between the adrenal glands, the brain, and the body's postural muscles to determine how strengthening your core using methods such as pilates and yoga significantly decreases stress. In a recent TED Radio Hour podcast entitled 'Body Electric Part 4: Below the Belt', Strick makes the connection and suggests that short postural adjustments and ab-strengthening exercises can significantly impact your fight or flight response. As a side dish, I'm sending along a ten-minute core yoga video with Kassandra - I reviewed a few of them and this one has fewer opportunities to compromise your back but please use your judgement here. Talk to me if you need help finding a different core starting point.

Further, in 'The Recipe for a Nourished Brain', Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks to Nutritional Psychiatrist Dr. Uma Naidoo about what foods really do and do not impact our brain health and mood. Some may say it's taking 'food as medicine' a step too far, but it also might be a helpful nudge toward more whole foods. The research regarding yogurt was fascinating, especially because, like eggs, yogurt has had a ‘good for you one moment/not good for you the next’ reputation.

For life

It's tempting to choose one fitness modality and focus exclusively on it while ignoring other measures. I get it; we don't have much time and energy left at the end of the day, and we can sometimes prioritize what we're good at. But what's functional now may not be functional as you age, so it's essential to know where you stand regarding strength, cardiovascular fitness, and sufficient muscle. 

Dr. Andy Galpin offered the following measures on a recent informative episode of Huberman Lab. He also illustrated why measuring multiple parameters is important by citing research in which twins - one endurance athlete and one sedentary twin - showed a significant difference in aerobic capacity, which favored the athlete as expected. In contrast, grip and other strength measures favored the nonexerciser despite his sedentary lifestyle. It's sobering if you were assuming that your favorite sport or pastime builds checks all the boxes. 

He noted that the line of independence (18 ml of oxygen per kg of body weight per minute) was an aerobic capacity that determined whether elderly individuals could live on their own, and that any measure 22 and below left subjects vulnerable should an illness result in a loss of fitness. Galpin also noted that a resting heart rate of 60 to 80 was considered normal, but he believed a sub-60 heart rate preferable. To assess muscular balance or risk of injury, he suggested that one can examine movement patterns at each major joint (shoulder, elbow, low back, hip, knee and ankle) using upper body press/pull and lower body press/pull exercises in a slow and controlled way. Examples would include a push-up, a pull-up, a squat, and a deadlift. Examine each joint’s movement for:

Symmetry - From front to back, left to right, can each limb move consistently.

Stability - Determine if the movement can be performed slowly, with a 3 to 5-second pause at the bottom with no shaking, side-to-side slide at the hips, or movement outside or inside the expected path.

Awareness - When an outlier movement is detected, can it be corrected with prompting or guidance.

Range of motion - Can the full range of motion be performed.

Once joint movement has been assessed, the following tests can be performed:

Muscular Power

Standing broad jump - measure the jump from the tip of the toe at the starting position to the heal position at the end of the jump. Men should be able to jump their height while women should be able to jump their height minus 15%

Grip Strength

Dead hand from a pull-up bar: 30 to 50 seconds is sufficient, but greater than 60 seconds would be optimal.

Muscular Strength

Leg extension test: For subjects under 40, One body weight rep on the leg extension should be possible. For each decade after forty, subtract 10%. 

Goblet squat hold with 1/2 your body weight: hold at the bottom of the squat for 45 seconds. See video for the proper form.

Hypertrophy (Muscular size or mass)

Bioelectrical impedance: (These measures are applicable if your bodyfat percentage is below 30% for men or 35% for women) - In this measure, the FFMI (fat free mass index) for men should be 20 or higher while women should be 18 or higher. The danger zone would be sub 17 FFMI for men or sub 15 FFMI for woman.

Muscular endurance

Plank: There should be a minimum of a 60-second hold for a plank and a 45-second hold on a side plank.

Further, men should be able to do 25 push-up repetitions with no pauses and through a full range of motion. The marker for women should be 15 repetitions, but anything between five and fifteen is okay due to the strength component.

Anaerobic capacity

Run/row/sprint/bike (any modality in which you could deliver a maximal performance and then sustain that effort for 30 seconds): Sufficient performance is determined by the ability to maintain the effort for the full 30 seconds, the ability to get close to your predicted HR max, and the ability to recover. In a three-minute recovery, testing subjects should drop their heart rate 30 beats in the first minutes and then a subsequent 15 beats for the next two minutes. 

VO2 Max

This is more complicated to measure and may require more technical skills. To approximate a VO2 max test in a way that's more easily accessible, the following are options:

Cooper Test: In 12 minutes on a treadmill or a track with clear, measured distances, go as far as you can as quickly as you can and record the result. Check the results here.

1-mile walk test: walk a mile as quickly as possible and record the time and heart rate into the testing protocol here.

Long-duration steady-state exercise

You should be able to maintain consistent capacity for 20 minutes without stopping. Ideally, this should be harder than walking and achievable via nasal breathing if possible.

Completing the once yearly protocol - these tests can be performed in the following order over three days.

Day 1

FFMI / Body Comp / after a 48 hours rest

Power broad jump/ leg strength / muscular endurance

Day 2

Long-duration cardio test (as a warm-up for the next test)

Anaerobic test

Day 3

VO2 Max test

Head over heels

The overhead squat assessment is one of the quickest ways to evaluate flexibility and, potentially, fall backward onto your butt. Not to say it isn't useful, but if you're trying it for the first time, it's best to line up with a comfy seat behind you just in case. This test is hugely helpful in understanding what mechanical issues might be causing wear and tear at the knee. And considering that your ability to live independently as you age may be assessed by whether or not you can get out of a chair - essentially a squat - it's important to understand and address your weaknesses. Here's a video explaining how to assess your mechanics; initially, you should be able to feel where the issues are. If you'd like, you can video your effort to send to your trainer or in the chat to me for review.

Gripping challenge

In a recent episode of Dr. Rangan Chatterjee's podcast 'Feel Better, Live More', Dr. Peter Attia gives solid advice on planning for functional decline as you age. One key component was grip strength, and I wanted to know how mine would measure up. While I once did a farmer's carry regularly when training for Strongman, that was twenty years ago. According to Dr. Attia, a woman in her 40s must be able to carry 75% of her body weight for one minute if she hopes to be able to open a jar when she's 75. See how I managed in this video.