What is the healthiest thing one can do?

[MuddyWaters]

Im just making a number up here, but maybe 90% of the general population has no need to maintain any real level of fitness at all. It isnt required for life, or their jobs, or their leisure activities.

So why does anyone focus on fitness at all if they dont engage in competitive pursuits?

Because they compete with themselves. Whether its to see how far they can run, or how fast they can run a marathon, or how much weight they can lift.

Hey, its something to do. And generally, no matter what you do , its a healthful benefit and good way to relieve stress.

Do something, keep moviing, and as you age your quality of life will be much better. For sheer convenience, resistance training and cardio is the staple of fitness workouts. No, your not working fast-twitch fibers and your not going to be an elite athlete. But guess what, you arent anyway, no matter what you do.

As you age joint issues become predominant in many people, particularly back problems. Low impact excersises like elliptical cardio machines beats running, and low weight /high reps becomes necessary for resistance training.

I visit a gym when Im out of town for work that has a seniors program. I am amazed at some of the older people there and how little they can do compared to others their age.


Im a believer in high intensity interval training for cardio. You can get more benefit in a 20 min hitting peak intensity several times, than you can in 1 hr of slow easier effort. If you arent drippiing with sweat and breathing hard, you arent working.

Of course nothing works as well as carrying a pack up mountains, and breathing hard, 8 hrs per day for day after day.

[JAK]

Perhaps we should have begun with defining what is meant by "healthiest" when used as an adverb.

[JAK]

Actually it was used as an adjective, but the noun was "thing one can do". So I guess the implied adverb is healthy.
So what is meant by "healthy", as an adverb for activities, perhaps including mental activities, and abstract activities like doing things for others, or doing things with lasting effects. Is a healthy activity one that makes you healthy in the short term, in the long term, in the purely physical sense, in a purely sports science sense or medical sense, or does it go beyond even the medical sense? I thing for the purpose of this sense it is meant to be healthy in the sense of having a positive short,medium, and long term effect, primarily physically, but also emotionally and mentally. All work and no play makes jack a dull boy.

Personally I am convinced that the healthiest activity would be one performed outdoors, but you could argue it isn't healthy to consider doing only one single activity. You could day what one single activity when added to a lifestyle would make the greatest contribution to that lifestyle. One would have to say that is highly dependant on the individual. If someone is already outside every day toiling in the fields, our out on the banks fishing, I would say staying in and reading a book might be the way to go. For most of us today, with office jobs, and mass media and internet streaming at us all the time...

I guess it depends somewhat on where you live, but I have a relatively unspoiled and uncrowded forest, river, and ocean just outside, and within, my small but UGLY city.

[Pedaling Fool]

Just can't see primitive man lifting weights...

How do you think they got their kills back to the cave. And after all the big game died off, such as the Mastodons and such, then we started building megalithic structures such as Gobekli Tepe

So you can either start hunting big game with spears and rocks, build megalithic structures or just go to the gym and move a few weights around

[Pedaling Fool]

Im just making a number up here, but maybe 90% of the general population has no need to maintain any real level of fitness at all. It isnt required for life, or their jobs, or their leisure activities.

So why does anyone focus on fitness at all if they dont engage in competitive pursuits?

I workout, because every so often I get hit by a car while riding my bike, just a fact of life, but because I'm strong I just bounce back up. I want to be able to bounce back up just like today in 50 years from now, that is my goal

I visit a gym when Im out of town for work that has a seniors program. I am amazed at some of the older people there and how little they can do compared to others their age.

That's because so many people don't push themselves, they think they can just go to the gym and do their routine and that's it, they're good to go. Wrong, mother nature doesn't allow you that comfort.

[Pedaling Fool]

Personally I am convinced that the healthiest activity would be one performed outdoors, but you could argue it isn't healthy to consider doing only one single activity. You could day what one single activity when added to a lifestyle would make the greatest contribution to that lifestyle. One would have to say that is highly dependant on the individual. If someone is already outside every day toiling in the fields, our out on the banks fishing, I would say staying in and reading a book might be the way to go. For most of us today, with office jobs, and mass media and internet streaming at us all the time...

I guess it depends somewhat on where you live, but I have a relatively unspoiled and uncrowded forest, river, and ocean just outside, and within, my small but UGLY city.

When we switched from Hunter/Gatherers to farmers we actually became less healthy, despite the fact that they were "toiling in the fields". But I don't see it as a viable argument for returning to a more "natural" lifestyle http://hanlonblog.dailymail.co.uk/20...ible-idea.html . We humans are on a journey and there's no turning back.

[JAK]

How do you think they got their kills back to the cave. And after all the big game died off, such as the Mastodons and such, then we started building megalithic structures such as Gobekli Tepe

So you can either start hunting big game with spears and rocks, build megalithic structures or just go to the gym and move a few weights around

Well my point was they would lift weight and gain strength while doing something purposeful in addition to weight lifting, which I agree is purposeful within itself when done right. Just saying the ideal most heathiest thing would be to combine the two into a single purposeful activity, outdoors. I would say they probably did some training also, in the form of play wrestling, or social fighting at a later age, or throwing big rocks or trees around just to impress the ladies. The healthy body naturally yearns for more endurance or strength training once you are recovered and ready to go again, and aches when it is forced or compelled to stand idle especially when the muscles are fueled up and ready to go. Great stuff. Thanks for the inspiration. Getting the old body, and my daughter and her friend out for a long ski today. Its warming up to 10F. I love the way the cold gives all your muscles a workout, even the tiny ones in your skin when you are out all day.

[JAK]

Heck though, there is still plenty of weight training to be done outside.
You don't have to spend your life in the gym. What's the point in that?
Get outside and do something real. Build a log cabin or a stone wall or something.

[Pedaling Fool]

With today's higher populations here's a case for gyms and against cutting fire wood.


http://www.ksl.com/?nid=235&sid=23838436

Excerpt:

"A steep increase in heating costs has forced many Greeks to switch from heating oil to wood-burning. But the price of using cheaper fuel is growing.

Illegal loggers are slashing through forests already devastated by years of summer wildfires. Air pollution from wood smoke is choking the country's main cities. And there has been an increase in blazes caused by carelessly attended woodstoves.

Three children died in a northern village last month when a fire gutted the home of their grandparents, who had recently changed from oil-fueled central heating to a wooden stove to save money.

In Athens, the capital, officials have warned of severe health risks from the low-lying smog that smothers the city at night, when fireplaces and woodstoves burn at full blast in poorly insulated homes.

Greece's leading medical association is demanding urgent action to clean the air. But those warnings have largely been ignored for a simple reason: Burning wood provides the same warmth as heating oil, for roughly half the cost."

[JAK]

If we all want to live like the way they raise chickens these days, great.
I'm more of a free range chicken myself. lol

[Pedaling Fool]

If we all want to live like the way they raise chickens these days, great.
I'm more of a free range chicken myself. lol

Sad fact is, the majority of us do have to live like farmed chickens, much more environmentally friendly than each of us living on acres of land. The price of creating a society and health care system that increases our life expectancy.

As counter-intuitive as it may seem, the largest, most crowded cities are far more easier on the environment than the most green eco villages; it's just not environmentally feasible with today's populations for people to live under "free range" conditions.

[T-Dubs]

My own theory, this theory which is mine and only mine, is that it is best to adopt a liefestyle which involves as much natural outdoor activity as possible and a diet which involves as close to natural food as you can get, and by natural I mean what you would have been doing 10,000 years ago, except the nasty stuff. Basically lots of low intensity prolonged activity like walking or paddling or trudging or skiing to get someplace, and some harder stuff now and then, preferable building something besides muscles. Have fun with it. Watch out for the cave bears.

This sounds about right. I'd add, get lots of sleep, some sun on bare skin and ( perhaps most important) pay attention to resetting your circadian rhythm.

http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2011/03...adian-therapy/

[rocketsocks]

This sounds about right. I'd add, get lots of sleep, some sun on bare skin and ( perhaps most important) pay attention to resetting your circadian rhythm.

http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2011/03...adian-therapy/

I sit in front of a grow light (germicidal bulb) but not to long, if I'm really down, I break out the short wave, less 420nm...but that's dicey! also take Vit D, and drink lattes....Truth!

[JAK]

Opens up a can of worms. I had a schoolmate from a larger city in Northern China, here in our city of 100,000 and province of 600,000. She didn't mind the climate but could not stand that we were so damned underpopulated. Scared the heck out of me. It really did. Made me feel connected with the Native American plight, not in a good way.

“If one's different, one's bound to be lonely.”
― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

[hauptman]

Sleep, vegetable, and sex.

[rocketsocks]

Hey John, just caught the link on Squats...Nice! I like the Spidey figure. Feet shoulder width, toes slightly pointed out, back straight, don't let the knees go beyond the plan of the toes...Keep em coming!

[Pedaling Fool]

Hey John, just caught the link on Squats...Nice! I like the Spidey figure. Feet shoulder width, toes slightly pointed out, back straight, don't let the knees go beyond the plan of the toes...Keep em coming!

Mother Nature really screwed up the design when it comes to knees, but this fixes her screw up, somewhat... http://www.weight-lifting-complete.c...ing-exercises/

[rocketsocks]

Mother Nature really screwed up the design when it comes to knees, but this fixes her screw up, somewhat... http://www.weight-lifting-complete.c...ing-exercises/

Thanks John, "boy this is gonna suck"..in a good way.

[Pedaling Fool]

Hey there's a video on this link and this guy really doesn't look like he's 91

91-Year-Old Man Sets Bench Press World Record

A New Bench Press World Record Was Set By A 91-Year-Old

Comeback stories are common in the world of sports. We hear about players coming back from torn ACLs, broken bones and even personal trauma.

Rarely, however, do we hear about an athlete returning from pacemaker surgery.

That's what 91-year-old Sy Perlis overcame to set a new world record in the 90-and-over weightlifting class. The Surprise, Arizona, native recently competed at the National Push-Pull Bench Press and Dead Lift Championships, and his final hoist of 187.5 pounds was good for the record books.

Perlis, a World War II veteran who didn't start lifting until he was 60, dominated the 85-to-90 age group before transitioning into the 90-and-over class. He had to sit out last year after surgery to fix a hernia and implant a pacemaker. Now he works out five days a week.

“It gave me the opportunity to do something to test myself for one thing, and I didn’t have to run around to do it, as you would in some other sports,”
Perlis told the Arizona Republic of weightlifting. "I got a lot of satisfaction out of it, and it made me feel good, and it was good for me."

Perlis' hobby hasn't just been beneficial for him; it's also motivated his wife.

"I always say if it weren't for my husband, I’d be at home watching TV and eating bonbons,” Joan Perlis, 69, told the Arizona Republic. "He’s my motivator. He makes me work out, too."



Read more: http://www.askmen.com/sports/fanatic...#ixzz2YeMJ0iOS

[Dogwood]

I think you said it in your OP. There is no ONE magic bullet or pill or key or thing to do to achieve optimal health(not to be confused with physical fitness or athleticism) just as a thru-hike IS NOT completed in ONE STEP. Achieving optimal health is gained through a lifestyle. It's like this with MANY(most?) things in life. And, there are rarely quick fixes when we sober up and find yourselves in the opposite corner of where we want to be. Folks who think contrary to this often don't take the step(S) necessary to turn their situations around. We often don't get into an undesirable position in one swooping step and it will not always take one swooping step to get out of that position. TOO MANY want and think there will always be quick fixes to complex problems they find themselves in. Personally, when I want BIG changes to occur in my life I've learned that I OFTEN have to take MANY SIGNIFICANT ACTION STEPS in a CONSISTENT manner always moving towards that ultimate goal, much like completing a thru-hike! But, I've also learned to appreciate every little thing I do along the way to achieving that ultimate goal, much like the way I thru-hike. I always want to appreciate and enjoy the journey with each and every step I take. It's amazing how much more can be accomplished when we take that approach.