Matt Metzgar

Jogging is Not Enough

I see an older lady down the street out jogging most days of the week.  She seems to be moving very slowly and doesn't appear to be in good shape.  I wonder, is she doing anything else for her fitness besides jogging?

There is a lot about misinformation on jogging and its effects.  Many people reject jogging all together, believing it has zero health benefits.  I don't feel this way, and I think jogging can be an effective part a fitness program. 

Jogging is just another name for easy running.  And in general, running is a great way to improve aerobic capacity.  A good running program mixes in easy, medium, and hard running.  Therefore, easy running (jogging) is one component of a plan that can increase maximum aerobic capacity.

Where people are mistaken is when they design a fitness plan that includes jogging only.  A program with only jogging does not contain enough intensity, and therefore aerobic fitness will decline over time.  This may be the case of the lady I see - she is always running slow, I have never seen her running fast.  The idea with running is to get faster: the faster you become, the more your aerobic capacity has improved. 

Does Exercise Work?

Here's an interesting article by Gary Taubes, a science writer.  The article is quite pessimistic about exercise, as he concludes that exercise is generally ineffective for losing weight.

I have to disagree with his conclusions.  First, the exercise programs he uses as examples are not ideal, as the programs lack intensity.  He talks about how subjects training for a marathon generally did not lose weight.  This is no surprise to me, as it is a misguided notion that being able to run a marathon means a person is in good aerobic condition.

Second, what about all the success stories out there, of people who are overweight getting into shape?  Certainly, exercise worked for them.

Third, he doesn't mention anything about weight training.  Weight training is important for maintaining lean mass and the metabolic rate during aging.

Bad Philosophies

I think philosophy is an underdeveloped subject in general.  I took a couple of philosophy classes back in college, and they were pretty bad.  Rehashing Greek philosophy, lots of confusing jargon - none of it seemed very usable in the day-to-day sense.

I'm waiting for someone out there to modernize philosophy, to make it more scientific and applicable.  I do think that the beliefs that make up a person's philosophy (whether conscious or not) ultimately determine the direction of their life.  I almost think it's like a mathematical formula, such that if a person believes "x", then their life will turn out a certain way in the long run.

That's the tricky part about a life philosophy, is that you need a long time horizon to see the results of it.  Many people can achieve success in the short run, but end up disintegrating over the years.  A lot of this is predictable, too - you can see where the lack of a proper foundation/philosophy will eventually yield bad results.

Declining Testosterone

I have seen a few news reports lately about declining testosterone levels in men.  Here is a recent study that suggests there is a population-wide decrease in testosterone levels in men.

My first thought was this was related to the obesity problem, since increased abdominal fat lowers testosterone.  But researchers controlled for obesity, smoking, and other lifestyle factors.  As it turns out, the researchers couldn't firmly provide an answer for what is causing the decline in testosterone.

There is some speculation that it is chemicals, such as insecticides or other chemicals that have estrogen-like effects on the male hormone system.  Another possibility is sleep, as explained in this article.  I hope to do more research on this interesting subject.

Aerobic Training Does Not Equal A Marathon

It seems to have become more fashionable for people wanting to get into shape to run a marathon.  I ran a marathon once, and there is a certain sense of accomplishment to it.  But relatively speaking, it is a very poor method of trying to get into shape.

Being able to cover the marathon distance, 26.2 miles, is not really a indicator of health.  The idea of aerobic training is to build your aerobic capacity or VO2max, not to be able to run endless miles.  VO2max usually goes up when people get faster over a certain distance, not necessarily when they are able to cover longer distances.  Said another way, a person who can run one mile fast is in much better aerobic condition than someone who can only run a marathon slow.

Improving aerobic condition does not mean putting in tons of miles on the road or bike.  A well-balanced program of easy, moderate, and intense training is right way to go.

A Nice Comment

There was a nice comment on the blog that I wanted to note.  The comment was on this original post on prenatal testosterone, but it has pushed off the front page of the blog due to all the recent picture posts.  Here's the comment:

"I have a paper in press in the American Journal of Human Biology in which I show in some experimental studies that low 2D:4D is a marker for a high status drive, as the effect of status position on impulsivity ( as measured by discounting levels) is especially pronounced for men with a low 2D:4D. As our data point to a higher status drive in low 2D:4D participants, we provide support for the conclusion of Hönekopp et al. (2006) that 2D:4D in men may be a negative correlate of frequent exercise which then relates to achievement in sports and athletics. However, our argumentation is not that these people are 'better build' for this exercise, but that they just have a higher need to achieve."

This is different from my original idea, but it seems perfectly reasonable to me (and besides, I'm not an expert on this particular topic).  As was said, perhaps people with this quality just have a higher need to succeed, and are more willing to continue pushing themselves through rigorous training.

Modern Savannah

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that golf courses are modeled after savannah landscape.  To me, this help explains the popularity of golf, and also why real estate near golf courses is so pricey.

Earlier tonight I walked around the golf course down the road.  It is so much nicer compared to walking through an area with traffic and noise.  I'm sure the differences in stress reduction are significant as well. 

Biophilia Part II

My recent cross-country trip provided me with lots of exposure to different landscapes.  What was interesting was that I enjoyed the scenery more and more the further East I went, such as would be expected with the biophilia hypothesis.  Briefyl, biophilia is the idea that we have a natural landscape preference of a savannah, such as the African savannahs where the hunter-gatherers evolved.

Starting from Las Vegas, Nevada and Arizona were mostly stark desert territories, and I didn't enjoy the scenery that much.  New Mexico had a few more hills and some green, and then northern Texas had even more green.

I thought Oklahoma had the prettiest landscape of the trip.  Some of the areas with rollling hills, grass, and trees were very savannah-like and very beautiful.  I wish I would have had more time to get some pictures there.

Obesity is the "New" Smoking

USA Today had an article yesterday about how some apartment complexes trying to ban smoking.  But what interested me was a sidebar on the decline of smoking in the U.S.  In 1965, 42.4% of the adult population smoked.  In 2004, it was down to 20.9%, and maybe it's dropped more since then.

This is great progress, though it sure took a long time.  This got me thinking though that the obesity/overweight problem is really the "new" smoking.  Currently, about 65% of adult population is overweight/obese.  So in comparison, this public health problem is actually worse than smoking was.

Smoking has decreased due to continued education, government action, and perhaps social peer pressure.  I wonder if the same combination will work for the weight problem.  I am not sure because the two problems are different in a crucial way: smoking is something a person can just stop doing, but getting in shape requires some type of action (exercise).  Even if a person eats a perfect diet, if they are inactive, they will slowly gain weight.

I also wonder if the decrease in smoking is related to the increase in overweight/obesity.  Of course, smoking is an appetite suppressant, and many people who quit smoking gain weight.  I'm sure someone has studied this, but I haven't come across anything.

Aging and Sprinting

After age 25 or so, the body starts to go downhill unless corrective action is taken.  It's as if the body is on auto-pilot the first 25 years, cranking out hormones and keeping everything vital.  Then, the slow cascade downward begins.

So what's a person to do?  In a nutshell,

• Some type of weight-training to maintain/build muscle mass
• Some type of aerobic training to maintain aerobic capacity (VO2max)
• Some type of sprinting/explosive movements to keep hormone levels up
• Something resembling a Paleo diet to provide the right amounts of calories and nutrients
• A bit of intermittent fasting to facilitate cell/body repair

Of these, I think that sprinting is one of the most important components to be overlooked.  In Phil Campbell's excellent book, Ready, Set, Go!, he writes that even though he did weight training and aerobic training, he remained overweight.  It wasn't until he added sprint workouts that he achieved his fitness goals.

I do think sprints are a big key in keeping up good hormones, especially in men.  Children naturally do a lot of sprints, and so this play-training probably implies that sprints were a part of our hunter-gatherer past.  For example, when I was out earlier tonight for a run, I saw a couple of boys down the street passing football and sprinting after each other.  It all seemed very playful and natural, and also very healthy.  Of course after this, I did a couple of sprints on my way back to the house.