I’m not sure myself. A lot of the cheerleading makes me crazy, and I’m digging my way out from paralysis which was amplified by having cheerleading work backwards for me.
However, I’ve got some verification on the physical side. Steve has strongly recommended the Five Tibetans (a sort of cross between yoga and calesthenics). If the material available for free online seems insufficient, try t5t, a book by someone who’s taught them to 700 people—it’s got a lot of detail about how to learn the exercises, and to modify them if you’re having problems. It’s got a woo factor which I think would annoy you, but you can ignore that and just pull out the more materially based advice.
I’ve found that the Tibetans clean up lower back pain for me, and have enabled me to fall safely—an important issue for me because there’s a fair amount of ice in the winter in Philadelphia, and I’ve hurt myself in the past.
My t’ai chi teacher’s been working with Sonnon’s breathing and movement work, and has been healing joint injuries and getting more skilled. Also, he’s having fun with working on the prasara yoga (moving yoga).
The thing about the physical side is that it isn’t just good practical advice, it takes an evidence-based attitude to come up with something that good.
As for the rest, you’re stuck using your own judgement. I don’t know of anything solidly evidence-based in that range.
That exercise works to some extent is clear, just look at bodybuilders. However i do not see a lot of evidence based work on exercises that find a good balance between health and body damage. You might notice that many bodybuilders no longer look so healthy after their 40′s.
For what it’s worth, Sonnon started out with a genetic disorder that affects his connective tissue. This means he’s a lot more careful about recovery than anyone else I’ve heard of.
That exercise works to some extent is clear… However i do not see a lot of evidence based work on exercises that find a good balance between health and body damage.
Are you talking about a specific type of high-performance exercise, or exercise in general? If the former, maybe you’re right, but I still kinda doubt it. If the latter...yeah, maybe a 40-year-old bodybuilder doesn’t look or feel as healthy as a 20-year-old bodybuilder. But I would bet you a lot of money that they are healthier than a 40-year-old who spent those 20 years not exercising.
In general, I think, the direct health benefits of exercise (lower risk of heart disease, lower risk of osteoporosis) happen even with half an hour a day of fairly gentle aerobic exercise. Beyond that, you get what you train for. By that I mean: if you want to be able to run a marathon, you have to practice running long distances fast. If you want to be able to lift 400 pounds, you have to practice lifting heavy weights. The human body adapts to the load expected of it; that’s the whole point of exercise.
There are always tradeoffs, of course. Lifting weights is hard on your joints. Running can be too. But I’ve known plenty of people who are in their 40s, are very fit, and have managed to avoid injuries. (Granted, they were people who had done swimming, cross-country skiing, martial arts, that kind of thing. Not bodybuilding, which might be a bit more ‘unbalanced.’ Older people do have to be careful to avoid injuries and do take longer to recover than younger people.)
I guess i would like to see an exercise routine that was designed from the ground up to provide a nice balance of benefits vs injury risk, and then specifically a routine that you can keep doing indefinitely.
But maybe i’m not giving the breakdown of the human body enough weight…
I guess i just want a lifelong exercise plan with easy to follow steps, one that has a lot of evidence behind it that it won’t cause early damage to bone, tissue, etc…
I’m sure that such routines exist. There are probably books about them. I haven’t investigated because I started exercising when I was younger than ten (swim team) and though I haven’t always kept up the routine as much as I`d like, my level of fitness has never descended back to start-from-scratch.
Walking and swimming are both low-impact. I know that for swimming specifically, there are numerous ‘Masters’ clubs that you can join at any level, where the idea is to keep it up indefinitely as opposed to training for a particular race or event.
I’m not sure myself. A lot of the cheerleading makes me crazy, and I’m digging my way out from paralysis which was amplified by having cheerleading work backwards for me.
However, I’ve got some verification on the physical side. Steve has strongly recommended the Five Tibetans (a sort of cross between yoga and calesthenics). If the material available for free online seems insufficient, try t5t, a book by someone who’s taught them to 700 people—it’s got a lot of detail about how to learn the exercises, and to modify them if you’re having problems. It’s got a woo factor which I think would annoy you, but you can ignore that and just pull out the more materially based advice.
I’ve found that the Tibetans clean up lower back pain for me, and have enabled me to fall safely—an important issue for me because there’s a fair amount of ice in the winter in Philadelphia, and I’ve hurt myself in the past.
My t’ai chi teacher’s been working with Sonnon’s breathing and movement work, and has been healing joint injuries and getting more skilled. Also, he’s having fun with working on the prasara yoga (moving yoga).
The thing about the physical side is that it isn’t just good practical advice, it takes an evidence-based attitude to come up with something that good.
As for the rest, you’re stuck using your own judgement. I don’t know of anything solidly evidence-based in that range.
Thanks for taking the time to explain that.
That exercise works to some extent is clear, just look at bodybuilders. However i do not see a lot of evidence based work on exercises that find a good balance between health and body damage. You might notice that many bodybuilders no longer look so healthy after their 40′s.
I’ll keep searching.
For what it’s worth, Sonnon started out with a genetic disorder that affects his connective tissue. This means he’s a lot more careful about recovery than anyone else I’ve heard of.
Are you talking about a specific type of high-performance exercise, or exercise in general? If the former, maybe you’re right, but I still kinda doubt it. If the latter...yeah, maybe a 40-year-old bodybuilder doesn’t look or feel as healthy as a 20-year-old bodybuilder. But I would bet you a lot of money that they are healthier than a 40-year-old who spent those 20 years not exercising.
In general, I think, the direct health benefits of exercise (lower risk of heart disease, lower risk of osteoporosis) happen even with half an hour a day of fairly gentle aerobic exercise. Beyond that, you get what you train for. By that I mean: if you want to be able to run a marathon, you have to practice running long distances fast. If you want to be able to lift 400 pounds, you have to practice lifting heavy weights. The human body adapts to the load expected of it; that’s the whole point of exercise.
There are always tradeoffs, of course. Lifting weights is hard on your joints. Running can be too. But I’ve known plenty of people who are in their 40s, are very fit, and have managed to avoid injuries. (Granted, they were people who had done swimming, cross-country skiing, martial arts, that kind of thing. Not bodybuilding, which might be a bit more ‘unbalanced.’ Older people do have to be careful to avoid injuries and do take longer to recover than younger people.)
I guess i would like to see an exercise routine that was designed from the ground up to provide a nice balance of benefits vs injury risk, and then specifically a routine that you can keep doing indefinitely.
But maybe i’m not giving the breakdown of the human body enough weight…
I guess i just want a lifelong exercise plan with easy to follow steps, one that has a lot of evidence behind it that it won’t cause early damage to bone, tissue, etc…
I’m sure that such routines exist. There are probably books about them. I haven’t investigated because I started exercising when I was younger than ten (swim team) and though I haven’t always kept up the routine as much as I`d like, my level of fitness has never descended back to start-from-scratch.
Walking and swimming are both low-impact. I know that for swimming specifically, there are numerous ‘Masters’ clubs that you can join at any level, where the idea is to keep it up indefinitely as opposed to training for a particular race or event.