- [Robert] That is Good advice, Cary. And I know one thing when you talk about exercise and working out, you're a firm believer of the power of workouts, or the HIIT workouts. Explain to everybody what that's about, Cary. 'Cause I think that would fit in a good time like where we're at now because it doesn't take that long to get your exercise in. So what is that all about?
- [Cary] Well, that's, yeah, that's high interval intensity training, and that's good if you can do it. For instance, if you're walking, if you walk at a regular pace, and every once in a while, you try to walk faster for a brief period of time, then you'll walk a little slower, then you'll walk fast, then you'll walk slow. You have a bicycle, a exercise bicycle is what I used to use at the gym. You'd pedal fast for maybe 30 seconds, and then you rest for 90 seconds, you pedal fast, rest. You can do a workout in a lot, it would take less time to get more benefit than if you were doing steady state exercise. But again, something in the future that I really want to talk more about, Robert, and that's strength training as you age. Because that's the key to having a body that will work as well as possible as long as possible. And we've got too many people, as you get older, you start to lose muscle mass, and you start to lose strength. It's kinda like you're born with a V12 Ferrari engine, and each decade of life after 30, if you don't do what you're supposed to do, it's like you're losing a cylinder. And pretty soon, you're only at half of what you used to be, and you're wondering why you get so tired doing what you're doing in your functional life. You look different, your body has a whole different proportion to it as well. That's why strength training has to be a part of any intelligent aging, age impairment program along with your aerobics. That's great like you said, high intensive interval training or just some type of aerobic activity, stretching, they're all important, but actually the scientists, and you know Robert, I keep up with the literature as much as possible. I do research every day, and you'll be amazed at how many papers are being published that are just really extolling the benefits of strength training as we get older. You got two things goin' on. One's called sarcopenia, that's the loss of muscle mass and strength and function as you age, and then you got frailty, and that's where you get, it's part of the whole sarcopenia thing as well. But just you're vulnerable, you're vulnerable to just stand upright. Or the danger of falling. You're vulnerable just to be able to pick up something that normally would be no problem. So those are sad things. And you got older people in rest homes who literally can't get out of a chair without help 'cause they just lost all muscle function.
- [Robert] Wow. So it's a problem and when you do that, your hormones are affected because you're not exercising properly. In fact, if you allow me to digress, I just saw a real interesting paper. A physician in a lab, I think back East, was talking about how exercise can help people with or avoid some of the problems from the COVID-19 because the exercise helps the body produce an antioxidant, an internal antioxidant called superoxide dismutase, and it helps with a certain kind of a breathing disorder that can affect people who have the virus, and if you have this, and you've been exercising, and you have this defense, that may not stop everything, but it will keep you from getting sicker, because of the benefits in terms of this circulating antioxidant. So exercise in all ways, shape and form, Robert, just has to be a part of what you do. You can't just eat good and sit around. You know, if you have to make a choice, and I'd rather we don't, but if you have to, exercise would be more important...
- [Robert] Yeah, that's powerful. I know there's one thought as well because everyone is trying to figure this out during this crazy time that we're in. How do we get the best exercise? So there's a choice of running, walking, or cardio, and a lot of people understand that their favorite is running, but does running create more oxidation to the body, than if you were to do walking or cardio? So how does that work out?
- [Cary] Well, yeah, walking, running can be very hard on the joints, and I don't think I've known anybody that doesn't have a problem eventually with running. But you know, there's different body types. You know, there's different people who body just responds better to exercise. You and I, we're a little stockier than a long distance runner so the pressure you put on the joints might eventually prove problematic, that's why if you're gonna do aerobic stuff like that, on a bicycle, or a stationary bike, or a moving bike or something, or even swimming, that might be better. But it is good because it gets the heart going. And walking is a good general overall exercise. I mean it's just very positive. It helps with digestion, you walk after a meal, it helps you use the food better, it helps you clear your mind, but it won't add muscle, Robert, to the upper body. So it's a good thing to have, but it just isn't gonna do the trick as far as keeping that muscle mass on your body as you age. You know, the more muscle you have on your body, the more calories you burn at rest. And the more muscle you have, the stronger your bones are, you know. It has to, you have to create some tension in the body with the muscle holding the bones. If you just hold a skeleton up, it falls over. You gotta put in the tendons, the ligaments, and bone, and muscle to have it stand up. So yeah, walking's wonderful. I've been doing more of it.
- [Robert] Right.
- [Cary] I just love walking, but you gotta do the strength training. The gym's closed now. You have to be a little, if you were a gym person, you gotta be a little more creative whether you're doing some push-ups or maybe try to have a bar and chin up. But I thought these exercise bands and I've been very pleased with them in terms of the exercise that I can get. So, something that makes the muscles work harder than they normally do. That's the body's defense. Once that happens, it's like oh my god, this is a challenge, I better meet this challenge by adding some more muscle in my body. And then you gotta go over the fact that also as you age, if you wanna keep your muscle mass up, you've gotta have the right diet, and especially protein, because protein contains amino acids, especially the essential amino acids that really are responsible for building muscle, and the sad thing, Robert, again hopefully we can extol on this more in future episodes as well, as you get older, that signal that comes from the protein to the muscles to initiate what they call muscle protein synthesis, MPS, it gets weaker and weaker, so if you don't have enough protein and you actually probably need more protein as you get older, not less. You know because you're just not handling it as well as you used to.
- [Robert] Wow.