raz...

Weights, Strength-Building

by

Muscles are what makes the bones and body move. We don’t often think of their importance, until we don’t have what we need.

The science of muscles is like much of the body itself incredible systems of complexity. For Those of a Certain Age (TOCAs), to whom these posts are intended, the first item of importance is that muscles decay away with age, apart from its obvious decay from non-use; and when both TOCA-aging and non-use, irreversible, serious trouble is the outcome. The aging statistics vary by decade, gender, activity, diet, and likely a dozen other factors. The important factor for TOCAs is the inevitable decay by age which can be slowed and the condition of non-use, which can be stopped until one’s literal final days.

Importance of Maintaining Muscle Mass

It is very difficult, but not impossible, for TOCAs to build mass. (At some point, far down the decay scale, yes even limited added activity can improve musculature; but that is not our to be our intended state of being except for our very last days).

So the primary goal, which is reasonably achievable, is to sustain one’s muscle mass as much as possible as we age. As in prior poses, Peter Attia MD, and his peers (Huberman, etc.), provide the science and medicine behind why and how muscles are changing, for good or ill, and can be sustained and perhaps even grown in number and / or strength.

The operational essence of such wise counsel is use them, and stress them, to not lose them, and to slow down their inevitable decay.

As mentioned in previous posts, Attia recommends thinking about one’s marginal decade of life (the last one), even aspiring to the 10th one (one’s 90s), as to what each of us will want the physicality to enable specific capabilities. He calls this working toward one’s Centenarian Olympics (CO). So, Attia has his list of 20 or so ‘events’ in his vision of his CO, and invites us to do likewise.

We are not training for literal track and field events like the 50 meter high-hurdles. But most of us TOCAs would like our CO ‘event’ to include the desire and ability to travel, by whatever means–planes, trains, and automobiles (perhaps not during a Thanksgiving snowstorm)–including walking, hiking, biking, swimming, playing something like baseball, tennis, golf, even competitive tournaments thereof.

Another ‘event’ that should be on everyone’s list is taking care of one’s personal needs, and the enhancement of them, as shopping for and preparing special dining experiences, or ‘a night on the town’ as we used to say.

Power of Weights

Lifting and carrying weights is the great strength multiplier. What we strain, short of harm, does make us stronger.

The variables of weight lifting are the magnitude of the weight itself, the number of ups and downs (‘lifts’), the number of repeats (‘reps’), and the training cycle of days on and off. (For those seeking a little humor on “lifts,” see YouTube’s of the late John Pinet in a comedy bit about his late-in-life personal trainer experiences; sadly, it may have been too late in life for him, as he passed too soon).

For safety reasons most trainers recommend biasing toward lower weights that can be performed for more lifts. For upper body exercises that could be 10 lifts which can be performed short of an ultimate ‘can’t do one more.’ For lower body exercises, the lift number is usually recommended to be higher, perhaps 15-20 lifts.

As to reps, some trainers recommend two or three of each exercise. Alternatively, one can do multiple different exercises for any given muscle group and so one rep per exercise is effectively a multi-rep session of lifting. More on this below regarding a Functional Trainer (machine, not person).

For a full-body weight training program, a suite of exercises numbering in the one to several dozen range. (I’ve settled on 25, as described below…but something is better than nothing…much better than nothing).

As to frequency, days “on” and “off,” it is typically recommended to alternate days of working the same muscle group. Some prefer a whole body approach on a MWF or TTS framework. Some of us prefer to engage daily, so as not to ‘break the chain,’ and so alternate muscle group each day but lift each day without fail or excuse, taking just one day off a week.

Form

As discussed in earlier posts, it is critical for us TOCAs to avoid injury that puts us out of action, even for just a week, let alone a month. Things go downhill quickly with idleness even for the youth, but especially for us.

Hence it is very important to be trained by someone of skill in this subject area. We do not automatically grasp how each exercise movement needs to be done (1) to be effective, and (2) to minimize the risk of injury. This is further complicated by the existence of many dozens of distinct exercises one can profitably perform, and the difficulty of learning them by words or drawings. Having a knowing observer-coach is particularly helpful.

Such training is (broadly speaking) of two types. One is the ongoing relationship of a “coach,” who for months or years guides one through an ever varying exercises, watches for form, provides motivation (“okay, just two more…and make them good ones”), and aids in record keeping. This can be done one-on-one or as part of a group. Usually such service is connected to membership in a health / fitness facility (more below).

The other form of training is a ‘let’s get you started out right’ coaching to enable the development of a workout plan to safely work out on your own, perhaps with check points / tune-ups quarterly.

Venue

One needs to develop the habit of lifting weights, and so one needs to tie the activity to schedule, plan, and venue.

For some, the venue that works best is the health club. For others, it’s home.

With the health club option, the barrier to behavior is physically getting there. Once there, it is usually easier to put on that training persona and get to work. With the home option, the ‘getting there’ is right in front of you, but because it’s right in front of you, it is easier to dabble at exercising.

One obvious way to figure this out is to try first a short-term health club option. There will be many machines, and individual weights, and people using them (which persons may be good exemplars), and the availability of trainers of some expertise. If such venue works for you, then it’s a great solution.

There are some downsides. Two of which are (1) distractions from other people, particularly having to wait your turn, and (2) sharing sweat with many previous users who handled the equipment.

Virtues of a Home Gym

If one has the room, and discretionary funds, setting up an effective home gym is quite easy. There are two equipment requirements: free weights (primarily dumbbells) and some kind of a machine.

Free weights can be individual dumbbells, such as 10, 15, 20, 25 pounds, or ‘blocks’ that can be made into such discrete weights by the positioning of pins or levers.

Weight machines come in a plethora of forms. I recommend a category which is sometimes referred to as a “Functional Trainer,” aka “cable machines” and “multi-gym machines.” (Functional trainers of many different types are widely used in health / fitness facilities). For home use, and practical considerations of space, one should look for a basic machine that can do many different exercises.

The way functional trainers work is all the weights are permanently built into the machine, typically accessible to its cables in 10 pound block increments. Then by placement of a “pin,” the weight of any given exercise is established. Then such weight is connected through pulleys to handles (and bars) positioned at various elevations and sideways positions.

Inspire Fitness is one manufacturer of such machines. I use and can recommend their simplest system, the “M1 Multi Gym.” There are perhaps 40 or 50 different exercises one can do with it. After some experimentation, I’ve settled on 25 of them to be completed 3-5 each per day so over the course of six days each week the plan is completed. It is reasonably compact and suitable for a garage or basement. It could fit in a large den, but not likely in a spare bedroom.

Using a fitness club facility for a period of some months can give you experience with many such machines. However, these machines are bigger and more rugged because of their commercial context than one needs, or wants, for home use.

There are many different options of machines. A visit to a store selling multiple brands is illuminating. Plan to spend about $2K; but one can spend much more. Also, I recommend buying the installation service–typically called “white glove” assembly and installation, meaning it’s not inexpensive–as otherwise you will receive it by shipment of boxes weighing hundreds of pounds of loose parts with assembly directions you will be challenged to follow.

Develop the Habit

If you as a fellow TOCA has had a physically idle or intermittently or unsystematic exercise life, the problem with getting started is getting started. Once started, the problem shifts to keeping at it. (Again, John Pinet’s hilarious bit on his exercise plan is amusing, particularly his reaction to being told by his trainer that after getting started he won’t want to quit).

At some point, let’s call it Stage 3 (Stage 1 was getting started, 2 was staying started during the early weeks of dopamine driven enthusiasms), one does get into a routine. Record keeping helps, partly to show the gain that comes from the pain in mathematical terms, and partly to get the “x” or check-mark so one doesn’t ‘break the chain.’ (Another comedian, Jerry Seinfeld, offers a serious lesson about such ‘chain’ with regard to what is the critical skill to becoming a funny comedian, or a person of accomplishment in general). I’ve created a one-page Excel table with my 25 exercises that I print off each week, with the current pin-settings (weight) for each exercise, wherein I record the lifts, and after which award myself a checkmark, days Monday through Saturday. After months, and then years, of these paper records, contrary to John Pinet’s joke, you really don’t want to stop.

For those wanting a bit of John Pinet humor, here’s his bit on exercise. Sadly, he passed at the age of 50. Perhaps if he’d become his exercise sooner, he would have had his years be longer, and certainly more physically vital.

For those wanting to hear Jerry Seinfield’s counsel on developing a worthwhile habit, ‘don’t break the chain,’ it appears to stem back only to some distant print interview Since then it has been popularized by a thousand YouTube podcasters attributing it as “The Seinfeld” method (as I have done). Here’s what (apparently) Jerry himself said about it (per a reddit post): “This is hilarious to me, that somehow I am getting credit for making an X on a calendar with the Seinfeld productivity program. It’s the dumbest non-idea that was not mine, but somehow I’m getting credit for it.” So, “Seinfeld’s Method” has become a shorthand version of the more general management principle that “you get what you measure,” and that the check-box (or “x”) spawned dopamine ‘hit’ is a self-satisfying, motivating neurotransmitter, which can be a good ‘drug’ of choice (but not always).

Cycling Vitality

by

Following the thread of previous posts, our purpose here, for Those Of a Certain Age (TOCAs) is to build up one’s vitality as can be measured by VO2 Max (and other metrics) so that during our final decade of life, perhaps our Centenarian Decade, we are able to move our carcass and do stuff (such as we will then have it to move and do).

Previous posts negated running / jogging as a means of achieving such goal because for most of us TOCAs it carries substantial risk injury of knee, hip, and who knows what else. And the consequences of losing lower body mobility are massive. Again I reference Peter Attia MD for data and terror on the massively adverse effects of becoming idled for any period of time, even just weeks. And confined to bed rest for a week could be the beginning of a one way trip to rapid, irreversible decline to a non-ambulatory end-of-life period. So avoiding injury is a primary goal. We should also beware of the risk of sudden death as we can easily be lured into too much fitness work too soon, and without a good understanding of the condition of our heart (for instance).

On the subject of heart health, a stress test with a cardiologist is a very good idea. Stress tests are pretty simple and routine, covered by insurance with a doctor’s diagnosis, something one can justify doing every two or three years. That plus the usual EKGs and ultrasound are pretty simple to get done, and they could give an early warning indicator of something serious that should curtail exercising outside of a doctor’s supervison.

In the previous post, I conveyed the judgment of exercise and medical authorities that rucking can be an excellent cardio-building practice. There is some risk with rucking as the load on the legs and knees is greater than just standing and slightly more than just normal walking. Plus there is some risk of back injury and falls.

Here in this post I will extol the virtues of cycling in multiple forms based on my own experience: about 40,000 miles of pedal biking in about the past dozen years, including pedaling Route 66 from Chicago’s Buckingham Fountain to just shy of the Eastern border of New Mexico. And I have done those miles primarily on the below seven vehicles:

  1. Diamond Frame Bike, the traditional design, Giant (aluminum)
  2. Tandem Recumbent, Expedition by Catrike
  3. Tandem Recumbent, 559 (also a Catrike), in two configurations, (A) as original, and (B) with an aftermarket e-assist upgrade
  4. Tandem Recumbent, Dumont (yet a third Catrike)
  5. Trail e-Bike, Aventon Aventure 2
  6. British folding bike, Brompton
  7. Folding Tandem, Bike Friday
  8. Stationary Bike, Schwinn Airdyne

Most of my miles have been on bikes #2 – 5 and these are the ones I’ve retained, along with the stationary bike. And, yes, adding up the costs gets you into five figures, quite easily. (And, true confessions, there were additionally three motorcycles, or as I prefer the term “motorbikes:” Suzuki VSTROM 650, Triumph Explorer 1200 XRT, and, presently, BMW 850 GS…which in aggregate added another 40,000 miles of travel in the last dozen years–but that’s a different post).

Between the pedaling and motor bikes I have managed to go around the earth (in miles) about three times. I’ve detailed some of these adventures on another website.

Virtues of Biking

The primary, twin virtues of biking is gentle load demands on one’s legs and knees while at being able to go long, scenic distances, including in social groups, experiencing wind therapy. There is a certain risk of falls, which can be serious. Business writer Steven Covey, author of Seven Habits book, died from a biking accident; he was 79 and wearing a bike helmet. And, even ‘just’ injuries for us TOCAs are serious because it can create massive setbacks in fitness. There is also the risk of collisions with cars, trucks, motorcycles, falling crates off of trucks, and crazy people throwing stuff.

Such risks can be compensated by developing cycling skills, and street smarts. (Covey, for example, was reported as falling in a turn on a very steep downhill road). In all my pedaling miles and years, I have not had a single collision, or assault, and only one fall (ironically on a trike-bike). (Likewise with my motorbiking adventures…no adverse events, though I have fallen five or six times, but at low speeds, and always wearing full gear).

There are many organized group bike rides including multi-day, even multi-week trips. They vary widely in cost depending on accommodations and support. Some of these rides are restricted to TOCAs only (sometimes with 55 or 60 year old thresholds) and others for women only.

One example from personal experience that typifies the kind of organized rides available is the “Coast to Coast” Florida ride. It is presently 210 miles, starting at downtown St Petersburg FL and ending at Titusville FL near Cape Kennedy. The ride is arranged as three nights in hotels, and four riding days, making for ca 50 mile biking days. The organizers carry all one’s gear (suitcases and such) to each night’s hotel, and provides coach bus service at the destination to bring the riders and their bikes back to the starting point four days prior. All the hotels are arranged. You can bring your bikes into your room. There are snacks along the way, a sag wagon, and organizers riding with you in case of minor repairs. Do not think this is crumpets and Beaujolais; at the rest stops, one gets to squirt out peanut butter onto white bread and grab some cookies and grapes. The cost varies from $1K to $1.2K depending on double or single occupancy. They have over 55 only rides, and women only rides. You get to meet friendly fellow riders who have come from multiple other states and in some cases have done dozens of such rides in many different places, including internationally. For the TOCA crowd, there’s a no judgment vibe: one leaves whenever after the morning briefing and one follows the route laid out by paper or by e-file, rolling along at one’s own pace. 50 miles between 8:30 a.m. and dinner is not a difficult pace or distance.

Bike #1: Diamond Bike

The bicycle we typically think of is known as a diamond frame bike. Some are built as a modified diamond so the front cross bar is lowered; these used to be call “girls bikes,” but not anymore. Newer models are available with essentially no cross bar, known as a “step through which makes mounting and de-mounting easier and safer.

These vary by “cockpit” length–the distance between the seat and handlebars–and handlebar viz seat positioning, either bent forward or upright riding. For TOCAs, the upright position is likely the best option as it unweights (mostly) the arms and wrists, putting more of the body weight on the part that is on the “saddle” (more on this below). For longer rides, and certainly for trips, a longer cockpit and accordingly larger wheelbase is preferred, at the trade-off of nimbleness.

Bike weight is an important variable, lighter being better (and thus more costly). On the other hand for trips one needs a large enough gross weight capacity to carry body and gear, especially lots of water.

There are now tubeless tire options becoming available that avoids (in theory) the dreaded flats risk. Alternatively, one can injected goo of various blends that can self-heal many punctures. Another protection route is to use heavier weight tubes and tires, and replace them well before approaching end of life.

As to safety, being as visible as possible is the best strategy. I’ve put lights everywhere, two or three red ones facing aft, all blinking out of sequence, and multiple white ones in the front, one or two steady “on” and one or two blinking wildly. And I have lights on my helmet, white in front, blinking red in the back. And I have used a flag mounted on the rear frame, including little lights hanging on it. My theory has been to be lit so as I’m impossible to be undetected but not so much that I become an attractor for mischief.

An easy-aspiration ride is low teens mph (12 – 13) for an hour. It can be therapy…something about the spinning wheel and the wind. Biking faster–mid to upper teens–and higher leads to a substantially greater workout. As discussed in prior posts, the recommended training level of effort is Zone 2, which is breathing such that you can talk but don’t really want to. After developing a baseline of fitness, one should be able to sustain Zone 2 for hours, even all day.

The cost of such bike can be a few hundred dollars to you-don’t-want-to-know (as in multiple thousands).

BIke #6: Brompton Folding Bike

This bike has a cult-like following. There are ‘races’ wherein the riders are in tuxedos, some full tuxes with tails and even top hats. YouTube will open that window.

The Brompton has small tires, 20 inch. It is the slickest folding bike that I could find. Can be easily collapsed, put into a sturdy canvas bag, and checked as luggage on a flight, or stashed in a trunk or in a boat.

However, it is not a great pedaling bike, having sacrificed ride ability for fold ability.

Bike #7: Bike Friday, Tandem, Folding Bike

Tandem bikes can be a lot of fun for couples who are simpatico as to speed, distance, weather, frequency. The rider in front, the captain, steers and coordinates the pedaling effort with the rider in back, the stoker, just the aids the pedaling effort. The stoker holds onto a fixed handlebar and can freely looking around, and give back seat driving advice.

Folding bikes can be good solutions for airline travel as they usually have soft or hard cases available for a custom fit. They are heavier to accommodate the folding feature. And they give up certain geometrical optimizations so as to be folded. The Bike Friday tandem can fit into two very large hard shell suitcases that enable airline travel.

One can get tandems that don’t fold, and folders that are not tandem. I’d advise a serious test ride of any tandem or folder before purchasing as it is easy to be disappointed by them (as I was, and sold mine). The Bike Friday also has its own cult following.

Bikes #2 – #4: Tadpole Trike Bikes (all by Catrike)

These bike geometries are wonderfully comfortable. It is close to being a Lazy-Boy recliner with pedals. I did all my Route 66 training rides and the trip itself on two different Cartrikes (#2 and #3(A)/(B)).

The great comfort has some associated disadvantages: they are more expensive bikes, they’re heavier, they are hard to transport, awkward to get into one’s hotel room, challenging to pedal up hills, and are less visible to road traffic (because one is low to the ground).

There are various fixes to such disadvantages. They have 30 gears, so one can pedal very steep hills at very slow speeds without danger of falling over. There are e-bike add ons available. Lights can be put in many different places and there is an aftermarket huge flag that creates high visibility. There are special hitch racks that can carry a Catrike, and there are models that are foldable (with difficulty).

There are two disadvantages that cannot be fixed. Getting up out of a tadpole trike requires leg and arm strength; it’s not crazy hard, but one should test this. The other disadvantage is that you absolutely must have clip on shoes. Your feet are inches above the ground and just ahead of a low cross-bar. If you feet became disengaged from the pedals for any reason and just touched the payment zooming by below you, your leg…well…you just don’t want to think about it. However, getting the right shoes and clip-ons properly adjusted, will prevent this horror. Further as you get used to pedaling, you point your toe forward a little such that your foot is not strictly vertical hanging onto the pedal and its clip-on. Again, I’ve gone around the world in miles–more than 24,000–on Catrikes with never a foot slip. But one needs to pay attention before launching out.

Can you fall in a Catrike? Not easily, but yes you can, because I did. If you catch one of your front wheels on some kind of an incline, like a curb, at speed, you can be tilted such that your upper body ‘pulls’ you over. The Catrike has three tracks: left, middle, and right. You need to pay attention to where the left and right wheel / tracks are headed. And that leads to another negative feature: on a conventional bike there is one track, compared to three tracks on a trike. Obstacles and rough spots can be much more easily avoided on a conventional bike.

The three Catrikes I’ve had are: Expedition, 559, and the Dumont. And the 559 I upgraded to an e-bike configuration using a BionX system. The e-559 was particularly wonderful for the Route 66 ride from Tulsa OK to NM because there was a never ending down and up required to cross the many north to south rivers and creeks that slice across OK and TX. Without the e-bike feature, the ride required zooming down to the river / creek bridge, seemingly approaching the speed of sound, navigating a sometimes skinny bridge, and then pedaling like a maniac to get up the other side before one runs out of the acquired kinetic energy. With the e-bike add on, which had regenerative braking, I could do the downhill with negative-e maintaining any desired safe speed, and thus recharging the battery a little, and then at the bottom switch to positive-e and thrust my way up the other side assisted by my pedaling (always pedaling).

For flatland gentle hill living the e-bike addition was not helpful and, adversely, it add a substantial amount of weight, nearly 50 pounds. Hence, I added the Dumont to my 559 e-bike ‘fleet.’ The Dumont is better day to day because of its light weight, and it has some built-in suspension to ease the ride.

Bike #5: e-Bike

One of the distinctives of the Catrike is its comfortable seating position. However, it requires also a distinctive pedaling push that puts a greater emphasis on one’s gluteus maximus muscles. For some folks, this never feels right. For others, it works until it doesn’t work because one’s ‘glutes’ begin to object. Whether its age or injury, if your glutes are not happy you are not going to enjoy long rides.

And that leads to Bike #5, my most recent addition. This is an e-Bike, specifically an Aventon Aventure-2. It has full size 26 inch wheels with 4 inch trail tires. This bike is a beast, hence its given name “The Sled.” (One must, absolutely must, name each vehicle: for my #2-5 they are The Silver Streak, The Orange Flash, The Black Knight, and The Sled).

The Sled can carry 400 pounds (or more), and weighs about 80 pounds without any gear, easily 110 pounds with just some gear and a backup battery.

What works well with this bike is pedaling at the lowest level of e-assist (of the four levels available). At a reasonable pedaling speed in its top gear produces a 15 mph, Zone 2 ride, that can extend for 50 miles on a single battery. For long trips I carry a spare battery. It has 8 gears so with the lowest level of assist and the 8 gears it can be used for a wide variety of conditions. It does not have regenerative braking, so all bike potential and kinetic energy is lost to braking.

Aventon claims a range of 46 miles, depending on everything (wind, hills, weight, level of assist, etc.). I’ve achieved 50 miles over flat terrain with little wind, but in a heavy configuration, always pedaling. It can be pedaled without e-assist, but because of its weight and fat tires is is hard to go double digits mph, even pedaling hard.

A big factor in travel situations is seat comfort. When picking up my Aventon bike, I was shown a spectrum of seat choices on a wall from one at the far left looking like a 2 by 4 on edge to the right-most one known which was called “the sofa.” I chose the later and have never regretted it. Purists can choose a more middle of the spectrum option as better suited to power biking. Also, e-bikes come in many design configurations. Some look like traditional road bikes, with wheel sizes larger than 26 inches, with smaller diameter, high-pressure tires for much less rolling resistance. The Aventon Aventure 2 bike’s tire pressure is ca 20 psi, compared to a serious road bike which can be 100+ psi. The fatter tire at lower pressure makes for a smoother ride, is better for unpaved paths, and is easier to balance at slow speeds.

Bike #8: Stationary Bike, the Schwinn Airdyne

I’ve added a special category for stationary bikes such as might be available at a health club, or home purchase. My experience is with a highly-recommended model known as the Schwinn Airdyne. It allows the simultaneous exercising of both arms and legs.

Stationary bikes have the obvious virtue that they are weather-independent, so can be used year around. But an even greater virtue is that they are especially useful for accelerating gains in VO2 Max levels by HIIT: High Intensity Interval Training.

The “high” of HIIT is operating at what’s known as Zone 5. Zone 5 is an intense, very high heart rate, short-term all out effort. Doing a HIIT exercise, such Zone 5 is followed by easy pedaling, even easier than Zone 2, then reverting to Zone 5 and back down again and again for periods of 10 to 20 minutes. There are many versions of HIIT. A particularly noted one is the Bhatia HIIT. This form of HIIT is one of many available in the “biking” app of the iOS eco-system. The effect of doing one 20 minute Bhatia is pretty amazing.

The stationary bike enables HIIT far better than any road bike unless one is out of the city on some long stretches of pedaling room. But if you’re riding with others, you will annoy them by your zooming by at Zone 5 and then crawling along at Zone 1.

Biking Final Thought: Riding with Kids and Grandkids

One of the great joys of biking can be riding with one’s family, from around the neighborhood to long trips.

One my Route 66 ride I was privileged to do a 5-day segment with my youngest daughter, each of us on Catrikes on a wonderful rails-to-trails segment across Missouri known as the KATY Trail. That segment, as well as the entire Route 66 ride can be seen at above linked site (www.Route66Adventure.net). The KATY Trail is highly recommended as it follows the track of steam-powered trains which were limited to gentle grades. Also that Trail follows in large part the Lewis and Clark expedition on the Missouri River; so reading Steven Ambrose’s wonderful book, Undaunted Courage, is recommended before taking that ride. The trail has many rest stops with signage of what Lewis and Clark were doing at such sites according to their travel log.

In one’s final decade, even if it turns out to be the Centenarian Decade, one can have riding experiences with multi-generations of family, even if it’s a 5-10 mile neighborhood loop. There are so many rails to trails and other park-supported riding areas that numerous opportunities await for fun, and Zone 2 fitness.

Ah, Rucking

by

Sustaining and especially improving one’s vitality–such as evidenced by age-adjusted, high VO2 Max–requires new levels of wisdom for those of us of a certain age. My previous post was on VO2 Max and its significance per Peter Attia, MD, a highly-recommended authority on vitality especially for enabling it in one’s final decade. This post is about rucking as a powerful tool in improving and sustaining one’s VO2 Max.

First, Safety

The vitality pursuit for us guys (“guys” here is anthropos, ανθροποσ) is safety, particularly injury avoidance. Running intensely or jogging for hours are not age-friendly exercises.

The knees are vulnerable, especially that meniscus tissue that absorbs every pounding. The force multiplier on one’s knees can be 8-9x body weight (Peter Attia). Most of us are carrying many extra pounds from life as a desk jockey, so such multiplier is especially harmful. Splitting one’s (knee) meniscus will require arthroscopy, being laid up for a time, inflamed for quite a long time, and left with even less meniscus. Knee replacements can be done, but it is major surgery, likely requiring a year, or close to it, for recovery, at which time one’s VO2 Max will likely be drained, and may not then be fully recoverable. Age is not our friend in such matters.

So what’s the alternative to running / jogging? There are three: swimming, biking, and rucking. Biking will be another post. Here I’ll make the case for rucking.

What is Rucking?

Being between 75 and 100, and fearing years or a decade of a de-vitalized existence in the final one of life, rucking (and biking) has become my research subject and behavior. Briefly, rucking is carrying a backpack with weight, walking for multi-miles & -hours, several times a week.

The term “ruck” comes from military usage. Perhaps it originates from the word “rucksack” an older word for backpack. The ruck workout is a standard fitness test for military guys seeking to join elite military forces such as Delta. Such test is a 12 mile ruck, carrying 35 pounds, in less than 3 hours. That’s 4 mph, which is beyond walking speed, requiring a distinctive fast shuffle interspersed with power walking. More below on what a reasonable aspiration could be, for us of a certain age, as a vitality target.

Why Ruck?

The basic virtues of rucking is: it promotes gains in VO2 Max / fitness and strengthens one’s “core” (a key buzz word) while reducing the pounding on the knees and legs compared to running / jogging, and can be done anywhere, anytime, even socially, even as challenged by goals and competitions.

First some important cautions, especially for you know who (Those Of a Certain Age, TOCA). Rucking loads one’s spine beyond one’s rest case, which transmits forces through the lower muscles of the back and obviously down through the hips, knees, calves, ankles, feet. As to the knees, which is again a primary weak point, the force multiplier is estimated to be about 3x, compared to 9x for running / jogging, and of course the “x” is a little greater than baseline in accordance with the added ruck weight. So the loads are not nothing.

Rucking benefits also by strengthening one’s core, associated with demanding higher levels of balance and coordination, which does risk injury from twisted ankles to falls.

The other potential adversity of rucking is harming the spine and especially the lower back. (And there’s other stupid risks about which I can speak from experience associated with just lifting one’s rucksack and loading it onto one’s back…details upon request).

Accordingly, those of us of a certain age (TOCAs), or any age, are not good candidates for rucking. If so, don’t try it, or don’t until one has developed the needed flexibility and strength to minimize its risks.

Starting Out Rucking

For the rest of us, the key to starting rucking is starting slow, gentile. Any backpack will work, even a $15 cheapie. Any weight will do, just start small. One can use water bottles: a pint a pound the world around. So a couple of quarts, about 4 pounds, added to, say a 1 pound backpack, should be a safe trial ruck weight. A walk of a mile at a pace of, say, 22 minutes a mile, is a good first ruck. One should ruck close to upright, as a normal walking posture, avoiding any hunched over impulse.

As when starting any new physical activity, it is a very good idea to do pre- and post-stretching, and skipping the day after to assess what new hurts might have arisen. This caution may be overly-conservative; however, injuries (which is more than body parts that simple “hurt”), for those of a certain age, can be serious setbacks in this vitality fitness journey. You don’t want to lose time, because time is what has become precious for us TOCAs (for Those Of us of a Certain Age).

There is a great app that is particularly useful for rucking: “workoutdoors.” It has so many features that it will take you 15 minutes just to figure out how to get started. The activity you want to choose is “hiking” and you’ll want to title your particular rucks with the weight you are carrying. As far as I know, there is no ruck-specific activity or ability to load one’s ruck weight inside the app. The other important task is to get the heart rate zones correct for your age / condition. When you use the app it will then give you the time expended in each heart rate Zone. (More on Zones below). In the Apple eco-system, workoutdoors can be linked with Apple’s “health,” so it can export and import age, weight, etc., and link to the “3 Rings” activity metric.

Rucking Advance

After an extended number or rucks, say 3x a week for 4 weeks, with perhaps adding a water bottle or two so that you have worked up to, say, 8-10 pounds and 2 miles, you are now likely ready to descend into the ruck-cult world. A recommended site is: grouck.com. They sell excellent rucksacks, with custom weight-plates that fit securely in special pockets designed for them. One can add to the front of the shoulder straps molle-webbed holders for water bottles; Amazon has many such options.

Physically smaller TOCAs would be better suited to stepping up to 15 pound weights; with the rucksack and one or two water bottles providing a total ruck weight of about 20+ pounds; ruck purists only count the dry weight because the liquids are consumables…but I count it all because that’s what I have to haul onto my back and take that first step, always the hardest. Larger of us TOCAs could aspire to 30 pound weights, which leads to a starting carry weight of 35+ (of 40 pounds…I use two metal bottles, one for LMNT, more below, and one for Post Alley Dark Roast coffee with real cream…rucking can be joyful).

Now so ruck-weighted, it is a good idea to try just a mile at a slow place, then skip a day, and see how everything feels. You should feel upper-body tired in a deeper way than perhaps you ever have. It’s a wonderful feeling, so long as you haven’t pinched off some nerves or overstrained a muscle, tendon, ligament. After a few such trials with skip days you will know how best to advance your rucking and beginning the VO2 Max attack while minimizing risk.

Rucking and One’s Core

When walking there are two dynamics that affect one’s core. Every step forward involves a small elevation change, beginning with a small descent and ending with a small ascent. The degree of change is dependent on the degree of calf raising one uses. Additionally there is a small but important side-to-side movement and bodily compensation by the core muscles.

With a ruck weight high on one’s back, such physical movements of walking requires greater compensation of the musculature of one’s core. This might sound like a small thing, but it feels big, and is virtuous.

Aspirational Rucking

As to aspirational rucking for us TOCAs, the variables are the weight, distance, mph (which will correlate to heart rate zones, more below), and frequency. Being somewhere between 75 and 100, I have found I can do 20 pounds, 1-3+ miles, at 21+ minutes a mile, 2-3x a week quite easily, and beneficially. My max has been 40 pounds and 6 miles, at 21 minutes a mile, in summer heat and humidity (more on this below regarding LMNT). Such numbers are nothing special as backpackers such as through-hiking the Appalachian Trail (the “AT”) or the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) carry 50 pounds or more and go 15+ miles a day, day after day. These backpackers however tend to pace themselves with rest breaks spacing out their day. Also, they begin their hikes in a state of high fitness and become increasingly so as their days extend. And these hiking exemplars tend to be pre-TOCAs. But another benefit of rucking is its training value for those aspiring to try, or return to, extended duration backpacking.

Rucking also occurs in communities of fellow ‘believers’ and those with aspirational, competitive inclinations. The ultimate measurement, as given at the top, would be 35 pounds dry weight, 12 miles, 3 hours. None of us TOCAs should be even close to achieving this; having said that, there is very likely some 70 year old 175 pound mesomorph who is determined to prove otherwise. Be careful as 50% of the individuals who experience their first heart problem experience it as death (Peter Attia stat). And 50% of TOCAs who break a hip so as to be immobilized for an extended period die within a year (particularly for European descent females, again Peter Attia).

What is especially dangerous about the elite ruck standard is the 4 mph element. For us TOCAs, 3 mph (20 minute miles) is a good aspirational figure. But at 3 mph, such 12 mile standard would be 4 hours, and that’s 4 hours of continuous clock time which includes any rest stops. Again, de-tuning for TOCAs, an aspirational target could be 6 miles (10K) in 2 hours (3 mph), carrying one’s appropriate ruck weight (20 pounds for smaller guys, 40 pounds for bigger). Some ruckers recommend 15-20% of body weight for a ruck weight; for that to make sense, the “body weight” calculation should be one’s idea weight, not some corpulent desk jockey starting weight.

Electrolytes (LMNT)

Rucking and sweat go together like teenagers and really bad ideas. In hot humid climates rucking can lead to a serious risk of heat exhaustion with attendant mental confusion, and possibility of stumbling to a fall. The usual good advice is drinking lots of water, beyond what one’s thirst triggers; with us TOCAs, our thirst signal is not what it used to be so we need to rely on the clock and awareness of temperatures and humidity.

But beyond water, it seems to help during and post rucking to add electrolytes to the water. One company that appears to be reputable sells a packaged product known as LMNT. I use a packet with 24 oz of water, to which I’ve also added, for reasons lost to antiquity, 1 oz of Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar and 1 oz of Lucy’s lemon juice, plus 1 tsp of cinnamon powder. It tastes pretty good, and it seems to help support endurance and recovery.

Heart Rate Zones (Zone 2 and Zone 5)

For TOCAs, getting one’s specific heart rate Zone identified is a challenge. The usual formula of 220 less one’s age is only an estimate for pre-TOCAs. Peter Attia in his various talks and writings gives alternative ways to estimate such Zones, including perceived levels of effort. One test of Zone 2 is being able to talk but not wanting to talk (much). Once such Zones have been estimated they can be input into the workoutdoors app.

Again, referencing Peter Attia (and many others), he stresses the importance of training primarily in Zone 2, which is a level of effort that one should be able to do for extended periods, supplemented by Zone 5 training. Zone 5 is super-intense, level of effort for short intervals.

Including Zone 5 work in an overall program is deemed to be particularly effective for boosting one’s VO2 Max. This is accomplished by High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), which is covered in the next post. The most-suitable way of HIIT with rucking is hills. Rucking uphill really intensifies the experience and can easily get one into Zone 5. The alternative means is to accelerate one’s walking pace, to say, 18 minute miles, for a brief period to get the heart rate to Zone 5, then slowing down to, say, 22+ minute miles, back to Zone 2 or even Zone 1 for a longer period. One intense form of HIIT is, for example, one minute at Zone 5 followed by a step down to three minutes at Zone 2/1, and then repeat the cycle perhaps five to ten times, preceded and succeeded by warmup and cooldown.

My experience is a stationary bike (see the next post) is a safer and more convenient way to do HIIT.

Final (Marginal) Decade Fitness

by

Being now somewhere between 75 and 100, I have been paying closer attention to issues of “fitness,” “vitality,” and “longevity.” Such key words, and the massive medical research behind them, are the key theme of Peter Attia MD, his podcast (peterattiamd.com), and his book: Outlive. The Science and Art of Longevity. He encapsulates these ideas in the concept that we all should be in “training for our Centenarian Decathlon” which will be our life in our “marginal decade” (perhaps even one’s 10th).

Peter’s content is unparalleled with detail, actionable advice on these ideas and more. His podcasts are subscription only to avoid the advertising nemesis. He has massive amounts of material including interviews with top of class doctors and scientists. It’s not cheap to subscribe, but It costs less than the WSJ annual digital subscription and will, in the end, be far more life-beneficial.

The central idea, derived from Peter, and my subject here, is careful attention to what can we, should I, be attending to as early in life as possible–but whatever my age, to get started–as those physical actions and habits that will make it possible for me (us) to carry on the activities that we value during our final decade of life, our marginal decade.

Peter uses the term “longevity” but not primarily about having more years of life. His focus is on having more life in the years we have.

Peter has enumerated his list of a dozen or so activities that he wants to be able to do in his marginal decade, such as able to lift his carryon bags to overhead bins as part of a desire still to travel, able to sit on the floor comfortably to play with grandkids, and so forth.

To have a high likelihood that any of us can fulfill our own Centenarian Decathlon list we need to improve our “VO2 max,” by engaging in “Zone 2” work, and gaining stability and strength. All of this is explained on a very solid medical basis in actionable, reasonable terms. None of his content, or my commentary in this series of posts, is heroic warrior stuff.

A related resource is Michael Easter. Michael has been a guest on Attia’s podcasts but is separately well-known from his inspiring book: The Comfort Crisis. I mention Michael Easter along with Peter Attia because they are both evangelists for a powerful form of such marginal decade training knowing as “rucking.” I will address this in a next post.

Finally, I will note that (again credit to Attia), strange things can begin to happen–and at an accelerated rate–at the age 75 threshold. The 75 threshold has even been used by some to advocate abandonment of all health interventions and, basically, prepare to die: something like “My name is Inigo Montoya…prepare to die…!” (a classic line from the movie Princess Bride). See: Dr. Ezekiel Emmanuel, former adviser to President Obama on healthcare, for his advocacy for no further medical treatment after age 75.

Medical statistics support Emmanuel’s use of 75 as a medical turning point, but not as the magic age whereby you’ve-now-outlived-your-positive-human-value (as in the movie Logan’s Run, but there it was at age 30). Dr. Attia, and many others make the case that although death is not defeated, or deflatable, a person can do a great deal in extending the vitality of one’s time before the end of one’s time.

So decline does occur. There’s no “80 is the new 40” nonsense. But exactly because there exists an age with each of us with such accelerated decline it highlights the importance and opportunity of entering one’s 70s in a state of high fitness. Such high fitness is then a health bank account that one can and will draw upon. There is something possible for one’s marginal decade beyond Netflix, Sudoko, and taking turns sharing disease status with peers chewing soft food (most or all of which may be our final final-days).

Achieving longevity for that marginal decade is a form of dealmaking: make the habitual investment in enhancing vitality (VO2 max, strength, stability) sooner rather than later–but it’s never too late until it is too late–and in return there will be a return on investment when one’s biology become less friendly or even less benign.

One particularly powerful tool of making such investment is rucking. A discussion of rucking as an effective decline-fighting activity will be the next post. It may not, it need not, delay death itself. It will contribute to making it more likely that one’s last days are states of moving and doing something worthwhile and satisfying of purpose.

(I have separately written on the bigger issue of death and its hereafter based on the Old Testament Book of Job; whether you follow Attia or Emmanuel, there will be that final day: www.idealmaking.org ).