My Health and Fitness Blog

We live in a world of great excess. Everywhere you turn, it’s always an overblown obsession about the next best thing. Especially with the Summer 2008 Olympics in Beijing China going on right now, the world’s attention is focused squarely on only the most exceptional physical qualities - personified within the most gifted male and female athletes at the top of their physical games. These rare and exceptional athletes possess sculpted bodies we can only dream of possessing and display flashes of speed, power, endurance, and agility we can only dream about. The pressures to perform at peak levels and successfully deliver gold medal results can be enormous. Behind the scenes, I’m sure the male and female athletes who engage in professional sports and competitive sporting events like the Olympics take their preparatory fitness training and dietary regiments to the ultimate extreme. To acquire the perfect human physique with the exceptional muscular, spiritual, mental ability to go above and behind what ordinary human kind can achieve in normal competitive settings, Olympic athletes must push their bodies to the limits of human capacity.

But for the rest of us ordinary mortals, we can only sit back and watch the awe inspiring performances unfold on our television sets. I’m sure many of us certainly wish and dream that we had the same six pack physique and stamina of American champion swimmer Michael Phelps, the pure power and sprinting speed of Jamaican track star Usain Bolt, or the flexibility and graceful beauty of American gymnast Nastia Luikin. However, the reality is that the individual bodies and feats of these amazing athletes are extremely unique and one of a kind. Due to the perfect combination of exceptional genetics and bodily enhancements brought out by extensive training as well as strict diet and fitness practices, they are able to achieve feats most of us can only dream of.

While we should all certainly try to strive for healthy lifestyles, and practice a well balanced life comprised of a healthy diet interspersed with plenty of exercise, we should acknowledge it’s unlikely the majority of us will achieve the high level of rare physical and mental perfection found only in professional athletes. Unless you were born into the role with amazing genes or spent your entire life training for that one single event as your life long profession, most of us will have to be content with our ordinary human limitations. For the majority of people including myself, we are merely - ordinary. There’s nothing wrong with being ordinary and it’s okay to happily acknowledge that. After all, 99% of the population likely falls into this large majority group. Like all the other fellow members of this group of ordinary people, we are not blessed with perfect athletic genetics, nor were we given exceptionally tall, muscular, or perfectly shaped bodies. Most of us ordinary types were probably not born with exceptional metabolism to allow us to naturally burn off fat at amazing rates with little effort, and most of us were probably not born with the perfect bodily coordination found only in the most naturally gifted athletes. But as I mentioned, that’s perfectly okay. The vast majority of us can still live truly exceptional and healthily balanced lives, well into old age.

Unless You Are Blessed With Exceptional Genetics, A Life Of Moderation Is What Will Bring You A Physically and Spiritually Happy Life

My message is to remind readers that the vast majority of us are not perfect and that there is no sense obsessing over this lack of physical perfection. We all have a few pounds extra here and there we’d like to get rid off and we all have something about our fitness and energy levels we’d like to improve. While it’s important to practice good routine exercise habits and to adopt a well balanced diet comprised of nutritious foods, there’s little sense obsessing over our natural inability to reach the pinnacle of bodily perfection that only a tiny, less than 1% will ever reach. The never ending search for that physical ideal will only lead to non stop concern, never ending stress, and inordinate amounts of money spent on useless DVD’s, unhelpful books, pointless exercise gadgets, and expensive diet programs that lead to nowhere but a self defeating cycle of anxiety. I once stumbled upon a powerful quote that perfectly encapsulated my views on how the lofty pursuit of a healthy life can be taken to the unhealthy extreme:

“What some call health if purchased by perpetual anxiety about diet, isn’t much better than tedious disease.”

- George Dennison Prentice, Prenticeana (1860)

I hope readers will read this famous statement over a few times carefully. Never has a quote been so true. Ever since our society became obsessed with the pursuit for perfect health, the perfect body, and the perfect weight, we’ve become addicted to all the dietary supplements, pills, exercise gadgets, and surgical procedures that science and medicine can afford. Some of us spend every waking moment obsessing about our weights and what to eat and what not to eat. Instead of filling our minds with this type of constant worrying and nutritional counting, perhaps we need to take a few steps back and adopt a more wholesome, balanced lifestyle.

The key to this more natural and holistic approach is to simply adopt a life of moderation. Believe it or not, the human body is a powerful biological machine and is perfectly able to regulate itself quite well with the right natural balance of nutrients and exercise. Instead of obsessing about what you should do and not do when it comes to your diet and fitness habits, try practicing a life of moderation. Instead of cutting everything from your diet, cold turkey, that you perceive as negative such as caffeine, sugars, alcohol, red meat, and fried foods, and living a life of sad deprivation befitting that of a monk, try consuming foods and drinks in moderation. It’s gluttony and “pigging out” too frequently that gets many of us into trouble, not the fact we consume those things in the first place. The body is incredibly adept at maintaining the perfect biological balance so long as you don’t indulge its sweet tooth in all respects to great excess. Moderation is the key to a well balanced life and the practical answer to living a truly healthy life that’s free from an unhealthy obsession about perfectionism when it comes to health itself.

I love running and grew up running competitively. I ran with the cross country team in high school and continued running for exercise, fitness, and sport during college. While I was never a top runner (I tended to bring up the caboose), I learned a lot about myself and my physical abilities and limitations during those regular running sessions. Throughout the years, to stay fit and sweat away the stresses of daily life, I would hit the treadmill machine or taking my exercise runs outside onto jogging trails or high school tracks. Running is a tremendously relaxing form of aerobic exercise to not only help people lose weight and get fit, but to also sharpen the mind’s concentration and relieve tension by engaging in cathartic physical exertion. It’s a sport that I highly recommend and one that anyone can enjoy. There is no age limit, no physical ability requirements, and no limitations on sex. As long as you have on a pair of running shoes and a stable, dry surface to run on, you are good to go. It’s one of the few sports where you don’t need a ball, a racket, a teammate, or even a rulebook to partake. In fact, the only decision making needed is where you’d like to run, what type of surface you’d like to run on, and what type of physical surroundings will best stimulate your senses as you run.

Choosing Where To Run, Train, and Exercise - Indoors Or Outdoors

I think as a beginner to the sport and fitness activity of running, the first important decision is deciding whether to engage your running excursions inside of an indoor gym, or whether you would prefer to expose yourself to an outdoor environment. Personally, I think a well balanced runner should be flexible and learn to run in both types of environment. While running is an inherently outdoor sport, one shouldn’t neglect indoor running either. I think the vast majority of people prefer to run outdoors as opposed to inside of a cool, air conditioned gymnasium or indoor fitness track. It’s probably the very concept of exercise and fitness that almost demands that physical activity be taken out into the open with nature and be exposed to the outside elements. For many people, running in the confines of a nice temperature-controlled environment simply feels too pampered, seemingly negativing the exercise spirit of the activity. After all, when was the last time any of us saw a competitive running, racing, or marathon event held inside of a building or indoor track. Such competitive racing events, whether they be for the Olympics or any other competitive sporting event, always take place on either an outside padded race track, or on a hard asphalt road surface. For many, running outside simply seems more natural and is where most expert runners and those just trying to get in shape usually spend their time.

Personally, while I enjoy both indoor and outdoor running, I have a preference for running indoors. Yes, running among the trees and birds through a nice cool forest is certainly more realistic and natural, but there are a few downsides. The obvious limitation to outdoor running is that there are only certain times during the year and even certain times during the day when running outdoors is possible or feasible. Depending on the climate where you run, the current weather may be either too hot or too cold for outdoor running. In general, the best running temperature is a nice breezy, 60 degrees or so - not too hot such that overheating becomes a problem, and not too cold where you are breathing in frigid arctic air that may cause you to develop chest pains.

In terms of the hours during the day when running outside is possible or recommended, it’s more of a safety issue. While solitary male runners should be mindful of their physical surroundings at all times, single female runners generally need to pay even greater attention to their environment while running - it’s just a reality of life. This is especially the case in the evenings or very early mornings when it’s dark and there are few fellow runners or friendly people around to watch your back. This world is filled with crazy people and it’s important to practice common sense and avoid being an easy target. Especially now that all outdoor runners seem to run with iPod ear buds in their ears, blocking out all outside noise, oftentimes they don’t realize they are in jeopardy or in physical danger until it’s too late. Whether it’s the risk of an attempted robbery or some type of attempted assault, it’s not always safe to run outside depending on the type of neighborhood you live in. Another issue that female runners frequently have to deal with that male runners rarely encounter, is heckling, cat calls, and ogling by random strangers. While these things certainly can happen inside gyms and fitness centers as well, the controlled building environment offers a bit more security for the wary.

Another downside with outside running is the lack of places to run and the often inevitable breathing in of pollution components while running. For those who live in the city, there aren’t always adequate outdoor places to run either. Not all neighborhood parks or outdoor tracks are ideal places to exercise on. Running on the street sidewalks, while a popular choice among many avid outdoor runners, isn’t always a good idea due to traffic and vehicle exhaust inhalation concerns. Running on forest trails isn’t always a great alternative either. During the summer, tree pollen and plant allergens in the air have a propensity to cause allergies and respiratory problems. While I personally don’t have any allergies, I can still physically sense when the air is heavily saturated with pollen allergens. The presence of allergens can be stifling and can flood your lungs with components that may cause coughing or sneezing as you run.

Perhaps one of the best benefits of running on an indoor treadmill as opposed to running outdoors is not having to worry about making it back to the starting point before it gets dark or before it starts to rain. Running outdoors is very unpredictable, but running on a treadmill, you can exercise indoors during any weather, rain or shine, and you never have to worry about making sure you have enough energy leftover to make it back to your parked car - you can simply stop, and hop off the machine. It’s one of many reasons why I personally prefer to run indoors, either on a stationary treadmill or inside an indoor gym. There, the air is generally recycled and purified, the hours available for running tend to be much longer and flexible, and safety is significantly less of a concern.

Most People Don’t Seem To Enjoy Treadmill Running, But I Personally Love The Benefits

The majority of avid runners seem to be biased against treadmill running. Most of my friends who are running aficionados prefer to head to the park to run rather than visit their local Bally’s Total Fitness Center or head over to their apartment gym. I think they feel that running outdoors is simply more natural and entertaining. To them, running on a stationary machine is terribly boring because you don’t actually go anywhere and your surroundings don’t change as you jog.

Personally, when I run, I am rarely focused on my surroundings. I am more geared towards hitting that next mileage checkpoint and concentrating on pacing my breathing than paying any attention to how the trees or greenery look. While scenery is important for most runners, I personally prefer to have a nice flat screen television set in front of me, found on many treadmill setups, while I run. Watching TV as I run helps me take my mind off the occasional boredom and repetitiveness of the activity.

With all the functions that treadmills offer today, they do a pretty good job of simulating real outdoor running surfaces. While they’ll never completely duplicate the natural surface slopes and bumps of roads, treadmills still do a pretty good job of simulating uphill and downhill climbs fairly realistically.

I have to admit however, that outdoor running on a race track or on a paved road is significantly more difficult and more of the real thing than treadmill running. Indoor running on a treadmill is much easier because there is no weather or wind to contend with, and your legs and feet do not have to work as hard to push the body forward. Also, on a treadmill, the running surface slides back automatically, affording the runner a more effortless running surface. Outdoor running on the other hand requires the athlete to push his or her body through air resistance and exert more effort at launching his or her body forward with each step, providing comparatively better aerobic results for the body due to compulsory adaptation. This compels the body to exert itself more to maintain balance and sharpens the senses more to react accordingly. It’s also the same reason why professional weight lifters highly prefer to train using free weights instead of stationary, bolted down lifting machines. Free style, in a natural environment tends to yield more physical training results for each portion of energy expended.

Personally though, I think both indoor treadmill running and outdoor running compliment each other’s weaknesses well. Both should be part of a savvy runner’s complete exercise plan.