The biblical training week: Finding a path to aging well
As I approach my eighth decade my goal is to remain able as long as possible. As a younger man my training emphasized strength, and to a lesser extent cardiovascular health. I did not need mobility. With more miles on my body, my training has evolved to achieve balance. I added more mobility and cardio training and reduced the strength component. Along with being conscious of eating better food, drinking less alcohol, limiting sitting at a computer, and spending time with quality people, I can declare I am in better health. I am at a lighter body weight, have less encumbrance when moving, more endurance when doing the strenuous activities I love, less pain when not moving, and sleeping better. I am in the best place ever. I follow what I call the “biblical training week”. This acknowledges the wisdom of major religions that advocate 6 days of work and one of rest for the week.
The body continually adapts and tries to regenerate, not degenerate. This relationship is influenced by necessary stress and the fact that each system has a tipping point. The key to stimulate positive adaptation of the musculoskeletal system is to maintain the stresses below the tipping point. Exceeding the tipping point creates cumulative stresses leading to pain and injury. You influence the stress by managing loads, postures, motions and activities. This informs my daily training in terms of specific exercises and intensity. The goal is to stimulate regeneration.
Finding the optimal loading for each individual is an art and a science. People have different injury histories, responses to load, different recovery rates etc. Good movement, good fuel and exercise, a healthy mental state are all important. Here are some of the specific actions I can suggest after studying as a scientist for 40 years, and as a clinician seeing the patterns in those people who have been successful in living well.
Every day: Rise early and do your chores. Move often, eat well but eat half.
Train 6 days per week: 2 days train strength, 2 days train the thing that are a bit stuck (mobility), 2 days something for the ticker (cardio work). And the seventh day is for rest/adaptation. This is what keeps me pain-free, more or less.
Details: Optimal health is achieved with sufficient strength, not maximal strength, sufficient mobility not maximal mobility etc. Our investigations on police, firefighters, athletes etc show higher pain in those who are stronger mainly due to the training needed to obtain max strength. Even when we measure athletes who dominate their sport they rarely test to be the strongest (powerlifting excepted). Instead, they had sufficient strength and a balance of strength throughout their body.
Having too much mobility can be as compromising as having too little. The great athletes in many sports use the elasticity provided by joints with tuned mobility. For example, some of the great endurance runners have tuned mobility where they use the springs in the tendons of their feet and ankles just as a kangaroo does to bounce along storing and recovering the elastic energy with each stride. Those who have too much mobility or a stretched out joint system have to use muscle. This results in higher eccentric and concentric contractions with each stride which means they fatigue faster. Using active muscle contraction also increases the load on the joints. You may want to reconsider some of the cushioning shoe soles that reduce the tissue spring action that can actually increase the joint loads.
Challenging the cardio-vascular system goes without argument but as with all other variables, where “sufficient” is better over the longer term over maximal CV fitness. Having a higher VO2 Max (a measure or cardiovascular fitness) means that the person does not have an explosive neurology. These two systems are mutually exclusive. A moderate blend is best for most people.
Other thoughts. Try not to have two similar days (meaning two consecutive strength days or mobility days) in a row. This means that the body has time to adapt from the previous day adding robustness. Similarly, there are days when I perform an activity that challenges strength, mobility and cardo demand – for example when splitting firewood. I do not do this chore two days in a row and I do not get sore. The goal is to be harder to kill without killing yourself.
Strength thoughts:
Train in general patterns (squat, push, pull, carry), then add supplemental practice, for example specific exercises for the hands, feet, and neck.
Mobility thoughts:
I try and perform 1 Deep squat per day. These may be assisted with overhead bands to reduce body weight and knee loads, or perhaps accomplishing a deep goblet squat with a lateral sway and knee pry with the elbows to challenge hip mobility in a sustainable way. In my own case I also focus on Psoas stretching and Thoracic spine extension.
Cardiovascular thoughts:
I enjoy the Sauna a couple of times per week with contrast dips in the water (an electric stove at BFP HQ and a wood fired stove when at the cabin lakeside). I walk after each meal achieving zone 2 training with occasional short bursts in intensity. This might include walking backwards up hill, or having a few sprints while on an exercise bike watching a YouTube video. I am also conscious to never be sedentary for very long. I limit screen time.
Rest and adaptation thoughts:
Rest means rest. A conversation with a new friend, a sit-down beside a lake. But nothing taxing on the day of rest.
Things I have learned:
I do better when I make a list to plan my next day before retiring to bed. It is a to do list that also includes the training objectives for the day. I have done this my entire adult life almost everyday. Be sure to include the “fun” activities. I recall a hack my father gave to me as a young boy who hated doing school homework: put a clock in front of you and give yourself a reasonable amount of time to complete the task. You are not allowed to exceed the time. You do your best in the allotted time then go have fun.
I have done many experiments on myself – I know how my body responds. For example, in terms of Blood glucose, a single glass of beer or wine does not cause a spike – for me a fried and sugary apple fritter does. So they do not suit me. Going for a walk after a meal always blunts the glucose spike and often completely eliminates it. However, stress spikes my blood glucose. It appears to trigger a flight or fight response and an adrenaline surge – I can see how stress really creates a vascular insult. I need to manage this better.
Sleep well. Make it dark, the right temperature, the right pillows.
Find ways to challenge balance: Standing on one leg, play games when getting dressed to make movement challenging – holding postures. I play with movement for example I brush teeth with my non-dominant hand.
You may find the techniques documented in my books helpful:
Back Mechanic, and also Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance
Stuart McGill
Backfitpro.com