The daily express today broke a very enlightening story today, “gentle exercise can dramatically cut the danger of an early death from heart disease, according to new research”! Just 30 minutes of jogging or cycling produced amazing results the study showed.
In all seriousness, the report is great but isn’t it something we already knew anyway and should not be regarded as “breaking news” any more? The express should be commended though, as they used to run stories about how a runner would “drop dead” or a weightlifter would “have a heart attack from all that weight training”!
These stories of course did not report the true facts at the time, often ignoring the fact that the runner usually had some pre-existing condition that could have been set off by just about anything, and the weightlifter was often taking some huge cocktail of highly toxic drugs, that would have fried some of his internal organs anyway, and the heart attack was the result of all the abuse, and not the weight training of course, even if it was a little extreme in the story.
I’m going further on this one, when my father opened a gym in 1957, the people who sat on their backsides, often were spouting doom and gloom stories about the place. They would say you were vain, self-obsessed, bordering on a heart attack, have high blood pressure, cripple yourself in years to come, there were literally 100’s of stories about how about going to a gym was “bad for you”.
The reality is now the opposite of course, it is good for you to exercise, science tells us that but way back then, the gym regulars secretly knew that and were proving it every day of their lives. They often lived longer, had excellent strong hearts, good joints and healthy strong bones, they had healthy levels of body fat and boundless energy, and were often commented on their physiques. They never really had to see their doctor’s due to healthy blood pressure ranges and no diabetes or serious disease, they were positive in life and had high expectations of themselves and family.
Now anyone who looks after themselves by exercising and eating well can expect the same benefits, there are exceptions of course but that’s what life deals us sometimes and there are plenty of ups and downs in life. The realities are that if you use your common sense, do everything in moderation, you won’t go far wrong. I have many individuals stories regarding people who have achieved success often against every obstacle going. This is one of the big reasons i do what i do, and often gets me motivated to get up at 4am for an exercise session!
I will regularly post these stories and if you have any of your own, then let me know!
Keri
