Hello and welcome to 4-Minute Friday where I share, in four minutes or less, the latest things I’m doing to enhance my health, develop a better mindset, make day-to-day life easier, and other shenanigans.
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Podcast I Listened to This Week:
One of the smartest performance coaches in the world, Andy Galpin, recently released an episode on his podcast (Perform) diving deep into bone health.
While I’ve shared my two cents on the topic in a previous post, he just *might* have outdone me on this one. Hat tip to him.
A few big takeaways…
Osteoporosis and poor bone quality is quite surprisingly a “disease of childhood”. No – this doesn’t imply that the youngins’ are walking around with brittle bones, it means there is a critical period that occurs during puberty where a window opens for adolescents to “raise the ceiling” on their bone quality that will benefit them for a LIFETIME.
What’s the best way to raise the ceiling?
A lot of physical activity and loading of the skeletal system. Yet another reason why early age athletic endeavors alongside weight training are terrific pursuits.
Nonetheless, don’t let this get you down – there are still actions us older folk can take to improve our bone quality as well.
First, you guessed it – strength training. And not just a lackluster picking up of a dumbbell and gingerly raising it above your head. The strength training we’re discussing here is higher load, higher speed strength training. The type that puts extra demand on our skeletal system and causes it to adapt – increase in bone mineral density, that is.
Finally, we all know diet plays a massive role in this area. Make sure you’re getting enough calcium through whole foods. Protein is integral, don’t forget your 1g/pound of bodyweight goal. Research is also showing good evidence that collagen peptides can improve bone mineral density so if you have a couple extra dollars laying around, grab yourself a tub!
Benefits of a Good Social Circle:
You’ve heard me discuss the value high-quality social relationships have on all aspects of our health – from reducing the risk of preventable chronic diseases to boosting mental health and lowering rates of depression and anxiety.
But I heard a description this week that summarized the colossal impact it has in such a simple way that it’s too important not to share.
Having close relationships cuts the impact that bad life happenings have on us in half while concurrently 5x’ing the good.
Read that again.
While undesirable events will still have a negative impact no doubt, a solid group of friends (even 1-2) make life’s trials more tolerable. Without them, we’re left to bear the weight solo of even the tiniest of life’s nuisances’ which add up over time.
On the flip, there are so many good things that happen each and every day and a core set of friends/family to share these small wins with exponentiates the joy they bring us. Celebrating alone just doesn’t have anywhere close to the same impact.
So, maybe seeking extreme success in our careers or other endeavors at the expense of neglecting social relationships isn’t the best route to a high quality of life...?
Just some food for thought to ponder.
Hack to Streamline Strength Workouts:
Especially with the introduction of more training miles with a marathon on the books in about 14 weeks, I’ve been all about efficiency in the gym on strength training days.
The best piece of advice to maintain a high-quality strength training session while also getting in and out within a reasonable amount of time: full-body exercises with supersets.
If you’re familiar with full body strength training, you know that these sessions can often take some time since you need to hit a large number of muscles – literally all of them by definition.
Instead of neglecting rest periods, which are super important, use the initial rest period to instead hit a muscle of an opposing group. For example, after you complete a push-up exercise, jump directly into a rowing variation before taking ~1-3 minutes of rest and then repeat.
While your chest is resting, work your back and vice versa to use your time more efficiently. The same can be true for quadriceps-dominant movements paired with posterior chain exercises alongside a lower body exercise (i.e., squat) paired with an upper body movement (i.e., pull-up).
No need to be in the gym for 2 hours on a Tuesday evening… unless that’s your fancy – more power to you in that case.
What else?
A very controversial time change happens this weekend. While I won’t get into the weeds, don’t forget to get in bed an hour early on Saturday night so you can start the week off on stable ground!
Prioritize community – life has more meaning that way.
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DISCLAIMER
This is NOT Medical advice. Consult your medical professional before starting any supplement, diet regimen, or workout program.