Kelly Personal Training Blog

October 13, 1960, the bottom of the ninth, the seventh game of the World Series after 162 regular season games it comes down to one hit - a walk-off homerun.  

They say baseball is a child's game played by adults in their pajamas. Mazeroski rounding the bases was a childlike expression of exuberance, innocence, and joy. Seeing that homerun brings back vivid memories of my childhood. As a young boy in the 1960s my grandfather used to take my brother and me to Forbes Field to see the Pirates. Bill Mazeroski and the Pirates of the 1960s played great baseball, but I hardly remember a play and I did not attend that World Series.  I remember the excitement and awe of just being there with my brother and grandfather. If I could play a highlight film of my childhood memories going to the Pirate games would be one of the clips. I am thankful to have my grandfather take me there and be a part of it.

From this NTY article Why Trainers Say, 'Slow Down':

"Of the tens of thousands of Americans who pay as much as $180 to register for marathons, as many as 25% fail to make it to the race. Injury, illness and loss of motivation as a result of overtraining are major reasons for this."

"No matter how conclusively science may prove the value of rest and recovery, the culture of endurance sports lionizes those who seemingly never rest."

"The body responds beautifully to the right schedule of training stresses," Lynn Bjorklund, who in 1981 set the still-standing female course record for the Pikes Peak Marathon, wrote in an email. "However, too much stress and not enough nutrition or recovery pushes your body toward injury and illness. You need to stay in that zone of just enough, and that takes a very high tuned and honest appraisal of yourself."

Exercise increases the production of free radicals, and free radicals have been associated with a number of diseases and with aging.  To combat those free radicals people have taken to popping Vitamins C and D, antioxidants, to decrease the number of free radicals. New research indicates that that might not be a good idea.

 In one study with two groups of exercising rats, one group was injected with antioxidants, and the other group was not. The group of rats injected with antioxidants showed almost no free-radical activity, while the non-injected group had a high level of free radicals.

There were other differences as well.  From this NYT article, Phys Ed: Free the Free Radicals more findings from the study:

What to do? Follow the PT recommendations and exercise.
A few years back I broke my arm near the elbow in two places. After a few weeks in a sling I began physically therapy. They were very knowledgeable and with their help I significantly increased my arm function.

When my stint with physical therapy was finished I had regained all but 14 degrees of extension of my arm. I was told that was a good result; the limited range would not hamper me much, and it would be hardly noticeable.

I resumed my strength training regimen as usual. It was a once a week full body workout. I would stretch occasionally, but this was not a regular part of my weekly routine. I limited my range of motion on the arm exercises to a pain-free range; I gradually increased my range.

A few months later I stopped by the PT to see if I had increased my range. They were amazed to find I had regained all but two degrees.