A fascinating but true fact: studies show that people who are more active also drink more. There’s even a link between so-called “heavy” drinkers and physical activity.

When you think about it, it makes sense. We’re all familiar with the concept of sports teams partying hard after a big victory, and who hasn’t rewarded themselves with a few drinks after a long workout?

As much as I often think I deserve a few drinks after a good run, my relationship with alcohol is beginning to change as I age. I enjoy having a bourbon or two, but as I’ve moved into my mid-40s, I’ve become much more cognizant of how alcohol impacts my sleep, and how I might feel the day after a few drinks.

Abbie and I discuss this dynamic on this week’s episode of the podcast, and take a look at what the science says about how alcohol impacts your muscles and cardiovascular fitness as you age.

Since this is a podcast for people over 40, we couldn’t resist using a Semisonic reference in the podcast title. Those who know, know. For those who don’t, consider this your introduction.

Also new this week: we launched a segment called “The Warm Up,” where we share our takes on the latest fitness news.

I was particularly thrilled about the story that said I can drink more coffee, all while supporting my heart health. We also learned that AI is making you dumber, and that there are a lot of influential people studying creatine use, none of whom can agree on the amount of creatine you should be taking.

I’ve embedded the podcast via Spotify above, and you may visit our new podcast page to find the pod on your favorite audio player, including Apple Podcasts. Please leave a comment below, or shoot me an email at alex@practically.fit. We’d love to share your comment or question on the next episode of the podcast.

Last year, I started experimenting with creating a strength workout in ChatGPT. I wanted to switch up my routine, so I thought, “why not try this generative AI thing for something more than helping me brainstorm catchy titles and headlines during my day job?”

Here was my initial (and unsophisticated by today’s standards) prompt:

Over the course of about a month, I worked with the chatbot to design a hybrid bodyweight and barbell workout. I’d provided the app with all of my available equipment, including blast straps, which are nylon suspension training straps that I’d previously used to do pushups. Blast straps make pushups harder by taking away the stability of the floor that’s present during a traditional pushup.

After Abbie and I recorded this week’s podcast (more on that in a moment), I went back and reviewed this chat. As you can see below, while I was working with the app to develop the workout, it introduced the idea of using gymnastics rings, probably based on me owning the blast straps.

Even though I didn’t currently have gymnastics rings, I’d used them ten years before (when I was younger) and enjoyed them. Now, 44-year-old me thought, “yeah, that sounds like a fantastic idea!” With the mere suggestion of new gear to be purchased, I promptly went onto Amazon and ordered a pair of rings, because that’s what I do.

As all the back-and-forth with my generative AI friend continued over the course of a month, the app subtly suggested the option of ring dips…and my hyper-competitive brain, which always wants me to push toward more complex movements, took the challenge. I could use my new rings for something more than pushups and rows!

Fast forward another month or so, and here’s one of my prompts to ChatGPT:

I share this embarrassing prompt with you as a lesson. As someone who is experienced with strength training, I should have known not to do ring dips in the first place, without building up my general dip strength from scratch. Tongue-in-cheek podcast title aside, it was my fault I got injured doing ring dips, not AI’s.

That said, for people who aren’t experienced, there’s still a danger here, even though these models are improving. Taking AI-based fitness advice could prove dangerous, and it’s always good to have someone who knows what they are doing—whether it’s a friend or a personal trainer—help guide you in your workouts.

I shared this story on this week’s podcast, where Abbie and I talked about our recent experiences with using both AI-enabled apps, like Runna and Garmin, and generative AI apps like ChatGPT and Claude, to help us with our workouts. We discussed the promise and the pitfalls of incorporating AI into your fitness routine, including unbiased reviews of our experiences with these rapidly-changing apps.

I’ve embedded the podcast via Spotify here, and you may visit our new podcast page to find the pod on your favorite audio player, including Apple Podcasts. Please leave a comment below, or shoot me an email at alex@practically.fit. We’d love to share your comment or question on the next episode of the podcast.

Many years ago, when I was still in my 30s and looking to increase my strength-training volume, I discovered “greasing the groove,” a concept popularized by fitness coach Pavel Tsatsouline.

At its core, “greasing the groove” means training a specific lift frequently, and spreading out the volume. In simple terms, the theory presumes that by doing an exercise frequently—say every day—but not lifting to failure, you can train your nervous system to lift heavier weight.

Here’s a metaphor that Pavel used to describe the process, as quoted in a Breaking Muscle article by Craig Marker:

How do you improve your tennis serve? Do you hit the court once a week and keep on serving until your balls could not knock out a sick mosquito and you can barely lift your arm? No, you come to the court as often as possible, ideally more than once per day, and slam those little yellow balls until you feel that your serves are about to slow down.

In my case, I decided to apply this theory to barbell squats, as prescribed by Matt Perryman in his book Squat Every Day. This meant daily squat sessions where I’d do lots of single reps with progressively heavier weights. The reason I did this was simple: I didn’t like squatting. I thought that if I trained my nervous system to become used to the neurological load imposed by the challenging exercise, I’d get better at it.

And guess what? I did. But like every workout routine, I eventually moved on.

The Plan: Running Every Day, On Purpose

A few months ago, I decided I’d start a running streak. While I hadn’t processed it at the time, I basically began testing whether or not greasing the groove worked for me with running.

I’ve been primarily training for the 5K and mile distance over the past few years, as I prefer running shorter distances, faster. (An aside: it would be amazing if some of the running companies out there started offering mile races. I’d be all over that!)

I’d grown tired recently of repetitive training plans where I would run three to four times a week, with a track interval run, a tempo run and a long run guaranteed. My 5K paces in races over the past year had ranged from about 7:42/mile to 8:07/mile, and I’d spent a lot of time training to improve my mile time, which meant my 5K wasn’t progressing.

As I contemplated training in Texas over the soon-to-be-hot summer, I wondered, what if I tried something completely different? What if I ran every day, doing many shorter runs, and spreading out the volume?

I devised my plan: I’d do as much of my running as possible at a slower pace (zone 2), but throw in at least one fast effort a week, along with a slightly longer run. This seemed like it could work in the summer, especially since it would encourage me to wake up earlier.

I also thought about how I might use this plan to improve my 5K pace for the fall, despite the slower runs. Rather than doing a bunch of intervals or tempo work, what if I simply ran at my desired pace for a mile, and then added a tenth of a mile to that effort every week?

Two Months In: What Changed

On May 25, at 5:45 a.m., “The Streak” was born. Today I’m on day 59, so I’ve got about two months’ worth of evidence. As I’ve progressed the streak, I’ve been entering the data from my runs into Claude, and it’s been pretty fascinating to observe. I’d originally started this streak with the goal of running for a month straight, but I decided to keep it going as I began to see results. Here are a couple of the standout data points:

• My heart rate on easy runs has dropped significantly, about 20 bpm on average. According to Strava, I’ve been spending more time in “zone 2,” which seems to have had benefits.

• On my fast runs, I’ve been targeting a pace between 6:55/mile and 7:10/mile. I’ve been successful in extending my distance at this pace from one mile to 1.6 miles, with my pace staying on target and average heart rates 2-7 beats per minute lower.

• This approach seems to have generally helped with my heat adaptation, too, as it’s been getting hotter over the course of my runs (even at 5:45 a.m. it’s 80 degrees and humid in Texas).

• This is not a streak that’s focused on tons of miles per week. All in all, I was averaging about 10-11 miles for the first few weeks, and have been doing about 13-14 recently. For me, this has been about finding a way to get out and be active during the hot Texas summer, and testing my own theory.

After nearly two months of “The Streak,” I’ve been pleased with the results. I think what I like most about it is that I didn’t have to use an app or someone else’s workout plan. I came up with it on my own, and it’s working for me.

I’ll be curious to see if I can continue to lengthen out my fast runs and see results. I’ve got lots of other lessons I’ve learned so far—including remembering not to eat tons of fiber the night before a fast run—but I’ll save those for another time.

Have you ever tried a running streak? If so, how long did you keep it up, and what were your results?

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As I’ve reached my mid-40s, I’ve been battling a common foe: the “dad bod.” Abbie and I talk about our aging bodies all the time, and we thought this would be a relatable topic to tackle on the podcast.

Part of me thinks the dad bod is inevitable, but based on the research we did for this episode, that may not be the case. In fact, there’s evidence the choices you make as you age in your 40s, 50s and 60s can help you stave off the middle-aged bod.

We hope you’ll check out this episode of the podcast, where we dig into the latest research on metabolism and hormones, and talk about some of the biggest mistakes we make as we age that may contribute to that expanding midsection. And we’ve got practical tips on workout and lifestyle changes that can help keep you svelte.

I’ve embedded the podcast via Spotify here, and you may visit our new podcast page to find the pod on your favorite audio player, including Apple Podcasts. Please leave a comment below, or shoot me an email at alex@practically.fit. We’d love to share your comment or question on the next episode of the podcast. I’ll be returning to sharing my fitness-focused writing on Substack soon, so stay tuned for that, too.

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We share a few tips that have helped us reach our fitness goals together, and talk about things that might not be so helpful, too. And because it's Practically Fit, we also shared insightful evidence that couples’ fitness routines just might be the secret sauce for a healthy relationship.

Note: we’ve moved the podcast away from Substack’s native hosting for a variety of reasons, so I’ve embedded a Spotify player above. You may visit our new podcast page to find the pod on your favorite audio player, including Apple Podcasts (which you can’t embed on Substack).

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We hope you’ll enjoy this new format for the podcast. If you’ve got a comment or question, please let us know via Substack comments or shoot me an email at alex@practically.fit. We’d love to share your comment or question on the next episode of the podcast. And always, please leave us a review on your favorite audio platform.

About a decade ago, I came across an article about the “happiness curve.” According to researchers at Brookings, our subjective levels of happiness hit their low point in our 40s and then steadily rise from there, creating a chart that quite literally resembles a smile.

Like seemingly all research, this notion has since been challenged by other researchers, but the concept has always stuck with me. And now, as I leave the midlife doldrums behind to enter my 50s, I increasingly find the pattern rings true. I AM happier now than I was at 40 or 45, and I am most definitely happier than I was in my teens and 20s (I was pretty emo back then).

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Of course, like all good things in life, happiness takes work. As Daniel Selling, a therapist at Williamsburg Therapy Group, puts it in an article from CNBC:

“You have to put in the work to be happy. It could mean therapy. It could be having passions. It could be having a career that really speaks to who you are and that you’re contributing to the world, or that you’ve made your money.”

Nonetheless, I have found that many of the concerns I had in my 20s, 30s and 40s are sliding into the rearview mirror as I turn 52 this month.

So what does all this after to do with fitness? Well, in addition to making me happier, aging has changed the way I think about health and fitness in a few key ways.

I care less about how I look and more about how I feel. Selling also points out that as you get older, you just generally care less about what people think of you, and this has been scientifically proven to make you happier. I can 100 percent attest to this concept. Like many young women, I was miserably self-conscious in my 20s, 30s and even 40s, feeling and I could never measure up to societal standards of thinness and beauty. I still don’t meet these unrealistic expectations, but I also don’t care. I work out because I enjoy it and want to stay strong and active for as long as possible. I eat plants because it makes me feel good.

I give myself more grace more often. This has been a hard lesson to learn, because I like to push myself. Aging, however, has a way of forcing you to take it a bit easier on yourself. My body doesn’t recover as quickly from a hard effort, so sometimes I have to take an extra rest day. I’ve also come to recognize that choosing to prioritize some aspects of your life—like work or time with friends and family—means letting go of other expectations. I wrote about this a bit in a blog post about running. I don’t always get the mix right by any means, but I’m getting better at it.

I’m more mindful of functionality. Along with needing more time to recover, aging has made me well aware that strength, flexibility, balance and even range of motion are a “use it or lose it” proposition. In a recent podcast episode, Joan Maiden, an author and personal trainer, talked about the importance of maintaining functionality as we age. She said:

“I never want to get to a point to where I’m afraid to take a step or go up the stairs or be able to do the things I want to do. And I would challenge people: What do you want to do? Don’t let your body be a prison.”

I’m willing to try new things – and fail at them. While I have never been a world-class athlete by any stretch of the imagination, I used to go into any endeavor with the goal of mastery. If you can’t be good at something, why bother to even try? What I’ve come to realize is that the trying is the most important part. I tried Taekwondo and failed miserably. When that stopped being fun, I switched to boxing and am having a blast. Last weekend, a friend took me out to learn how to two-step (yes, I’m from Texas and can’t two step). We were both pretty bad at it, but we had fun trying and vowed to go back and try again.

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Has aging changed the way you think about health and fitness? Drop us a note in the comments or email us to share your story.

In this episode, Alex and Jen interview Joan Maiden, who started a new career as a personal trainer at 50, helping clients overcome tremendous obstacles to lead an active, healthy life. Author of F Old Age, Joan talks about her own fitness journey and shares tips on how to live with passion, purpose and power at any age. You’ll also get a sneak peek of Jen and Joan’s upcoming trip to walk the Boudicca Way in England, named for a legendary warrior woman who stood up to the Romans in AD 60.

How would I describe the heat this summer?

Soul sucking. Misery inducing. So bad that when I step outside, it feels like my energy force leaves my body…vaporized in a boatload of sweat.

As someone who loves to exercise outside, July and August have been challenging months in Dallas, Texas. I’m currently giddy about a “cold front” that’s passing through as I write this piece, promising temperatures only in the mid-90s for the next few days.

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Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who doesn’t mind the heat. I’ve lived with it my whole life. And generally, I’ve never felt a summer so oppressive that it crushed my will to exercise outdoors…until now.

In reviewing my Strava activity data today, I realized I haven’t ridden my road bike since July 30, my longest drought since my broken leg. This is partly weather, partly choice—it’s been brutally hot in the evenings after work, when I often ride. I’m talking temperatures around 105 degrees Fahrenheit. And when I do get up early, I’ve been prioritizing running, as my wife and I have started training for a 25K trail race in November.

But there’s no denying the heat has made exercising outdoors extremely challenging the past few months. After reflection, I’ve come up with a few lessons learned when it comes to extreme heat and exercising outdoors.

Lesson #1: Virtual training is great…until it’s not.

Since mid-June, when it started to heat up, I’ve done 21 indoor bike rides. While I enjoy the gamification aspect of Zwift and the virtual reality rides on Rouvy, when that’s all your doing on the bike, it starts to get tedious.

It doesn’t matter what awesome Netflix show I put on or how much I try to distract myself by racing random people in a virtual world, in the end, I’m still sitting…still. I’d imagine a lot of my fellow runners who have been hitting the treadmill a lot this summer feel the same way.

This past week or two, I’ve hit a wall with virtual cycling. I just can’t take it anymore. Virtual training can be a nice change of pace from your outdoor routine. I mean, who doesn’t want to watch Too Hot to Handle while exercising, right? But when you’re doing it time, after time, after time, it becomes boring. And that’s when you have to switch it up.

Which leads us to…

Lesson #2: Mixing things up can help kick the indoor workout boredom.

Growing tired of Zwift this month, I’ve turned to making up my own indoor workouts, typically of the high intensity interval training (HIIT) variety.

The great thing about indoor HIIT is you can get your heart rate up in a relatively short period of time, get a nice sweat going and feel like you’ve done a solid strength workout. It’s also more efficient from a time perspective compared to churning out miles on an indoor bike or treadmill.

For example, one day, I grabbed a kettlebell, and decide to mix in goblet squats, pushups, kettlebell swings and wall handstands. There wasn’t anything to scientific about this workout—I did a lot of reps of all these things until I felt an endorphin rush.

Experiment. Make up your own indoor workouts. If you don’t want to experiment with your own HIIT workouts, though, maybe you should just wake up earlier, right?

Right?

Lesson #3: Waking up early doesn’t always make things better.

Whether I’m trying to ride my bike or go for a run this summer, I’ve often been faced with a no-win dilemma. Wake up early, and exercise in less hot temperatures and super high humidity. Or wait until the end of the day, and get my training done in super hot temperatures with less humidity.

The past week or so, I’ve even done a couple of runs at night. The temperatures for those runs? 97 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The point here is that during extreme conditions, you may think that it’s better to wake up in the morning to avoid the higher temperatures. I’ve actually found that when the sun is down, higher temperatures are more tolerable, especially if the humidity is lower. 80 degrees and high humidity almost feels more stifling to me.

So if you’re not a fan of the humidity like me, buy a headlamp. Night running can be a bit thrilling—there’s nothing like running through a trail in the woods by yourself to get the adrenaline pumping.

One note…if you don’t like spiders, don’t do this. The headlamp illuminates them. SO…MANY…SPIDERS.

Lesson #4: Some days you just have to accept outdoor exercise is a no go.

If you’ve got temperatures approaching 110 degrees as we’ve had recently, for example, it may not be a day to exercise outside, no matter how early or late you try. Personally, I’ve had several days recently where I realized it wasn’t wise to go outside to ride my bike or run.

It’s true, heat acclimation can help. I’ve grown up in Texas, so I’m used to working out in the heat. But my wife, for example, who grew up in England, isn’t used to it and doesn’t respond well to the heat. If you live in an area that hasn’t typically had hot weather, it’s best to skip the super hot days.

Even worse? The combination of extreme heat and air pollution. A new study found that extreme heat combined with air pollution can double your risk of dying from a heart attack, according to the Washington Post.

Lesson #5: When it comes to dealing with the heat, you’ve got to find your balance.

When it’s hot outside, you need a balanced approach to maintain your fitness routine.

If you’re used to exercising outside at the same time every day, that won’t work with extreme temperatures. Maybe you get up early on some days. Maybe you work out in the evening other days. Or maybe you exercise in your home or at the gym other days. Plan ahead. Think through your schedule. And most importantly, keep an eye on that ten-day forecast.

And if it’s too hot? Maybe it’s time for a different indoor exercise (like HIIT or yoga), a lower impact exercise like walking or even a rest day.

Welcome to the latest edition of PF Quick Hits, a (mostly) lighthearted look at recent fitness news and trends. Quick Hits is published…well, when we feel like it.

You may not be able to hit 10,000 steps a day, but surely you can hit 3,867?

That’s the number of steps per day you need to reduce the risk of dying from any cause, according to a massive new study from the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology. The research examined data from 17 different studies on step counts. As a cycling-first cardio guy who averages about 7,400 steps a day, I welcome this new study, as it quantifies the benefits of lower daily step counts.

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The study’s main finding? If you’re not walking, you should start walking. While 3,867 steps a day might be the lower limit for finding health benefits from walking, the researchers didn’t actually find an upper limit (though they only have data for up to 20,000 steps a day). Professor Maciej Banach, Professor of Cardiology at the Medical University of Lodz, Poland, summed it up:

“Our study confirms that the more you walk, the better,” says Prof. Banach. “We found that this applied to both men and women, irrespective of age, and irrespective of whether you live in a temperate, sub-tropical or sub-polar region of the world, or a region with a mixture of climates. In addition, our analysis indicates that as little as 4,000 steps a day are needed to significantly reduce deaths from any cause, and even fewer to reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease.”

On a previous episode of our podcast, and I examined the “10,000 steps a day” concept, and found it was created as part of a marketing ploy by a Japanese pedometer company in the 1960s. This study reinforces what we found on that podcast—you should try to get as many steps as is realistically possible for you.

Maybe that’s 3,867. Maybe that’s 10,000. Or maybe you don’t count steps at all, and just keep walking.

Biohacking your home for the low, low cost of $135,000

I’ve always enjoyed reading the “Mansion” section of my paper version Wall Street Journal every Friday, mostly for satirical purposes. “Mansion” includes coverage on big real estate transactions (often by celebrities or business types) and features on the homes of the wealthy.

When I belatedly picked up the section in my newspaper this weekend, I wasn’t expecting it to intersect with my love of fitness and wellness, but here we are. As soon as I saw the headline “The Biohacking Devotees Spending Hundreds of Thousands—Even Millions—to Enhance Their Homes,” I knew I’d want to write about it (snarkily).

First, let’s start with the basics. What exactly is “biohacking?” The WSJ article described it succinctly as, “a wellness lifestyle aimed at optimizing physical and mental performance.” Medical News Today describes it as “do-it-yourself” biology, which sounds totally legit. For the inside scoop, I decided to check in with lifestyle guru Tony Robbins, who has a description of the concept in a blog post (penned by “Team Tony”) on his website:

Biohacking your body means changing your chemistry and your physiology through science and self-experimentation to increase energy and vitality. It’s a broad definition, but that’s also because the concept is constantly evolving.

Team Tony’s blog post even mentions concepts like “implant technology,” and “genetic engineering,” described as “highly controversial and unregulated, for now existing only on the fringes of the biohacking world” and the type of biohacking that “makes the news.”

In the case of the “Mansion” piece, no one seems to be modifying their own DNA, but they do seem to be spending a lot of money. Take the first couple described in the article, who provided insight on their biohacking routine and how they have outfitted their home in support:

He takes 150 custom vitamins and supplements per day; she takes 23. They eat a diet specifically tailored to their genes. They work out with a trainer almost daily. They take posture-management classes. They practice Transcendental Meditation. They say affirmations.

But their biohacking isn’t limited to their bodies. They’ve also biohacked their house… “Biohacking is part of our life,” says Kellie Rastegar, 37. “You’d have to go out of your way to not biohack in our home.”

You really would have to go out of your way. For example, if you were trying to avoid biohacking in the this home, you’d have to bring your own bottled water. If you drink water out of the tap, you’re getting hydrogen-infused water, which is apparently “infinitely more powerful than normal water.”

You’d also have to avoid working out in their gym, or else, you’re getting extra oxygen pumped into your body from some sort of oxygen-pumping machine. You’d even have to avoid accidentally falling into the $65,000 “light-therapy bed” or mistakenly hooking yourself up to the “$16,990 BioCharger machine that uses light, frequencies and harmonics, voltage and pulsed electromagnetic field technology to, its makers claim, promote cellular rejuvenation, enhance cellular health and revitalize the body.”

Grand total for biohacking this home? $135,000. Another couple featured in the article spent $250,000 on biohacking their home with similar equipment (closer to $1 million, apparently, if you count their indoor basketball court as part of the biohacking bill).

While these couples may be going about their biohacking in opulent fashion, the article points out there are merits to the basic concepts of biohacking: the quality of the air, water and light in your home are important for your health. The author quotes the CEO of a company that’s worked with the Mayo and Cleveland Clinics to establish international building standards for wellness, and he believes you can biohack your home on a budget:

The company’s founder and CEO Paul Scialla says sufficiently improving indoor air, water and lighting can be done for 1% of construction costs or less. “It doesn’t have to break the bank,” he says.  

With the median sales price of homes in the United States hovering at about $416,000, that means you’d only have to spend about $4,000 to make those types of improvements, a far cry from the money being spent by the wealthy couples chronicled in the Wall Street Journal.

Rediscovering the fun in exercise by thinking like a kid

I read a enjoyable piece from the New York Times this week that talked about incorporating the concept of play into your workouts. The article highlighted a workout program called the “Primal Play Method” created by personal trainer Darryl Edwards:

Mr. Edwards began incorporating play into his workouts and his clients’: climbing trees, balancing on railings and crawling on all fours instead of going to the gym. Eventually he developed a workout aimed at building strength and endurance through childlike play. His clients give piggyback rides and play tag instead of lifting weights.

Not only do clients get a solid workout, he said, it changes how they see movement. One mother who struggled to find time to exercise started working out with her children on their way to school, jumping over sidewalk cracks and playing hopscotch, and now arrives to work invigorated.

The premise of this workout method centers on the idea that a lot of people are bored with their workouts, so harkening back to their childhood, when movement was still fun and not a “chore,” can be motivating. This can be as easy as throwing a frisbee with a friend in the park, bouncing a ball while walking the dog or incorporating bursts of running (or skipping) into your walks.

While I probably won’t be skipping in public anytime soon, the article definitely reminded me of the outdoor activities I loved as a child. I’m still riding bikes as an adult, but I haven’t popped any wheelies lately. And I definitely haven’t climbed any trees. Maybe it’s time to change that.

What do you think of the “primal play” method? Is this something you would try? Or would you feel too silly?

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For the past few months I’ve felt like an imposter. Way back in January, I wrote a post about why women should lift weights, but it’s taken me a full six months to start taking my own advice. I’ve finally jumped on the strength train, and the results have been interesting, but before getting into that, here’s how it all started…

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I had been boxing at a gym in San Francisco for several months when I decided to take a class taught by the gym owner, Dave Park. Midway through an interminable set of long jumps across the gym floor, I started experiencing some knee pain. I told Dave about it. Did he say I should take it easy, modify the exercise? No, he said I needed to do more strength training. Now, obviously, sometimes you do need to listen to your body and back off, which I did that night, but the seed had been planted. I later learned from a friend who boxes at the same gym that Dave had struggled with knee issues himself after years of boxing, so I thought perhaps he was on to something.

Dave is a force of nature, and over the next several months, when I would show up at the boxing gym, he’d remind me of the need for more strength training in my life. (Lest anyone think this was a sales pitch, I pay a flat fee to take as many classes as I like.) Six months later, I’ve committed to two days of strength training a week, and here’s what I’ve learned.

DOMS is Real

My first full-on weight training session nearly immobilized me. Hello, DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). This is not surprising, since DOMS is usually the result of changing up your workout routine to recruit different muscles. According to Lauren Haythe, a yoga teacher and Certified Kinesis Myofascial Integration Practitioner, in an article on CNN Health:

“Your body is making adaptations to better prepare your muscles to do that activity again.”

wrote about DOMS in a previous post. His solution was a massage gun (which I am too cheap to purchase). However, counterintuitively, doing the same exercise again can also help with DOMS. I was skeptical about this at first, but after a second class in the same week, I found my soreness diminished rather than getting worse.

I’m SO Hungry

One of the more unpleasant side effects of my new strength training regime, is that I find myself extremely hungry after these sessions—not necessarily right after, but often the next day. Research is mixed on this topic. An article on VeryWellFit.com sums it up like this: “Some research suggests that strength training can lead to a significant increase in appetite. However, others have suggested no increase in caloric intake.”

For me, however, the hunger is very real and at levels I’ve only previously experienced after very long runs during marathon training. Interestingly, men and women may experience post-workout hunger differently. According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, while high-intensity exercise reduces energy intake in men, it may increase energy intake in women.

To avoid eating back all the calories I’ve burned and then some after a workout, I’ve been following some of the tips offered in this article from Shape, namely making sure I eat something soon after a tough workout and upping my protein intake to support all that new muscle I’m building.

I Guess Muscle Does Weigh More than Fat?

Another unpleasant side effect of strength training is that I’ve gained a few pounds. Some of this may just be the “summer spread” my sisters and I seem to experience. While many people gain weight over the holidays, we seem to gain it over the summer—chalk it up to some weird quirk of genetics, I suppose. However, between the boxing and added strength training, I’ve begun to see some nice definition in my arms and calves, so I’m hoping at least some of it is muscle.

While a pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat, duh, muscle is denser than fat, so it looks a bit leaner. What’s more, increasing muscle mass has a wealth of benefits, especially as we age. Here are just a few from health.com:

• “Lean muscle mass can help manage blood sugar, keeping Type 2 diabetes at bay.

• Muscle contributes to healthy aging, helping you maintain mobility and stay active.

• Having more muscle increases your basal metabolic rate.

Two weeks into my dalliance with strength training, I’m determined to keep at it. Near the end of a two-hour Saturday strength/boxing session at the gym, I felt like I was moving in slow motion. Dave (who thankfully wasn’t teaching that day) caught my eye during the warmup. “I'm tired,” I blurted out. “Yes, but you’re getting stronger,” he said, with a smile.

Yes, I am, Dave. Yes, I am.

Studies say … drink more coffee, wait, no, less coffee. If you’ve ever been confused about all the conflicting health research out there, this episode is for you. While Alex and Jen like to talk about the science behind fitness, they are not scientists. In this episode, Jen chats with Wendy Cedron Craft, an actual scientist, about what to look for when reading research on health and fitness topics—or any topic for that matter. Wendy also shares about her own personal fitness journey, including her recent experience in getting back to running after a badly broken leg.

In this episode, Alex and Jen talk about sleep. What impact does sleep (or lack thereof) have on your health? How much sleep do you actually need? And can exercise help you sleep better? Jen and Alex answer these questions, plus Jen recounts her bizarre experience in a strip mall sleep lab.

Looking for the results of this episode’s experiment? According to Jen and Alex, both slept about the same amount as normal after one alcoholic beverage (consumed while recording this episode), with *slightly* lower overall sleep quality scores.

The older I get, the more I get my parents.

In the past year or so, for example, I’ve started to cultivate a deeper understanding of why my dad loved gardening.

I’ve always known why he said he liked it. Let’s flash back to high school. I was a student, he was a teacher. In the same small school. I managed to go six years and avoid his tutelage, save for one class: public speaking.

For a teenager, nothing could be worse than taking a class taught by your own parent—it’s incredibly awkward. If you do well in the class, everyone will accuse you of getting preferential treatment. If you do poorly, your parent will be unhappy with you. For a sixteen-year-old kid grappling with typical teenage emotions, it felt flat out embarrassing. But it was a required class, and he was the only teacher, so I had to take it.

Over the course of the semester, we learned about the different types of speeches (e.g. a “how to” speech, a persuasive speech, and so on). Before we began studying each type of speech, my dad would give a demonstration speech, and he was an excellent orator. I don’t remember any of the speeches I gave in his class, but I do remember one of his. Vividly.

The speech was was classified as an “entertaining speech,” which can take many forms but usually relies on an emotional delivery. His speech served as a tribute to his mother, who had passed away a few years earlier. He talked in detail about her love of gardening. That’s why he’d picked up the hobby, and even after she died, he’d used it as a way stay connected with her. I remember being visibly moved by the speech, and I’m sure he noticed. This was the moment the embarrassment I felt about being in my dad’s class disappeared.

One year ago to this day, my wife and I got married in England. During part of the trip, one of her friends was kind enough to let us stay in her home while she was away on vacation. In return, all she asked was for us to water her flowers in her back garden. She had a lot of them, and it wasn’t a task that you knocked out in five minutes. It took a while.

During our stay, I handled the flower watering, and quickly realized that it wasn’t a chore, but a pleasure. We were there for several days, and every day, I enjoyed walking through her garden and tending to all of the flowers, no matter how long it took. It felt incredibly relaxing.

This summer, my wife and I have planted several flowers of our own in pots in our backyard, and I’ve been taking care of them on a daily basis. I especially love taking a few minutes to water them when I’m working from home, which gives me a momentary respite from the typical stresses of professional life.

I’ve not only felt a sense of relaxation through my daily interactions with the plants, but also felt more connected to my father, who passed away more than five years ago. The same way he felt more connected to his mom. And now, I truly understand why he loved gardening.

Mental health benefits of gardening

Even if you don’t have an emotional connection to the activity, gardening can be beneficial for your mental health. Charles D. Hall, a professor and researcher in the Department of Horticultural Sciences at Texas A&M University, cites numerous psychological benefits of gardening:

• Anxiety and stress reduction

• Attention deficit recovery

• Decreased depression

• Enhanced memory retention

• Improved happiness and life satisfaction

• Mitigation of PTSD

• Increased creativity, productivity and attention

• Reduced effects of dementia

• Enhanced self-esteem

I’ve personally noted a reduction in stress and in increase in happiness when I tend to our flowers. It feels good to help sustain another life-form, and the plants add beauty to our outdoor space.

Practical tips for gardening at home

If you’d like to start a garden, you don’t have to start big. Even if you’ve only got a small space, you can start with a a few plants. We’ve built up to about ten flower pots in our backyard this year, and I can report with excitement that all of the plants are still alive, despite the hot Texas summer. A few things I’ve picked up:

• Follow the directions: Pay close attention to the directions that come with each plant. The amount of sun and shade the plant receives is critical. Some plants do well in full sun, and some need more shade. Keep this in mind when purchasing you plants, particularly in reference to your own space where you’ll be keeping the plants.

• Water in the morning: This helps your plants avoid fungal infections and allows more time for the water to soak into the soil, according to information from Iowa State University. If you water during hours of full sun, you’ll lose more to evaporation.

• Water at the roots: I thought the plants would like it if I gave them a simulated rain shower, but I was wrong, and ’s sister set me straight. You should always water at the roots of the plants. A watering wand helps with this. See my video for more on this:

Taking care of my little garden has turned out to be an unexpected joy, helping me carry on my dad’s memory and serving as another brick in my wall of defense against anxiety. If you’re looking for ways to reduce stress and anxiety, gardening might help you, too.

With smoke from wildfires blanketing parts of the eastern U.S. and Canada, and a “heat dome” scorching central parts of the continent, it’s been a rough summer for outdoor exercise enthusiasts. In this episode, Jen and Alex talk about outdoor workouts in less than ideal conditions like heat, humidity, smoke and poor air quality. Should you push through or head indoors? And if you decide to run, bike or hike, what precautions should you take?

I am a pretty disciplined person—some might say obsessively so. As I mentioned in a previous post, I rely on a variety of apps as well as my trusty IRL accountability buddies to help me achieve my health and fitness goals. I know that rest and recovery are important to any exercise routine, but recently I tried something even more radical. I took two weeks off of tracking and training and just allowed myself to do whatever I pleased.

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Surprising results

Week one, I was in Colorado with my family, celebrating my sister’s wedding and enjoying time with my 8-year-old nephew, Malachi. He and I ran around a bit and shot a silly TikTok video, but I didn’t do any kind of focused training and allowed myself to eat anything I wanted. I returned home right in the midst of San Francisco Pride—an epic, monthlong celebration in the city I call home. Rather than getting right back to the grind, I allowed myself another five days of celebration, going out with friends, marching in the Pride parade and generally just having a great time.

At the end of all this, I expected to find my fitness goals in shambles. But much to my surprise, I had actually dropped a few pounds, had no trouble getting right back into boxing and felt great. More important, though, I had regained my motivation. I couldn’t wait to get back to the gym or go for a run. What had started to feel like drudgery had now become a treat.

The case for a workout holiday

While scores of articles discuss the importance of rest and recovery days (Alex and I took a deep dive on this in an episode of the podcast), far fewer advocate taking longer periods off. I did find a few, though, that supported my anecdotal findings.

An article in Well + Good talks about some of the benefits of an extended break from working out, suggesting that a week off—or even a few—can help you:

• Avoid workout burnout. It’s important to give your body and mind a break.

• Combat stress overload. This one really interested me. According to Dr. Jonathan Leary, a chiropractor quoted in the article: “People need to know that exercise, though often good stress, is still a stress on the body.” He points to the buildup of cortisol, which can come from stress but also from pushing it too hard in the gym.

• Give your willpower a break. Willpower is a finite resource—well, maybe. This is a hotly debated area of research right now. For an opposing view, see the Harvard Business Review. In any case, I will say that my willpower definitely hits the wall from time to time.

• Boost your strength. The article pointed to pro athletes, who know the importance of taking time off.

If you’re worried about losing fitness, take heart. The article above pointed to a study published in Medical Science in Sports & Fitness that indicates you won’t lose all your fitness gains in a few weeks. Quoting Dr. Leary again:

"Based on research, an active person can go up to three weeks without working out and it will not have too much of an impact on their muscle size or cardio output. Take the vacation—when you're in a relaxed head space, it works wonders on the body, too."

But don’t take it from me. Quoted in Insider magazine, Luke Worthington, personal trainer to the likes of Robert Pattinson and Dakota Johnson, says:

“If we have been working out consistently and effectively, then taking a planned break while on holiday can actually be one of the most physiologically beneficial things we can do.”  

So there you have it. If you feel the need to take a break from exercise, dieting or whatever else it is that’s become a chore, a little vacation may be just what’s needed to reset your goals, restore your willpower and rekindle your motivation.

Next time you want to get high, try going for a run! In this episode, Jen and Alex explore the science behind the “runner’s high,” and its surprising source. We’ve always heard it’s endorphins that cause that blissful feeling after exercise, but recent research shows there another type of chemical in your body that is responsible for that relaxing feeling: endocannabinoids. Just what are they, and what sort of exercise brings them on? Alex and Jen answer those questions and share their own experiences with the runner’s high.

Welcome to the latest edition of PF Quick Hits, a (mostly) lighthearted look at recent fitness news and trends. Quick Hits is published…well, when we feel like it.

I suffered a major attack of the DOMS this week.

DOMS stands for “delayed onset muscle soreness,” and often kicks in one to two days after a strenuous workout, particularly if you haven’t worked out in a while or are trying a new activity.

In my case, I’d done barbell deadlifts for the first time in approximately…2,394 days. Give or take.

One day later, my hamstrings were barking, and I knew the solution: my trusty massage gun. After a couple of excruciatingly painful sessions administered by my lovely wife (which required some gentle persuasion), the muscle soreness disappeared.

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I’ve found my massage gun to be a reliable way to speed recovery from muscle soreness, and new research confirms my experience. A new Well + Good article summarizes a comprehensive review of multiple studies on massage guns, and the benefits aren’t just limited to recovering from soreness:

Specifically, a single use of a massage gun resulted in increasing muscle strength (particularly in the upper body) and increasing explosive muscle strength (think fast, powerful movements like sprinting). With multiple and consistent uses of a massage gun, the study found that muscular pain can be reduced as well, especially for decreasing delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) 48 hours after challenging workouts.

Interestingly, the study further found that the use of a massage gun had no overt change on flexibility. But the majority of studies that found a decrease in pain also found an improvement in flexibility, so there may be some nebulous connection there!

This sounded too good to be true, so I went and checked out the study for myself. The authors have no conflicts of interest, which means this study wasn’t funded by Therabody (they make the TheraGun, perhaps the most well-known massage gun).

Speaking of TheraGun, you may be thinking to yourself, “gosh, a massage gun sounds great, but I can’t afford a TheraGun like Therabody athlete Cristiano Ronaldo.” It might take something close to Ronaldo’s salary to afford the standard TheraGun, which currently retails for $599 on Amazon (I refuse to link to this, I’m not doing product marketing here).

The good news, though? You can find plenty of bargain massage guns with solid reviews on Amazon for under $100, which means you don’t have to make Ronaldo money to reap the benefits of this new fitness technology.

What’s “Zone 2” training, and why should you try it?

I read a great Men’s Health article about “Zone 2” training this week in my Apple News+ feed, but unfortunately, it’s behind a paywall. Paywalls aside, I’ve noticed an increasing amount of digital ink being expended on Zone 2 training, so I thought I’d investigate. The increasing interest in Zone 2 training seems to parallel a decline in popularity of HIIT workouts, as you can see in this Google Search Trends data:

Since Men’s Health wants you to pay for their article, I found another men’s magazine that happily shares knowledge on “Zone 2” training for free (thanks, GQ). Turns out, “Zone 2” training is exactly what it sounds like:

The jargon-y term might make this type of training sound extremely complicated, and its loudest proponents tend to be the type of guy who enjoys tracking (and Tweeting about) the time spent in this sometimes-elusive state, with the most advanced watches, chest straps, and tracker-embedded underwear. But it’s actually just exercising at a relatively low intensity for a long period of time.

So yeah, just basically working out in heart rate zone #2. But determining that number might not be as easy as you think, according to GQ, with smartwatches and fitness trackers offering different definitions of each heart rate zone, and people’s actual maximum heart rates varying as much as 20 beats from various heart rate zone calculation methods. Most heart rate zone charts I see on the internet label zone 2 as 60 to 70 percent of your max heart rate, so we’ll go with that.

According to the GQ article, the most important benefit of training in this zone is not fat loss, but rather building a solid cardiovascular base for your body. My most important takeaway from the article? This sort of lower-intensity training should make up about 80 percent of your physical activity, with higher intensity workouts (like HIIT or more intense cardio) making up the other 20 percent.

While you can try to target your presumed zone 2 by checking your smartwatch while training, the easiest way may be a little bit more old fashioned: using the “talk” test. When you’re training in zone 2, you should be able to carry on a slightly-strained conversation.

Talking while training? Zone 2 sounds like it was made for fitness friends.

Twins conduct a not-so-scientific workout experiment

Think you need long, grueling workouts to get stronger and build muscle? Maybe all you need is 20 minutes.

Twin adventurers Ross and Hugo Turner wanted to find out if longer strength workouts would translate to bigger gains, so they decided to do their own research. Here’s how they described their experiment on their blog:

The twins monitored their bodies over a three-month fitness challenge to understand if training twice as much offered twice the results.

The twins hypothesized that a 40-minute gym session might deliver 10 - 20% uplift in performance over the 20-minute session.

Each gym session (taking place across Virgin Active gyms in London) was an endurance program designed for a 20-minute session, with each of the four exercises having 14 reps with four sets. Ross, who was doing the 40-minute session, doubled this 20-minute session, keeping the weights and intensity the same, to create an exact carbon copy of Hugo's session.

They were surprised to find that their hypothesis didn’t hold, and that despite the differences in training time, their results over a range of measures (max pull-ups, bench press, deadlift, etc.) were nearly identical after three months.

While there’s no real science involved here and the sample size for this study was two (identical) people, I actually love the results. I tend to keep my strength sessions to 20-30 minutes, and have seen no real differences in my body compared to when I did longer, more traditional sessions many years ago.

And even though the Ross twins weren’t bringing the science, there’s evidence out there that short muscle-building workouts can be just as effective, or even more effective, than longer ones.

Is working out with your spouse or romantic partner a good idea? In this episode, Alex is joined by his wife Abbie to discuss how working out with your partner can both improve the relationship and help you reach your fitness goals…as long as you set some ground rules. If you’re thinking about starting a new exercise routine with your partner, Alex and Abbie have some tips for you based on their own experiences.

The rise of wearable technology has made it easier to track all kinds of health data— from step count to sleep quality. If recent articles are any indication, the new darling in this category is heart rate variability (HRV). Previously measurable only by an electrocardiogram in a doctor’s office, these tiny fluctuations in the length of time between heartbeats hold promise as an indicator of overall health.

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What is HRV and why does it matter?

HRV is linked to the autonomic nervous system, which controls our heart rate, blood pressure, digestion and breathing. This system is divided into two parts: the sympathetic (think “fight or flight”) and parasympathetic (chill out) mode. HRV measures the balance between these two systems and is an indication of cardiovascular health and resilience from stress. According to the Cleveland Clinic:

“Your heart’s variability reflects how adaptable your body can be. If your heart rate is highly variable, this is usually evidence that your body can adapt to many kinds of changes. People with high heart rate variability are usually less stressed and happier.”

However, researchers are starting to find that HRV holds the key to much more. I recently came across an article in Forks Over Knives citing research out of the University of Southern California that indicates deep breathing exercises could reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease. The reason behind this, researchers posit, could well be HRV. Other studies have linked low HRV with mental health conditions, autoimmune disorders, chronic pain and fatigue.  

Perhaps most interesting, however, is the link between HRV and morality. According to a meta-analysis in the Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Review, “Lower HRV parameter values were significant predictors of higher mortality across different ages, sex, continents, populations and recording lengths.” On the flip side, higher HRV could lead to longer life. According to ProHealth Longevity:

“… Centenarians with higher HRV had greater survival rates by 1.6 additional years. Further, the lower HRV group had a 5-times increased risk of mortality, suggesting that higher HRV is a significant contributor to longevity. Notably, the longest-lived subject in the group was also the one with the highest HRV (110 milliseconds).”

Tips for increasing HRV

The good news about HRV is that while it tends to decrease with age, there are simple things we can do to increase HRV. Here are just a few:

Decrease stress. As Alex and I discussed on a recent podcast episode, stress has myriad effects on the body, and they are not pretty. Both physical and psychological stress can lower HRV by tipping our body’s homeostasis into fight or flight mode. Hence any of the methods that lower stress can raise HRV as well.

Exercise regularly. There is an inverse relationship between heart rate and HRV (lower heart rates correlate with higher HRV). By increasing cardio fitness, exercise tends to lower your resting heart rate and increase HRV. According to a systematic review in the European Review of Aging and Physical Activity, all forms of “endurance, coordinative, and multimodal training” had positive impacts on HRV. Resistance training, not so much, though there are numerous other benefits from strength training.

Take some deep breaths. As the Forks Over Knives article points out, resonance breathing, or deep, intentional breathing, can have a profound effect on HRV. A 2022 randomized, controlled study of healthy young adults found that 20 minutes per day of resonance frequency breathing not only improved HRV but “improved cognition and reduced perceived stress.”

Watch what you eat…and drink. While a relatively new area of study, some research indicates a healthy diet may be associated with HRV. On the flip side, alcohol has a decidedly negative effect on HRV. In a post on Aging with Attitude!, demonstrates that even one glass of wine can have measurable impact on HRV (an effect I have noticed as well).

So there you have it—HRV is an emerging area of interest when it comes to overall health and fitness. And if you’re a data junkie, according to Harvard Health Publishing, it just might warrant a closer look:  

“You might see a connection to HRV changes as you incorporate more mindfulness, meditation, sleep, and especially physical activity into your life. For those who love data and numbers, this could be a way to track how your nervous system is reacting not only to the environment, but also to your emotions, thoughts, and feelings.”

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With screen time skyrocketing, our kids are more sedentary than ever. In this episode of the podcast, Alex goes solo to talk about the negative impacts a sedentary lifestyle can have on our kids, including the effect on their heart health. He also shares some practical tips to help you get your kids interested in exercise. Getting kids more active is an important issue for society, so even if you’re not a parent, this episode is for you!