Exercise myths busted: Practical steps to sustain your health | Harvard Professor Daniel Lieberman
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- čas přidán 5. 06. 2024
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Exercise culture is crazy. But what you need to do is simple.
There are many misconceptions about exercise. The worst myth is that it's normal to be less active the older we get. But modern hunter-gatherers remain physically active with age.
Humans need about 150 minutes of exercise per week to be healthy, but 80% of us aren’t getting even that. What to do? Simply walking more.
Daniel Lieberman is Edwin M. Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences and a professor of the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He received degrees from Harvard and Cambridge, and taught at Rutgers University and George Washington University before joining Harvard University as a Professor in 2001. He is a member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Lieberman loves teaching and has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers, many in journals such as Nature, Science, and PNAS, as well as three popular books, The Evolution of the Human Head (2011), The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health and Disease (2013), and Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do is Healthy and Rewarding (2020).
If you want to uncover the right foods for your body, head to zoe.com/podcast, and get 10% off your personalized nutrition program.
Timecodes:
00:00 Introduction
01:34 Quickfire questions
03:22 The Rudyard Kipling view of our ancestors
04:54 Is exercise good for us and why do most of us hate it?
06:19 For millions of years, people were physically active for 2 reasons only…
15:38 Our bodies have evolved to save calroies and preserve energy
18:31 It’s normal to think your life is normal
22:27 We need to exercise because we don’t move enough!
34:00 Diet, exercise and sleep can prevent these diseases…
39:54 The active Grandparent hypothesis
43:10 Study of men matriculating as undergraduates at Harvard University
49:44 How can we enjoy keeping physically active?
01:00:00 The importance of weights exercise
01:06:43 Summary
Mentioned in today’s episode:
Three generations of HSPH researchers explore health benefits of exercise from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Stanford marshmallow test experiment, a summary from Simply Psychology
You can purchase Dr Lieberman’s newest book, ‘Exercised: The Science of Physical Activity, Rest and Health’, here: amzn.to/49udz2v
Episode transcripts are available here: zoe.com/learn/category/podcasts
Is there a nutrition topic you’d like us to explore? Email us at podcast@joinzoe.com and we’ll do our best to cover it. - Věda a technologie
I'm 63. I made the decision at age 50 to be MORE fit and healthy as I got older, not less. I do strength training at a gym, light callisthenics at home, and long country walks. I have several disabilities so there's many types of exercise I can't do, but I do everything I can. My ambition is to avoid doctors as much as possible.
That is a great philosophy - I am going one stage further.....I have been sporty and fit all my life but now i'm in my 50's I want to push the boundaries of what my body can achieve [embarking ultra distance cycling]...so in fact I will be fitter than when I was in my 20's.
Conclusion: do not _ever_ stop moving !
@radicalcartoons2766
I’m with you there. I don’t do the gym but I do walking and heavy gardening. I’m more busy in the summer than the winter and seem to always find things to do. Music and dancing house work as well
That is my ambition too. Avoid doctors, hospitals, clinics.
Im 56 and currently on a indoor bike watching this. I dont mind doing the indoor bike when I can watch movies on it. But I see our NHS heathcare system failing and know that I need to keep myself as mobile as long as I can as I cant be guaranteed help in the end. I always carry my grocies in a basket and walk them home. I live on 4th floor. I think this professor is spot on. We made everyting too easy and we are paying a bigger price for all the convience.
Absolutely, my 86 year old mum doesn't stop! She gardens daily, walks daily and started dancing again aged 80! Doesn't sit for more than 10 minutes at a time! No health issues at all !!
Really interesting for me as a 57 yr old dairy farmer's wife. I look after the calves and am therefore carrying buckets of milk and water, and sacks of corn a couple of times a day and also walking around the farm quite a lot. I also help with care of my grandchildren several times a week. In 6 yrs we will be retiring as the lease on our farm runs out, so it is going to be really important for my husband and I to carry on with some physical activity - maybe an allotment to grow our own food? It's fascinating how beneficial our current life appears to be. Daily exercise, including several hours before breakfast, giving us a daily intermittant fast. Plenty of home made meals. Plenty of quality sleep because we are tired at night after all the exercise. It's a wonderful life and sometimes I think I don't appreciate it enough as it seems hard. Thank you for these podcasts. I always look forward to them
An allotment sounds like a great idea. Exercise plus healthy food.
When I retired at 64 I was out of shape and overweight at about 210. Three years later through exercise, better diet and less alcohol I was down to 180 and felt much stronger. Unfortunately, exercise was becoming tedious. I decided to try a mindfulness approach. I put on a big smile (which actually make you feel happy) and thought about how good I felt and looked compared to before. A few months later I could just focus on the happy feeling. It still works 8 years later.
Great tip! All the best!
This works. Wish more people believed it
This answered a lot of my questions! I’m 73, retired at 60 (just squeezed in before it all changed!). We now live in rural France with land, dogs and chicken. I’m far more physically active now than Ive ever been, bending, lifting heavy pots, digging - we grow our own veg as much as possible, walking the dogs. I do do Pilates and a yoga class, but no longer go to the gym. I did wonder because, I was no longer ‘excercising’, if I was doing enough, this has put my mind at ease!
At age 69 I took a new job as a barkeep and food server at a hotel locally, a year on I am still enjoying it ,plus the table clearing, KP etc ,meeting folks, standing 5 hours 4 evenings a week, weight now stabilised, clocked my first mile non stop swim in the pool last year (breast stroke for endurance as per first channel swimmer). (paddles on hands give resistance training boost)This podcast underlines what I discovered. Good luck older folks, you can do it just take it steady, dont ignore pains.
Great to hear that dancing is a good exercise because we love it. My husband and I are 70 and teach Scottish Country dancing. We teach a beginners class where we have younger working people so it gives them a couple hours of enjoyable exercise each week. We also attend another class midweek and go to dances at the weekend.
This makes a lot of sense. My grandparents lived and worked around their property until they got too sick, then died shortly after. But they lived long lives
I am nearly 80. I was born and brought up in London. We always had running water as did our relations in the country. Clean water and proper sanitation have saved innumerable lives.
We didn't have a car so walked everywhere or took public transport, to catch which we had to walk.
I reckon my mother used as many calories walking to the shops, walking back carrying the shopping, preparing food, as she ate.
It was astonishing to meet anyone with diabetes, etc.
Today, I reckon city people are healthier than country folk as they walk more. To get anywhere in the country you need to drive.
Love Zoe and all the podcasts
Brilliant podcast, thanks to you both. I feel more optimistic now, being 70 yrs old, as I previously felt that Jonathan you tend to focus on the 40 - 60 age group which was a bit depressing for me, making me feel it was too late. No longer!
Never too late, my friend.
Never too old! Age is just a number, Jonathan needs to remember it’s the life in your years, not years in your life!
Every ZOE talk on exercise always seems to leave out swimming! Great, I used to run until I needed a spinal operation. If my back had not gone, my knees would have. One knee still gives me problems. I swim for about 2 KM in 1.5 hours using aerobic hand paddles and aerobic fins. I am tired when I leave the pool, but nothing hurts! Yikes, Johnatan, this needs to be rectified.
I have a dog. If I don't go running with him (4KM) every day, he chews the carpet. Motivation enough?!
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Love it.
This is a very interesting interview. Dancing is mentioned several times as a great way of getting exercise without it actually feeling like you are exercising. It's a shame that dancing (especially partner dancing) is so difficult to do everywhere in our Western society where there is live music and is universally associated with alcohol consumption. People will willingly pay to go and walk on a treadmill but not pay to learn to dance or to enjoy dancing to live music....how did we get here and how do we change this? Go out and learn to dance for heavens sake it's a lot more fun than running that's for sure.
I'm 63 years of age, and I've never enjoyed exercise, so it was great to hear that I'm normal in that respect. 😊 Every day when I get up, I do about 20 minutes of stretching/Pilates exercises to get the blood flowing and the muscles working. Every day it requires willpower. I don't enjoy the prospect of doing it one bit. But once I'm into it, if I can sense that it's a teeny bit less difficult to do a particular element of the routine than it was the day before, or that I can do an additional couple of repetitions of something, or whatever it may be, the reward is the knowledge that it's doing me good. And when it's over, I feel so glad that I overcame my natural aversion to getting started!
Yesss so excited for this one! I discovered Daniel Lieberman through Diary of a CEO, which is also what led me to discovering Zoe through Tim Specter and Chris Van Tulleken's interviews. I've made so many healthy changes in my life the past month or so watching interviews like this, and I have so much respect and admiration towards experts like Lieberman that so eloquently share their knowledge. Thank you Zoe for what you do, it's a shame information like this isn't more widespread. Feels like I'm learning things and correcting behaviors I'd grown up with, that should've just been widespread knowledge to begin with.
The first ten minutes are the hardest in a workout. Once you're through them, you never want to quit.
Thank you for this. I am 63, been strength training over 30 years and zumba over 12 years. I've just started zumba instructing and have several older seniors; my goal is to be an example and motivate people while doing what I love.
Doctors want us to exercise and keep active as we get older. Advice has often been based on a minimum to achieve a particular level of health.things like “half an hour a day of moderate exercise”or “get out of breath for 20 minutes twice a week”. In my view there are two problems with this. One is that it faces the same problems as a calorie restricted diet in reverse. It is imposed on yourself so becomes a barrier you keep failing to achieve. Secondly, fitness works like the gearbox on a car. The engine struggles in a higher gear if the speed isn’t high enough. Our body struggles in a higher gear if the endurance isn’t there.
That’s why we need to find fun. We will always continue a little longer with something that is fun. We are also different in how fitness fades. If I exercise well once or twice a week, fitness feels like something that will fade quickly if I miss a few sessions. If I achieve 3, 4 or more, fitness becomes the norm rather than something I am on the verge of losing. Psychology is complex, conquering your own psychology is part of keeping fit and making it easy.
The other day I was thinking about us making a constant comparison with our ancestors and trying to mimic their lifestyle. I was walking fast, voluntarily, just to sort of stretch my legs and pump up my blood having sat down for a couple of hours in a conference. I was thinking about our ancestors and said to myself: I bet they weren't exercising. They must have been physically active when needed, i.e. for getting food, running away from something dangerous. But their lives were different. They didn't have deliveroo, they didn't have homes outside wildness. They didn't have that comfortable life. They were likely preserving energy rather than using it without a purpose. Seems like my intuition on this was right as this video confirms it. We now need to compensate for all the sitting and comfort that we've built for ourselves. And we should also bear in mind that our ancestors didn't live as long as we do now, so staying active at old age is extremely important.
For me exercising is also boring chore but I found a solution for that. I am exercising at home while listening to some of numerous "to watch" things. Currently I am exercising with dumbbells listening to this podcast. I wouldn't exercise for long if I had to go to gym :). It is also great time saviour. I am doing whole session in time I would spent to travel to gym and back.
Me too, team body project is a great way to exercise at home
56, just starting to be consistent. One thing I finally understand is consistency counts more than the goal. Do it every day, and the body will do the best it can with your effort. The goal will take care of itself.
I became far more active when I retired at 62, as I was released from having to sit at a desk, interacting with a computer for most of the day. Instead I walked to events, shopped in town, using the bus pass and getting out and about. Since the pandemic more and more of the tasks we do are being forced online - banking, shopping, getting tickets, seeing doctors, etc. etc. At 73 I now need to sit in front of a computer again for too much of the day . This is not the way I want to do things!
I’m SO glad that you have Prof Daniel Lieberman on the show. His book is wonderful and explodes a number of myths around exercise. It did make me wonder, though, whether I am odd for actually enjoying exercise!
this bro neglected to emphasize the positive effects of exercise on mood -- especially in combination with sunlight & the outdoors. i love exercise because it makes me feel good.
Walking outdoors is wonderful, especially in a park, in any weather except thunder and lightning.
I'm so lucky to have a large beautiful park nearby with water, trees, squirrels, rabbits, and birds.
I used to run. Now I walk.
Running and walking are opportunities to meditate, slow time down.
Breathing fresh air and moving with a rhythm, we can be with our thoughts for a few minutes working with our life issues. Problem solving, planning, working out emotions.
After 10-15 minutes, the mind is empty, clear and present.
Now awareness of body time, the breath, the body, the form, scan and relax the body over and over.
Serene time till the end of the run.
Runner's high.
On walking for beginning exercisers...
I truly think that most able-bodied beginners would love exercise if they simply got outside to walk around the block each day for 15 minutes to start.
Intensity isn't needed.
If 15 minutes sounds demotivating, do 10 instead.
Helpful tips for those who haven't walked for exercise in a while to realize helpful walking practices such as good form:
. toes pointed forward
. shorter strides (foot falls beneath the hip)
. mid-forefoot strike as in the Pose Method
. feet should track hipwidth apart on landing
. no unnecessary hip rotation
. maintaining excellent posture...
not leaning too far forward,
straight line head to sitz bones,
shoulders down, back, relaxed,
ears in line over the shoulders,
chin tucked slightly
. breathing in through the nose.
It's a great idea to know how to avoid injury and be aware of good practices form from the outset, because truth is that walking and jogging are so pleasurable that the desire to go faster once you're out there is natural, especially if you're dressed for it and have good shoes to enhance the experience.
Breathing comfortably hard just feels so good.
Starting with a short distance and building gradually helps avoid muscle soreness.
Soreness or injury can spoil the experience.
Thank you Jonathan. A very enjoyable and informative podcast, especially for those who can do the exercise stated here. Now, what I’d love you to do, is a podcast for those of us who are house bound /bed bound due to illness, giving realistic advice on what we can do, as a starting point regards exercise. Obviously there’s bed and chair yoga and pilates but I would Sooo love it if you could get. Stig Severinsen, as I believe his knowledge would help everyone, fit or ill. He is founder of Breatheology and has helped me and many others bed bound to exercise their heart and lungs by yoga breathing. As well as helping many other fit & well people including various armed forces. Thanks for this.
That's my favorite Zoe podcast so far, and of course, they're all great!
Thank you.
Body Pump classes are fun. I'm nearly 70 and go 3-4 times a week. I don't want to end up like my Dad who sat in his armchair from retirement till he couldn't walk
Just like my husband's father. TV and newspaper. That is it ever since he retired. And he is gaining weight of course ...
Greetings from Johannesburg South Africa.
My grandfather retired at 66 and just sat in an arm chair the whole day.
He had a budgie in a cage and a pendulum clock which chimed every hour.
The room was in total silence except for the tick tock and the budgie cracking seeds.
My grandfather used to say, I've retired now, I'm old, and guess what, he was old and died shortly afterwards.
I am now 62, I look 50 and feel 40, I put the modern kids to shame and play as if I am a ten year old.
Don't lose the fun, be a kid, keep active and give gratitude.
I genuely love to exercise with all its forms. My main form of exercise is lifting weight but I also like mobility training, stretching, cardiovascular training, martial arts (bjj & mma), recently dancing, surfing, I used to do skateboard and hiking too. I just feel better when I move, I sleep better, my heart rate is low, I don't get fat despite eating a ton. Exercise should be a requirement for everybody or just moving around.
Me too - weights were a revelation as a woman! Now I have loads of strength, sleep well. eat loads and maintain a size 8 body and I’m happy a good 90% of the time. Power of exercise.
I’ve always hated exercise but not the type to sit still. At 40 started golf twice a week until 2022,. Now 80 and hoping to get back to it next year. Not driving at the moment so walking at least one way to the supermarket about 8000 steps. Plus housework, up and down stairs and gardening. Far more enjoyable than exercise.
Music to my ears "youve made it more complicated than it is!" Too much interruption often muddies the water...
I love the way that the Zoe interviewer says that's what Zoe is interested in. During the period from the beginning of covid until the present day, Zoe is very selective when studying different subjects, and they don't include "normal" people in their studies. Zoe are interested in the "normal / mean", only the average ... They are completely different things. I'm an ex ICU covid patient who was deemed to be the "right" type of Covid patient during Zoes early days.
It turns out that my 24 miles of walking at work every day as a hospital porter isn't classed as "real" activity according to my Drs and post covid / long covid clinics.
at 81 I eat a good Zoe inspired diet. Do my own shopping and housework, make Sauerkraut and greek yoghurt and try to avoid UPF. Try to play golf twice a week and aim for 4000 steps regularly. I’m also a keen gardener, lifting, digging etc., showing off really. I Just wish my 2 children would listen to these podcasts. Thank you for doing these Jonathan.
Active travel is a great way to build exercise into daily routines. Leaving the car at home and walking and cycling instead of using the car works for me. Even using public transport is more active than driving as it involves some walking. Good for the planet and good for us.
What an inspiring podcast, I am 66 and try to eat well maybe 70 to 80 percent of the time ( a little bit of what you fancy does you know harm) and keep as active as I can. I did a Triathlon for charity when I was 60! I'm not overweight but I am getting arthritic, however, I still try and exercise moderately, generally a bit of swimming and walking most weeks or when time permits. I agree wholly that rather than thinking about exercise (the word exercise generally puts people off) we should just keep moving and be as active as we can be and make it fun and sociable. Listen to your body and keep it moving 🙂
I am horribly aware of how important it is to remain active. Because I currently have sarcopenia in my legs that came as abiut as a result of having doctors who didn't believe in fibromyalgia & chronic fatigue syndrome but instead insisted it be treated as if it were depression & then when I got Severly depressed refused to give me the medication that was most effective for me. The result was I stayed in bed & physical health collapsed. Yet I am one of the very lucky people who enjoy doing exercise. I live lifting weights & being in the gym. But get suffiently ill that you're constantly exhausted you get to the point where you willingness to eat what you know is best for you or keep being active: goes away!
The podcasts are always so inspiring and this was heads and shoulders. I liked the idea of pressups whilst waiting for coffee which is exactly what I do. I have dumb bells available when I have a spare half hour. With weight training you can see the muscles develop within weeks.
I didn’t planed to become a mother, but it happened when I was 40. Carring her was getting harder and playing with her also, so when I put her in the school I started training. Never in my life I’ve had so much strengh in my arms 😂💪
I like the term movement rather than exercise. My doctor's appointment yesterday started with a question of what exercises I was doing as my echocardiogram showed that I should be unable to walk; I enjoyed this summer of what I call thinning the blackberry bushes and ivy on the path down to the beach over any weight bearing "exercise"
Love this! My only question was why the fact that as organisms we’re oriented towards taking in nutrients and reproducing is sad or depressing? Of course we do more, so I find that baseline neither sad nor depressing. It’s more a wake-up call on our human behavior and nature. The next level of purpose might then be protection of resources, family and community. Thank you, Jonathan and Zoe, for helping us to do these in your altruistic way!
I’m 80 and enjoy exercise. Feel good!
I am 70. In my early 60's I found the love of my exercising life...a bicycle. I was always eating well and was slim and pretty fit. But I moved to a hot climate where summer can be brutal. Too hot to run. But there's a natural breeze when you're biking and I started doing my errands on the bike. After my legs got stronger I started doing sprints 3 days a week on long side roads in my community. Each time I rode until I was out of breath, going 3 then 4 times. Every week I could go further and further. The human body is amazing at adapting and growing stronger. For myself, I don't believe in "moderate exercise" as you grow older, I think that's How you get old. I think you have to go Harder to stay fit and healthy as you age, as long as you have no conditions that could put you in jeopardy by doing so. I know I will be stronger in limbs and heart next week than I am right now. My body, and I-watch, tell me so! Wishing you all great health! (And always wear a helmet and gloves!)
If the interviewer didn't interrupt his guest so often it would be more fun to listen to this...
I agree. The interviewer should shut up. And has a very irritating voice.
Jonathan's capacity to summarize 1 hour discussion in 5 minutes is incredible! Would love to see a video where you explain how you do it 🤣
This was a thoroughly enjoyable and informative conversation from two genuinely interesting people. Thank you ☺️
1:03:10 For a second, I thought he was going to say he used the French press as an exerciser 😂 Very nice trick, will do push-ups too during some wait time.
Jonathan,listen to the man, first of all let’s lose the word exercise and using the term like it’s something special. Focus on moving our bodies. I’m a 78 year old woman and I walk everyday. My motto is”keep it moving.”
This was one of the more fascinating episodes looking at the anthropological angle of physical activity & exercise. Very enlightening and great questioning.
Prof Lieberman's discussion is always insightful. Though I wish there is a new book from him. It has been 2 years since he published his last book.
My partner and I are pathetic people with no driver's licences and a very active dog (Amstaff and Malinois mix). We spent most of our lives in Warsaw (2 million people, proper public transport), but currently we live in the suburbs and the nearest proper grocery store is 25 minutes of walking away and our favorite store - 35 minutes away. Local public transport is so bad, that it only makes sense to use it if you're an elderly person and have an hour to spare waiting for the bus. We always enjoyed walking, but now we walk constantly and carry our shopping in backpacks and shopping bags - come rain or shine. When I buy the stuff, my partner takes a 30 minute walk even further away with the dog. We feel a bit like hunter gatherers and we sort of like but, but damn it - sometimes when it's really cold a bus would be nice. The pavements are in a horrific state and the cars drive buy with such speed (very often broken, old, smelly, loud cars), that it it takes a lot of the pleasure away from the walk. Due to these factors, what we do really turns into an extreme sport for the desperate and nobody would do it by choice. It should not be this way.
I've never really had any interest in exercising before, but this video was so interesting and it made me think about it in ways I never have. Having watched it, I feel like I have a much better understanding of it's role in health and human evolution; I'd love to see another interview with this gentleman.
It's probably just movement we need (think of tai chi) instead of heart busting efforts ❤
You'd have to like Tai chi. I started doing Tai chi once a week recently. I feel great after I do it, but very bored during the class. Yesterday I tried a Krav Maga class. I felt great after, but more importantly I had a smile on my face the whole time. I know what I will sign up for next session.
@22:35 carrying weight around the gym is one of the best things you can do there..... Pick up two kettle bells and walk around the room for a few minutes between sets of weights/ cardio etc
66 yo and love going to gym three days a week. Canoeing, kayaking and hiking helps me too. I could not imagine not doing these things. Im blessed that I really love doing these activities.
I enjoy it now, for sure! 56 this year. I trained for climbing Aconcagua (summited in January of this year) and realized how great it felt to get my pulse down, also trained with a hypoxia machine which I ended up buying and realizing the benefits of feeling like a machine! My only problem is an injury from a fall during training that seems to have given me spondolysis, but I have learned knees-over-toes (Ben Patrick) to get my back in good shape and have strong knees.
A fascinating affirmation of what l’ve found myself doing. Thank you!
Some good points from DL.
It's a shame Daniel sometimes sounded grumpy.
I always like lovely Jonathan's interviews. Keep up the good work.
Would be great to hear on topics such as lipodema and the link with the microbiome; insomnia; whether grumpiness is an early sign of dementia.
Thank you.
Doing a sport you love is fun and the exercise is fun. Just exercise on its own is tedious!
I am 72 and this is something I realised a long time ago, to build into your life manageable difficulty. I sit up stairs so to make a cup of tea or lots of other things I have to walk up and down them, I only have a very small fridge so I have to walk to the shops every day as I do it I can visit a coffee shop read and socialise, I do the park run because I meet friends there. I am sure you get the idea.
Great informative podcast...
Thank you both...👍😍
Brilliantly informative! Thanks! So much sense imparted here.
This sheds new light on the harm we could be doing children by forcing them to sit for hours on end in classrooms.
what a _fascinating_ video! What a guy Prof Lieberman is! 🙌 I totally _loved_ this video, thank you.
It turns out my prostate forcing me to frequently urinate ends up breaking up my sitting, so is great for my health.
Hope you have had it checked out.
I absolutely love exercising. I could do it all day. I wait until I can go to the gym. I love the endorphins I feel released from exercising. They normally last all the way into the next day. My mood is significantly elevated for two days. This is confusing to me, to hear that most people do not actually enjoy exercising.
I can relate to finding the motivation to go and exercise as difficult. Once I am in that room, lifting weights or on a treadmill, I feel amazing. I don't want to leave until I've hit a certain point (usually just before the point where my muscles will hurt the day if after if I don't leave).
I think you guys should focus on what you need to take in order to increase the endorphins released when exercising. Omega 3, the B-vitamins, and vitamin D3 are some of them.
I blame school sports. Every wretched PE or sports lesson was an utter penance, and I'm certain I'm not unusual in having been put off formal exercise for life because of this.
Well that is me told! Greatly appreciated!
Great Interview!
"Why does everyine hate exercise" what a huge generalisation. Lots of people love exercise.
I always use the elevator in the building where I live, partly out of habit and partly because I'm always very eager to get home quickly. When I go to court (I work as a lawyer), I always use the stairs, 6-9 flights of stairs, because there's often a long line of people waiting for the elevator, and it doesn't take much effort because I'm very physically active in my spare time.
Im 75 and have been a long distance runner starting at20! I still run bike dance and work! Im pretty healthy and also eat well! I love to exercise ; but never had a gym yrs ago! So love exercising outside walking running etc! Also worked in factories alot of my younger life! Life has changed to be .ore sede ntary; so being more active needs more thought! Years ago we had to walk alot to work etc! The good old days!
With respect to "exercise sucks", which everybody seems to agree on - except for me.
I'm over 70, I have a slightly dud ankle - missing the end of the fibula after a childhood accident - and I've caught COVID twice in the last 2 years. As a result, I had to stop running, and every time I tried to start again, I caught another cold or my ankle started hurting or whatever...
But this time I'm into week 5 of my 13-week-to-start-running program (run/walk every 5 minutes at first, with progressively longer runs, until you can run a whole hour) and I'm honestly thrilled to bits with my progress - it's like being granted a second lease of life - and excited to do the next session (though not entirely sure I can keep it up).
It would help if the guest could please be allowed to complete his response to a question without constant interruptions, with respect
Movement is pleasurable if done properly within ones current physical capabilities. It may be the social isolation of exercising alone that is not pleasurable, or the changing of a routine, because moderate, proper movement feels good, to a large extent.
Anyone who has read The Blue Zone book by National Geographic writer/researcher: Dan Buettner knows the 5 areas of the world where people live to be 100 and have few if any health problems, have things in common. Am 87 and have followed the lifestyle pretty much since the late 70's. Good genes have helped along with never having smoked/done drugs, never been a sweet eater.
Loma Linda here in California is one of the 5 zones. The others are the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica, Ikaria, Greece. Okinawa, Japan and the Ogliastra Region, Sardinia Italy. The lifestyle pretty much lines up with what is known as Mediterranean lifestyle.
Mostly plant based diet (fruits, nuts, grains, vegetables) with some fish, a bit of wine, olive oil, lots of daily physical movement from tending a vegetable garden to lots of walking, getting good sleep, having a circle or family/friends that you do things with, and being curious about learning new things.
excellent podcast, still waiting for zoe to be available in France, I'd love to participate
Thank you for this extremely useful facinating discussion .
My favourite interview ever! So interesting and refreshing, and puts our western lifestyles into perspective. Wonderful, I've enjoyed every word ❤❤❤
I am 63 and love excuse. I really enjoy doing yoga, cycling swimming, walking, and lots more. When I finish what I am doing. ❤
Excellent discussion!! 👏👏👏 Thank you
Any natural exercise that humans are made and born to do is (are) the most fundamental to stay or become fit. Weight lifting using natural human movements is great practice. But lifting weights in a unnatural human physical motion can end up hurting you in the long run.
@ around 30min mark, I don't quite agree on the "not bulked up" bit. True, people living a more basic lifestyle may not look like Arnie, but that is an artifical goal from the start. Know any good rock climbers and seen their back when climbing? Wild compared to most of us. There was a mini documentary made by two Brits a couple years ago about building a canoe in the amazon with help of a local. Check out how strong the middle aged Amazonian is while working. The bulk isn't there, but when actually doing stuff - swinging the axe - it is clear that guy has muscles very different from any person in the Global North I have ever seen.
I love that you’re disagreeing with the Harvard professor who has lived with these people.
@@katie8325 As you can tell, I think he has undersold how strong they are, and trying to give context that can be seen by anyone. I mean, the Amazonion man is on of these "people". Find the video, check out how strong people can get for yourself rather than his (or my) word description.
I can't help thinking that these podcasts would be better if J spoke less and listened more.
i find it very difficult to find things to do as I have knee replacement which stops me doing much before it stiffens and then takes all night to recover. I also have 10% cartilage left in my big toe joints which also cuts out a lot of things. I find it really hard to think of things to do for cardio etc. I'm also hyper-mobile so I tend to be restricted to Pilates but since my knee op, I cant kneel so that cuts out a lot of that. I wish he had covered those of us who are a bit broken!!!!!
It's about how you look at things. I reckon you now have an opportunity to do things differently. Search for exercises where you can utilise that stiff knee
Is swimming any good?
@uayle4625 Ah! Good point Alice....but in my case I have a perforated eardrum and unless I swim like my mother with my head out of water, I will get a nasty infection despite having had a specially tailor made ear plug at great cost...it still leaks a bit. and swimming with your head out puts your neck in very bad position which causes further hypermobility issues.
@@clairejauffret ah sorry to hear that. Good luck.
Chair exercises?
What I took from this hour: like a hunter-gatherer I need to walk, sometimes run, to the supermarket on a daily basis; unlike a hunter-gatherer and regardless of access and/or income I need to go to the gym to lift weights; the professor has a vigorous exercise regime in order to combat criticism; older people need to exercise; 10,000 steps? Maybe/maybe not. I sat for a muscle-wasting hour to be told this.
When I visit Cuba, I'm always impressed by the superb physiques achieved by hefting sacks of sugar and other produce rather than by pumping iron.
The question is, how old typically did these ancient people live till?
Great video ❤
As I heard Leslie Sansone (look her up) : I never regret after a workout. I never say: I wish I hadn't done that!
I love zoe so much as a nutritional science student 🤗
Can you two please sit up? This slumping is giving me a sore back....😊😊. Love you guys to bits but posture.....good posture ..... actually helps everything.
When I started watching this I thought yeah two blokes with poor posture talking about exercise for over an hour seems like the best source.
Ye when I had a job predominantly standing and running around after people and I maybe went to spin class a few times a week, plus ate many break time biscuits I was in such good shape without even having to try 😭😭 now I barely eat any biscuits and feel I'm exercising every day but it seems a constant battle to retain, just because I'm mostly sedentary
I live on property in a fairly isolated area so no gym, track for running or social group to work with. I do a lot of gardening (on my feet) but have started walking 2km to my mailbox to check for mail if the weather is fine
Just keep moving in many different ways...
omg the interviewer is hard work!
Can everyday normal physical activity fulfill the requirements of exercising the muscle groups activated by the Kettlebell Turkish get-up?
I sounds like the life of a housewife who has an allotment and does the gardening
Excellent!
Much to learn in the ”field” of this video.
Exercise gets more enjoyable as you get more fit. Partly because you see new capabilities, such as lifting more weight or walking further. More importantly, being fit let's you exercise harder which releases more dopamine etc. Exercise when you are new to fitness feels like swimming upstream as your body is wondering what the heck you are doing all of the sudden.
Absolutely brilliant guest.
Common sense approach, he really made me see through the BS and think of things differently.
Public dancing! I’m here for it 💃🏻
So drinking coffee is exercise😏. I love this channel. 🙂