We have come a long way in our fitness this term and 10 weeks have gone quickly, and yet week 1 seems another world away.
C.S. Lewis’ Prince Caspian:
- “Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different…”
When we increase our fitness gradually and make it part of our lives, exercise is effortless and the gains in health translate to feelings of well-being.
Do you see the results?
This week was a week of personal best, triumph and discovery. Many “graduated” to the next level of exercise with the pride of accomplishment.
Learning how to exercise brings with it change in the perception of our self and of what we can do physically.
We discovered, much like an optical illusion “the truth” in the ability to exercise is buried (sometimes deeply) behind years of learning to see the exercise “picture” based on a personal misconception.
Perhaps you have seen the old / young woman illusion and understand what I mean. The above is a photograph by Joannes Stoetter, what do you see?
The Parrot
Johannes Stoetter spent four long weeks planning the taking of this photograph. The preparation for the picture took him about four hours to complete, and he spent another hour taking a series of photographs of this parrot?
You may be thinking that Johannes is a photographer that takes perfection to extremes! However, Johannes is a 35-year-old body painter, and the photograph of the parrot is in fact a photograph of a painted woman.
Johannes’ art is to transform the human body with paint into seemingly unassuming photographs of nature. Most people’s reaction to the discovery of the truth is a priceless gift of amazement and wonder.
Aging with exercise is awesome!
Both Eva and I feel inspired at the end of each term because we see the transformation you make and we feel a sense of awe for your accomplishments.
We both love to “set the stage” each week and work with you so that any exercise becomes “do-able.”
Our focus on ability has meant that you have felt comfortable exploring and challenging your physical fitness, and the results are easy to see.
Aging with exercise is awe inspiring because with each consecutive workout there is an improvement in biological age.
In some people biological age can be reduced by as much as 20 years. Life expectancy can increase, and partial or total disability can be delayed. It means we can live longer and better with exercise.
In a paper published by Dr. Roy J. Shephard, University of Toronto, Canada, (1998) on exercise and aging, Dr. Shephard commented that a person’s chronological age is a poor indicator of physical age, and references should be made to biological age instead, his comments are as follow:
- In terms of maximal oxygen intake, muscle strength, and flexibility, the best preserved 65-year-old may out-perform a sedentary 25-year-old.
Further:
- Muscle strength can be greatly improved by as little as 8 weeks of resistance training, even in 90-year-old subjects. Protein synthesis proceeds more slowly in older adults, but cross-sectional comparisons between active and inactive individuals suggest that much of the wasting of lean tissue can be avoided by regular resistance exercise.
Start your exercise today!!
Anna
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