⭑ Healthy surprises: foods you didn’t expect ✔ Perhaps All strength to Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Hello,I trust you're well and keeping active. The US election rocked the world this week. Quite a surprise, if not that former President Trump won, but certainly by how much he won. It will be an interesting next 6 months as he retakes the reins of power. This week, I had an ultrasound on my persistent sore hamstring tendon, which I injured when sprinting about 5 months ago. "Quite a significant tear", declared the sonographer - to my distress! I thought my running days might be over. I'm not to sprint anymore, but my doctor feels that the benefits of running outweigh the long-term risks as long as I don’t have pain more than 3/10 during or after. Digestive tract problems, including constipation, are amenable to exercise as a potential solution - see Item #3. We're very familiar with straining against weight while contracting our muscles, but it is the extending phase that has special benefits — see Item #2. I eat all these "bad" foods" - daily. WebMD just exposed them as not bad at all — see Item #1. // 01 Good Foods Getting a Bad Rap I'm opening on a high note this week by noting a few of my favourite foods that often get a bad rap yet are surprisingly good for us. I picked up on this article in WebMD. Eggs: Nutrient Powerhouses Eggs are often viewed as a high-cholesterol food, but they’re packed with essential nutrients like B vitamins, amino acids, vitamin D, and selenium, and not to mention PROTEIN. They promote satiety - the feeling of fullness - making them an excellent choice for breakfast. ⇒ Eggs are a nutrient-dense way to kick-start your day with a healthy dose of protein, about 6g per egg. Avocado: The Heart-Healthy Fruit Avocados are high in oleic acid, a heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. These fats can help reduce levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) and increase good cholesterol (HDL), which is beneficial for maintaining healthy blood lipid profiles. They also provide fibre, potassium, and antioxidants that help our overall metabolic health. ⇒ An avocado a day is more likely to keep the doctor away! Try spread on whole-grain toast instead of butter. Honey: Nature’s Sweetener Honey is often seen as just a sugar alternative, but that's far from the truth. Honey is rich in antioxidants that combat inflammation and support gut health. It can even enhance the balance of bacteria in your gut, improving digestion. ⇒ Use honey as a natural sweetener in teas or baked goods. Drizzle over yogurt or oatmeal for added flavour. Choose raw honey cold-pressed for maximum benefits. My daily favourite is sourdough toast with almond butter, honey and banana. Related: Eat prunes to keep your bones strong, and other surprising health benefits // 02 Eccentric Phase Exercises Are Low-Risk Winners Over my decades at the gym, I've found that few people appreciate the benefits of eccentric exercises or a focus on the eccentric phase of an exercise. For a start, slow eccentric phases build more muscle mass than concentric exercises for the same volume of work (typically measured by the total number of sets and reps in a workout). But there is a lot more as well. I'm focused on them at the moment because they are key to rehabilitating my hamstring tear. Here's what you need to know. Eccentric exercises improve our muscle strength, tendon resilience, and joint stability, all essential for maintaining our mobility and reducing injury risk. They also build the eccentric control needed for everyday movements like walking, sitting, or lifting, making them functional and effective for overall mobility. They are also gentler on our joints than high-impact exercises, thus promoting muscle growth and bone density without excessive strain. ⇒ They also enhance our tendon elasticity, crucial for shock absorption and load handling. This significantly contributes to a longer healthspan. What this means for you: By slowly building eccentric exercises into your program, you can improve your muscle strength, joint health, and overall functional fitness while reducing injury risk:
Do them 2-3 times a week. * "using your hands" means placing your hands on your thighs or knees to push yourself back up (if you do not have the strength or control to return to the upright position purely through your muscles). ⇒ Include them towards the end of your workout (when your muscles are warm) to avoid strain. Related: How To Go From On-knee to Full Pushups, and Reap The Benefits @Medium - Follow me on Medium ↗, covering ⭑food, ⭑brain, ⭑body, ⭑life // 03 The Movement Connection: Combatting Constipation Constipation can be frustrating and uncomfortable. Too much time at the computer and sitting makes constipation more likely, slowing down the natural movement of the colon. Interestingly, our digestive health is not just about what we eat but also about how we move—and even how we think. Regular physical activity stimulates our digestive system, making maintaining a healthy bowel movement schedule easier. Exercise strengthens the muscles of the abdomen and diaphragm, helping move waste through our digestive tract. ⇒ Did you know that stress and anxiety can significantly impact your digestive system? Incorporating relaxation techniques like deep breathing or meditation during your walks can enhance gut motility by calming the nervous system. What this means for you: Try these practical steps to power up your digestive system:
⇒ Regular movement is essential for a well-functioning digestive system—but so is a calm mind. So get moving, and remember to breathe! Related: Forget Beetroot Juice, Eat More Vegetables For Nitrate Potency And Longer Life // 04 Your Everyday Collection of Eccentric Exercises Our exercise of the week is the ... focus on the eccentric phase. Eccentric exercises improve our flexibility and muscular endurance, thus reducing age-related stiffness. Over time, they will improve your balance, posture, and overall strength, lowering the risk of falls and chronic pain, such as back or knee issues. See item #2. ⇒ The simple focus of "eccentric exercise" is to go slow when extending your muscle group, as opposed to when contracting. Aim for 40 seconds under load, e.g. eight eccentric phase reps of 5 seconds each. What this means for you: Here's a selection of common exercises with an emphasis on the eccentric phase movement:
Do your choice of exercises 2-3 times a week. Related: Exercising Reduces Arterial Stiffness - Reducing Cardiovascular Risks Thanks for reading! P.S. If you are not yet subscribed to my free exercise app, try now ↓↓↓ Free forever. Opt-out any time. Opt-in by CLICKING HERE PLEASE SEND ME THE EXERCISES. NOTE: YOU ONLY NEED TO SUBSCRIBE ONE TIME. >> My Latest Blog Post: Energise Your Golden Years: Boosting Your Desire to Exercise with Gut-Healthy Foods About the newsletter: Do you think it can be improved? Have a story idea? Want to share about the time you met Chris Hemsworth, or your questions about how to live longer better? Send those thoughts and more to me at walter@bodyagebuster.com '4 Most Valuable' is a weekly newsletter from Walter Adamson. If you like it, please forward to a like-minded soul. Someone forward this to you? You can subscribe from this page. Each of these weekly emails has 4MV in the subject line to help you filter them and search for previous ones. |
"I empower mid-life men and women to make the choice to live as actively and as independently as they can, for as long as they can", Walter Adamson Get access to my weekly research that I don’t share elsewhere. “My wife and I both read your articles each week, and I have to say there is so much confusing data out there, but yours is a great source, well researched, scientific and always relevant.” — Steve Ridgway, subscriber.
⭑ Doing to much too soon will derail your exercise program ✔ Take a step back⭑ Skipping warm-up and cool-down stresses your joints ✔ Allow time⭑ Plateaus are natural, longer when you're older ✔ Learn to love them⭑ Good posture and controlled movements get you the best return on exercise ✔ All strength to Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Hello, I trust you're well and staying active. The newsletter is a different format today, just one item, with 10 hints to avoid mistakes that can reduce your gains...
⭑ Maintaining muscle health is one key to healthspan ✔ Three tips⭑ Inflammaging - what is it and how to tame it ✔ Gets worse as we age⭑ You can track your body's capacity to resolve stress ✔ I find it interesting⭑ Healthier back shoulders and biceps with the dumbbell row ✔ All strength to Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Hello, I trust you're well and keeping active. Summer's here down under. We’ve had some weird nights with the highest temperature for the day at 5 am! Perhaps that's why my...
⭑ These doctors will fact-check your medical queries ✔ For free⭑ How walnuts improve your brain health and your blood pressure ✔ Research⭑ Regular bad dreams? Talk to your doctor about it, here's why ✔⭑ The squat-calf raise combo is a fabulous muscle builder - not difficult ✔ All strength to Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Hello, I trust you're well and keeping active. Ouch! Running for the train last Wednesday I tore my nearly repaired hamstring again - set me back a few months. The irony was that...