GDT Book Club - Exercised

[moosishun]

Hey!  You have to put up with me this week.  

I am not finished with this book, but I do like it and will join in no matter what because basically,

I have no shame.

So here goes Day 1 -

What do you think about Exercised and how has this book peaked your interest in his research?

[bumblebuzz21]

I thought this book was well written and kept me (mostly) engaged with a pretty dry topic. I have no desire to read anything else he has read, but I liked it!

[moosishun]

I am definitely WEIRD. I do think some people have more "active" genes than others. I am a sedentary type but my sister is married to a very "active" type.

And I get that "exercise" can be "not fun", but here is where I have to think that it might be comparable to my piano skills. I don't really enjoy practicing technique for 30-45 minutes a day, but I will be darned that when I do that, it makes everything I do easier at the piano. I wonder if thinking in that way can be a motivational factor for exercising. Because of how dedicated exercise makes my BIL feel, he "enjoys" it - the result offsets the not-as-pleasant parts.

[ermabom]

From what I've read of the book, he does manage to keep the reader involved in a dry topic.

So far, what intrigued me is the concept of active sitting. I knew that fidgeting burns calories but the fact that sitting in positions where you have to support yourself engages a lot more muscles was an interesting idea. I spin (make yarn) and therefore was sitting for long periods of time. Not as much as bingeing on Netflix while stretched out on the couch, but still. I've started sitting up straight instead of leaning against the back fo the chair and recently, I started to spin standing up. Which I can do, because I mostly use an electrical spinner. If I had to operate treadles like in my traditional spinning wheel, I'd have to sit at the wheel.

I am also getting up a lot more often and moving around. I was already doing this due to Beck's spontaneous exercise but reading this book has impressed it more in my brain.

[bernelli]

I'm in the other camp of -- wow this was boring as hell and I had to slog through it. It was painful, even while some of the information was so interesting.

[sal]

I read this too long ago! And it wasn't Kindle, so I couldn't save my highlights to my Goodreads account.

But, shock and surprise, I liked it and didn't find it a slog. I'm such a nerd.

[peacemama]

Fascinating book that caused me to reflect on my own movement and habits. Some chapters definitely held my interest better than others.

[peacemama]

Jul 26, 2021 9:46:27 GMT -5 bernelli said:

I'm in the other camp of -- wow this was boring as hell and I had to slog through it. It was painful, even while some of the information was so interesting.

I think it helped that I listened to the audio book in bits while puttering around the house cleaning or doing meal prep.

[moosishun]

DAY TWO:

So there are all these myths that Lieberman tackles. Which myths "spoke" to you and why?

[bumblebuzz21]

The one myth that bummed me out is that running isn't bad for your body. I hate running and really like to use that as an excuse! I was watching the Women's Triathalon last night and watching those women push themselves did remind me a bit of the book, I guess especially the beginning when he was watching the Iron Man.

[ermabom]

The same one spoke to me - running isn't bad for your body. I don't like to run but I love the way I feel after a run. That is what has kept me coming back to running after things stop me from doing so. But I run on treadmills now as it is a softer surface. I live on a hill and I found that running up and down the hills hurt my hamstring for some reason. I get the same pain when I increase the incline on the treadmill. I'll never be a 'runner' but I will continue to run,

I haven't read most of the book yet, just skimmed it so other things may be more eye-opening later

[sal]

The inactivity myth speaks to me, because I am honestly not good at it and have a strong tendency to overdo. I am working on this, and do feel that I've come a decent way from the workout challenge on the old boards in which Corky of all people told me I was insane. When an ultra runner tells you you are insane, you need to dial the eff back. Making yourself take a day off is not sloth.

[moosishun]

Day Three: I stole these questions because this is kind of a hard book to talk about, I think.

What do you think the author’s goal was in writing this book? What ideas was he trying to illustrate? What message is he trying to send?

This might get a little more traction.

[moosishun]

And sal, I have a brother-in-law like you. He is in absolute fabulary shape and he is NOT CONTENT to relax and rest. He is always up-and-at-'em, to my sister's delight because she is really like me - a slug. In fact, just 2 weeks after getting back from the hospital the first time, he insisted on a community cook-out at their house, which is beautiful and has an incredible back-yard entertaining space mostly built by him. And then a few days later, his brain revolted.

He is very out-of-sorts with being in the hospital right now. He has been in bed almost 4 days and my sister said he is becoming a tough customer. But if he is going to have any chance at stopping these cascading seizures, he is required to be at rest. This would be not a problem with me, but this is excruciating for him.

I bet you can relate.

[bumblebuzz21]

I think his goal was to get people moving and even though we want to be lazy, we really shouldn't be. I like the way he organized the book, although I do think he was bit repetitive at times. I think he was successful in his goal. The other day I was being lazy and literally decided to go for a walk because of this book. I call that a win!

[moosishun]

I also think he is saying that all movement is helpful towards the goal. It makes me realize that this business of WW counting activity points for all activity and not just the hard sweat-producing stuff is probably more to his thoughts about moving more.

[sal]

I definitely think his goal is to get people moving in some way, and emphasizing that is does not have to be formal exercise. Case in point: the various active by necessity groups he talked about / interviewed.

[moosishun]

I also think that he is scientifically dispelling commonly held myths, although I believe I would call them half-truths.

I was especially bug-eyed about the fact that with no movement and sitting inert for long stretched, we are actively promoting auto-immune responses from our bodies!!!

[bernelli]

I felt that he was writing the book partly for himself to answer his own curiosity regarding exercise and the range of exertion people tend to exercise at. He seems like a very curious person, and I thought he was considering that in answering and researching for his own curiosity, he could help people by presenting his findings and information to answer our/reader's curiosities about how we can exercise comfortably.

I also felt that he hoped to remove our stress and let us know we can exercise lightly and don't have to go overboard to reap huge benefits.

Maybe he's wanting to let people know it doesn't take an IronMan competition to give us huge health improvements.

[moosishun]

DAY FOUR:

I am going to break some book club rules here. Because I have time to read one shattered myth after another, I am going to contain myself to one a day, and therefore, this discussion is going to break free of a one-week discussion. And especially since this kind of book is about something that most of us really want to know something about in our weight loss journeys, this might turn into more of a Beck book thing.

How's them apples?

So let's talk about sleep. How many hours do you usually get? What did you find interesting in this business of 8-hours-ain't-necessarily-all-that and the research into the other 80% of the world? Anything helpful for you in learning about this?

[bumblebuzz21]

I was surprised that he made it seem like getting 8 hours or more was bad for you. I do usually average 8-9 hours a night. They used to be really good hours, but the last year or so my sleep feels like it is interrupted so many times during the night.

[bernelli]

Getting 8 hours of sleep for me is like finding a unicorn.
I've been working to improve my sleep over the past 2 years since I was diagnosed with sleep apnea... so now I'm super happy to hit that magical 7 hour mark and it doesn't happen often.

I typically manage 6 hours though -- take or give a handful of minutes. According to my Fitbit, when I wear it to bed, my sleep is so much less interrupted as compared to before the (horribly uncomfortable) CPAP machine.

Reading that 8 hours was not-so-hot was kind of like "oh ya, I like reading this" for me since I can't even get there to begin with. When I have 5 or less hours of sleep I feel lethargic and run down.

[sal]

I have worked on sleep a LOT during the pandemic, because I suck at it. And I don't nap.

Of course, right now, my fitbit app is spinning its wheels and won't give me yearlong data, so I had to log into the website. This week I've done pretty good, averaging 6.5 with two days over 7.

8 isn't happening unless I'm sick.

My goal is 6 because trying to hit 7 other than on occasion just stresses me out. Baby steps. The only month in the past year that I didn't average 6 was last August. Not sure what was going on then other than it was probably hot and D thinks the bedroom needs to be warmer than I do.

Things I have changed in the past year or more recently that seem to have helped:

1. I insist on the damn fan being on. Whether he likes it or not.
2. I sleep on top of the comforter with just a sheet. This has possibly saved our marriage, because while he doesn't like the room cold, he radiated heat throwing it onto me, and Icey climbs into the bed, also radiating heat, and shoves me into him. Half the time, hardly any of the sheet is even on me.
3. I started listening to sleep apps. My favorites aren't meditations, but are people reading boring things at me. Bedtime Stories for Grownups in Which Nothing Much Happens, Boring Books for Bedtime, and Sleepy are among my favorites. Last night, I listened (supposedly; I only remember the intro) to the history of crayons. I've had sections of the 1897 Sears Roebuck catalog read at me. Etc. You want to go to sleep fast, listen to crap like that, read in as boring a voice as possible (the readers even say they try to read boring stuff in a boring way).
4. Less caffeine late in the day. Really, less caffeine in general. A cup or two of good coffee early, then switch to something else.

[moosishun]

I average 6 or so hours, but lately I have found myself taking big fat naps in the middle of the day (because I can). When school starts and the shut-down is in the past, I will have to have more sleep, I think. 7 hours is a really good day for me, but my fit-bit has never recorded more than 8 hours at a time ever.

I am unsure of what this has to do with this book unless the entire bit about inertia-ness and the health hazards that causes can be related to 8 or more hours of sleep?

[bernelli]

I just cannot nap. I wish I could, and there seem to be great benefits mentally & physically for napping during the day. DH can sit down and say "I'm going to nap for 30 minutes" and he will close his eyes and fall asleep in less than 5 minutes and then wake up in 30. It's absolutely strange to me and I wish I could do it. If I'm nappy, you know I'm feeling really sick.