Thursday, March 1, 2012

O-O-O-kay! (i.e., blinding light...)

Over a month ago, i expressed puzzlement about my once-injured right knee ("Ralph") and pain-reduction in it, at the same time i seemed to have stressed it some more.  Sounds counter-intuitive, i know -- the inflammation was there, but somehow the knee felt stronger, "righter" -- then again, this body constantly does exactly opposite what the "experts" say it should.

Now i know why, thanks to the ever-educational J Stanton at gnolls.org!  I won't even try to summarize the mechanism -- it should be read by anyone with interest in getting the best performance out of an aging body!  The punchline is:  exercise promotes healing. 

As a matter of fact, Dr. Donaldson in "Strong Medicine" states, "I had learned the value of exercise in the hospital wards.  ...Ninety days of exercise can work wonders."  He prescribes specific exercises for various different ills (physical and mental), but doesn't discuss the rationale behind it much; in his day, the exact physiological mechanisms were probably unexplainable. 

So even if i hadn't been convinced of the value of the Tabata sprints for metabolic health and flexibility, i now have an additional impetus -- it's the entry point for an UNvicious cycle.

It always seems to pay to revisit the archived posts of good bloggers!  You find posts you somehow didn't see before, and you sometimes understand better what you've already read.

 :-D

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