Capital Region Caveman

Insider I'm not sure how everyone else is doing during Covid-19, the lockdown and gyms being closed, but I'm personally down 12+lbs. True, some of that is muscle since I can't lift, but a lot of it was excess fat. The fact is, gyms are not always utilized correctly, and people can do better by getting proper exercise in the real world. The best use of a gym is inclement weather, week nights during the winter, or short duration high intensity weight training. Spending your weekends and even your summer week nights at the gym is a terrible way to get exercise. Walking (walking briskly or with a weighted pack if you feel walking is too easy, is still one of the absolute best forms of exercise in terms of risk vs benefits), hiking (even better than walking, introduces instability and elevation and usually involves that weighted pack), biking (mountain, road, gravel, even indoors - if you must), swimming (you don't need a pool to swim, open water is fun and free)

The heart is the most important muscle in the body, and more than a half century after Dr. Kenneth Cooper's recommendations to train the heart via aerobic exercise -aka cardio- there continues to be evidence that this is not the most beneficial way to improve heart health or healthspan. This study looks at the benefits of increasing skeletal muscle mass specifically on heart health.  The study found participants in the highest skeletal muscle mass tertile (the people with the most lean muscle mass) had 81% (HR=0.85) lower risk for a CVD event (heart attack) as compared with those in the lowest SMM tertile.  One way to look at it, despite all the extra time spent running, it is sprinters who likely have healthier hearts than distance runners when muscle mass is factored in.  So even if you enjoy running for the pure joy of it, consider rebalancing a little more time to the weight room, your heart will appreciate it.