don's report archive
Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)
Saturday March 26, 2005
Even friends of mine who exercise a lot think the call by federal authorities in the new Dietary Guidelines for overweight Americans to spend "90 minutes on physical activity daily to lose weight and keep it off" in the latest edition of the US Dietary Guidelines is a bit much. In fact, they think it's crazy. They say things like, "Forget about it," or "those people in ivory towers or someplace really strange need their heads examined. It's never going to happen. Most people don't exercise ten minutes a day."
One such critic is my friend Rick Clark, a genuine exercise nut about to turn 50 who works out like a maniac. Rick has done countless marathons and other road races and, though injured nearly all the time, still exercises on treadmills, rowing machines and, when he can bear the pain, on the streets, running despite a multitude of temporary disabilities. The amazing thing is, you would think a guy who carries on like this must love to run and exercise any which way. Well, in Rick's case, not so. I recently mentioned the new Guideline standards to Rick and referred to a theory that might support the ambitious standard of 90 minutes daily. I suggested that if one does not do 60 to 90 minutes a day, he won't get addicted to exercise--in a positive way. This was a reference to the groundbreaking work of Dr. William Glasser. Dr. Glasser famously studied long-distance runners in the 70's and postulated that their persistence was due to a positive addiction, quite different from the familiar negative addictions (to alcohol, drugs, sex, bingo, Republican politics and organized religion, for examples). OK, I made up a couple of those examples.
Anyway, Glasser described a positive addiction as a "state of mind that allows a person to pursue a seemingly boring activity until it is no longer boring." He not only found such addiction a good thing; he wrote a book detailing how others could get themselves so addicted! I explained to Rick that without the addiction, few will exercise at all on a regular basis. The positive addiction makes exercise a desirable thing. On the other hand, if an overweight person is hectored to pursue exercise for health reasons (in other words, for disease avoidance motives) by varied health educators, doctors and so on, he'll stop when it becomes a bother and a bore, which it always will become.
Here's a summary of Rick's response. I was rather surprised that he was not supportive of the ambitious Guideline recommendation. After all, he's such an exercise enthusiast, like myself.
Don -- I must politely disagree with the 90 minute a day exercise theory. It seems logical, but from my experience and observation, it just doesn't fly. I've been exercising more or less daily for about 25 years. I wouldn't call it an 'addiction,' but I sure would argue with the term 'positive addiction.' Why? Because for me, across the years, the daily exercise ritual has rarely felt positive. Of the hundreds, or maybe thousands of runs I've done lasting 90 minutes or longer, very few have been positive. Of those that were, they earned the 'positive label' only after they were finished! Don, very rarely does exercise itself feel good. Maybe some people tell themselves, 'This is uncomfortable as hell, so it must be positive.' I've never been able to delude myself like that. Whatever I've been doing before a run or gym workout has almost always been more enjoyable than the prospect or reality of exercising. Daily exercise for me is both a chore and a bother, but I do it anyway. will admit that once I start, it's almost never as bad as I anticipated.
When I was going to the gym religiously three times per week, I got to hate it. It was a constant mental and physical drain. Even packing my bag and driving there every Monday, Wednesday and Friday was a gloomy ordeal. Yet, I maintained the thrice weekly schedule for many years. If we had forced ourselves to go from three to seven days per week, would it have become a positive addiction? I strongly doubt it. Lately we've been going once a week. That's plenty. I'll probably increase to twice weekly before long, only because I think that it's important to supplement cardio work with strength training. Twice weekly is something I feel I can maintain, although hard-core exercise proponents might consider it dabbling.
I think it's better to dabble long term than to go all out for a month or a year, then burn out and quit. We both know what it's like to spend 60-90 minutes or more actually exercising. can't speak for you, but for me it's not enjoyable in the least and--aside from the health effects--not positive. And that's just one session. You're talking about 90 minutes a day, every day. No way. Not for me, and not for hardly anyone else. It's just not a practical message, unless you're aiming at a tiny fraction of the population.
We also both know that 30 minutes of vigorous, non-stop exercise three to four times per week will produce a very substantial level of cardio fitness. In fact, I'd bet my life that just this much exercise would produce a higher level of fitness than that of most fitness club regulars, who don't work all that hard when they are in the gym. I wish I had a buck for every time someone said, 'I could never run; it's too boring.' My reply has always been: 'If running bores you, then you're not running hard enough. There's nothing boring about pain.' Bottom line: I think we should send a message that's practical, realistic and attainable for the largest possible segment of the population.
Well, this is unsettling. If Rick is not positively addicted and does not lust for his daily exercise regimen but does it anyway, how many folks who do not exercise hardly at all, somehow, after reading about the new Guidelines, resolve to and succeed at exercising an hour a day to lose weight and 90 minutes a day to keep it off? Particularly if, like Rick and myself, they prefer all manner of other activities over exercise.
It's even worse than that, or so Rick thinks. He added the following observation at the last minute: "Even after one finally achieves 'fitness,' the struggle is by no means over. The finest personal wellness program in the world still demands constant monitoring, revision and flexibility, among other things. I think keeping what we have can be even harder than getting it in the first place, because then it seems we have less to achieve."
These are sobering thoughts that, alas, do not seem to bode well for the success (widespread implementation) of the latest Guidelines. My fear, often stated at SeekWellness, is confirmed, namely, that exercise at levels which provide significant positive impacts on physical and mental well being is way too much trouble and difficult for most people. Therefore, the prospects for the future health of the population do not look so good. Americans are likely to get fatter and fatter and spend more and more on doctors, drugs and disease. Only a few masochists or eccentrics or whatever, like my friend Rick (and yours truly), will do what it takes to enable a high level of wellness.
What do you think? Despite all this gloom and doom, try to be exceptional and exercise at Guideline levels--and always look on the bright side of life. Be well. Good luck.
About Rick Clark of Tampa, FL: Rick took up competitive running in 1980. He soon discovered he was very, very good at it. Rick recorded what I consider "times to die for" such as a 31:44 10K and a 2:30:07 marathon. He has won races at all distances from 5K (3.1 miles) to 100 K (62 miles)! He won the Tampa/St. Pete Marathon and set several Florida records, including the longest distance covered at the Florida 12-Hour Track Run (79 miles)! Rick surmises that his present outlook (and thus sentiments expressed in this essay) might be jaded by the fact that, after living nearly half a century in blissful bachelor freedom and relative lack of responsibility as a renter, he now owns a home which he shares with his gorgeous blond girlfriend Cindy--and two rambunctious puppies. The latter (the puppies, not Cindy) keep him in a surly, disagreeable mood, or so he claims. I've never noticed--he always seems a charming fellow to me, if a little eccentric.
(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the PHYSICAL DOMAIN under the skill area of exercise and fitness. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)
(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)
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