How Slow Do You Run?

An amusing, but telling look at the physically dissippating effects of the modern office worker lifestyle;

1) spindly posterior chain

2) heavy gut

3) lack of maximal strength

4) lack of explosive strength

5) lack of mobility and agility.

It is also interesting to note that the sprinter who so far outshines all the others, will probably be in the business man's shoes in 20 years. This is an excellent illustration of the fact that most of the physical degeneration issues associated with aging in the modern world are simply due to inactivity and over-eating, rather than mis-use or infection.

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Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I saw this the other day, and I laughed out loud.

I guess that's modern life Coach. We don't have to run after our food anymore to survive...

jl5555 said:

I guess that's modern life Coach. We don't have to run after our food anymore to survive...

This philosophy is both widespread and incorrect. It is also at the core of the health crisis facing our nation today. Whether in the pursuit of food or simply health, the body requires vigorous movement (and hence circulation) in order to thrive.

When that vigorous movement is not provided .... :cry:

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

@ Video -- Haha. I would like to see myself in comparison, that would be really telling and pretty fun. I would want Usain Bolt as the comparison though. :wink: Jacoby Ford has a really good 40yrd dash, but Usain translates to about a 1/2 second faster. :roll:

@ Comments -- Even in today's athletic community, age plays the key role in the category by which you compete. While someone can still be faster in another age group, among even the elites, the body ages and breaks down meaning an overall decrease in performance capacity.

I would be interested to know across the athletic community, which sports have an even split. In other words, the performance is maintained with age. There may be some sports where experience wins out against sheer physical ability, but that is not what I am considering as a modifier.

Of course, it is just something to ponder.

Coach Sommer said:

This philosophy is both widespread and incorrect....

I wasn't trying to condone the situation, just observing.

I work in an orthopaedics and surgery practice and see daily the effects of the more sedentary lifestyle today's "modern" conveniences afford us. What's most shocking is the vast increase from only 50 years ago in arthritis and other rheumatic diseases in the general population.

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kintelary said:

I would be interested to know across the athletic community, which sports have an even split. In other words, the performance is maintained with age. There may be some sports where experience wins out against sheer physical ability, but that is not what I am considering as a modifier.

Of course, it is just something to ponder.

Long-distance running. Show up at any marathon and you will see teenagers and retirees running side-by-side.

That video is hilarious and at the same time, eye-opening. Let's not let our bodies turn to mush, yeah? My toes are injured so I can't run right now :x but that just means more handstand work.

It may be true that we don't need to run after our food anymore. But the fact that we did for milions of years and our body is made that way, expecting to exercise, is enough to admit sedentarism and junk food are bad.

Being sedentary is just denying our own nature, IMO. We are made to spend energy. Even the mind gets better when we exercise.

jl5555 said:

Coach Sommer said:

This philosophy is both widespread and incorrect....

I wasn't trying to condone the situation, just observing.

I work in an orthopaedics and surgery practice and see daily the effects of the more sedentary lifestyle today's "modern" conveniences afford us. What's most shocking is the vast increase from only 50 years ago in arthritis and other rheumatic diseases in the general population.

I'm on the fitness side of the argument, but good luck convincing the rest of the world's bosses and employers that you should have both time for a healthy life and a family. I had a labor job that was so bad (10+ hour days) you were practically spent at the end of the day.I lost all my upper body strength I worked for up to that point, and my legs became weaker. My lower back and grip got stronger, and that was it. At the end of the day, all I wanted to do was shower, clean my cuts and bruises, eat dinner, and sleep. Some college classes required so much study to get an A, you were sometimes laying around studying all day nervously wondering the depth of what material would be on the test. It comes down to, if it isn't essentially required for peak performance in your job, the world doesn't give a shit. On the other hand, the FBI requires you to meet fitness requirements throughout your career. My motto for the past 6 years has been, "Efficiency will destroy happiness." Efficiency has no time for fun. No time for family. It causes paralysis by analysis, because you always have to be calculating for maximizing time. EVERYTHING becomes a job. Fun becomes a job. You must maximize your fun in the minimal time you are allotted, otherwise you will burn out. Work is maximized, fun is minimized. But, who needs fun, we have prescription drugs on the way to solve that problem. Take a pill, and it will knock you into wonderland until it is time to go to work again.

JL said:

jl5555 said:

I'm on the fitness side of the argument, but good luck convincing the rest of the world's bosses and employers that you should have both time for a healthy life and a family. I had a labor job that was so bad (10+ hour days) you were practically spent at the end of the day.I lost all my upper body strength I worked for up to that point, and my legs became weaker. My lower back and grip got stronger, and that was it. At the end of the day, all I wanted to do was shower, clean my cuts and bruises, eat dinner, and sleep. Some college classes required so much study to get an A, you were sometimes laying around studying all day nervously wondering the depth of what material would be on the test. It comes down to, if it isn't essentially required for peak performance in your job, the world doesn't give a shit. On the other hand, the FBI requires you to meet fitness requirements throughout your career. My motto for the past 6 years has been, "Efficiency will destroy happiness." Efficiency has no time for fun. No time for family. It causes paralysis by analysis, because you always have to be calculating for maximizing time. EVERYTHING becomes a job. Fun becomes a job. You must maximize your fun in the minimal time you are allotted, otherwise you will burn out. Work is maximized, fun is minimized. But, who needs fun, we have prescription drugs on the way to solve that problem. Take a pill, and it will knock you into wonderland until it is time to go to work again.

Agreed about the work thing. I am a graduate student/slave :wink: and my advisor stopped me in the hallway yesterday morning and asked what my initial results were on a series of tests I am working on. . . now I just finished getting the crap set up Friday and I was just walking in Monday morning. . . I said "well I just have to go in and actually run the tests". . . he said "Oh I was expecting results from the WEEKEND." It took substantial self restraint to not laugh in his face! I might work a weekend IF, and thats a BIG IF, I was getting paid 3-4 times as much as I am now. But if fact I am getting paid just a smidge above the poverty level, salary so no over time or anything like that, and he expects me (this goes for all graduate students by the way) to work 60+ hour weeks. . . and my contract says 20! I have friends that bend over backwards to appease their masters, by working the 60+ hour weeks and doing every little extra thing they tack on to their daily duties, but I on the other hand am enjoying my health, lean mass gain, increasing physical prowess, and life in general. So I might get a little frown out of my advisor every once and a while but somehow the world keeps turning, the sun still comes up in the morning, and the wind still blows. . . I hope my sarcasm is self evident. :shock:

I laughed so hard at this XD I'd be curious to see myself up against professionals.

I think there are a considerable amount of tumblers out there that can continuously back whip faster than this guy can run XD

Well, I must say I am impressed by how fast the guy in the suit was (his technique looked good too). He would beat most of the office workers I know. Heck, he might even beat me. 16 mph seems pretty fast for an unfit person, considering the averaged speed for a world-class 100m sprinter is 22 mph (with top speed of up to 27). Walking speed is 4 mph, so he went four times as fast as walking. But don't get me wrong, this whole thing is still pretty embarrassing.

niftyvt said:

JL said:

jl5555 said:

I'm on the fitness side of the argument, but good luck convincing the rest of the world's bosses and employers that you should have both time for a healthy life and a family. I had a labor job that was so bad (10+ hour days) you were practically spent at the end of the day.I lost all my upper body strength I worked for up to that point, and my legs became weaker. My lower back and grip got stronger, and that was it. At the end of the day, all I wanted to do was shower, clean my cuts and bruises, eat dinner, and sleep. Some college classes required so much study to get an A, you were sometimes laying around studying all day nervously wondering the depth of what material would be on the test. It comes down to, if it isn't essentially required for peak performance in your job, the world doesn't give a shit. On the other hand, the FBI requires you to meet fitness requirements throughout your career. My motto for the past 6 years has been, "Efficiency will destroy happiness." Efficiency has no time for fun. No time for family. It causes paralysis by analysis, because you always have to be calculating for maximizing time. EVERYTHING becomes a job. Fun becomes a job. You must maximize your fun in the minimal time you are allotted, otherwise you will burn out. Work is maximized, fun is minimized. But, who needs fun, we have prescription drugs on the way to solve that problem. Take a pill, and it will knock you into wonderland until it is time to go to work again.

Agreed about the work thing. I am a graduate student/slave :wink: and my advisor stopped me in the hallway yesterday morning and asked what my initial results were on a series of tests I am working on. . . now I just finished getting the crap set up Friday and I was just walking in Monday morning. . . I said "well I just have to go in and actually run the tests". . . he said "Oh I was expecting results from the WEEKEND." It took substantial self restraint to not laugh in his face! I might work a weekend IF, and thats a BIG IF, I was getting paid 3-4 times as much as I am now. But if fact I am getting paid just a smidge above the poverty level, salary so no over time or anything like that, and he expects me (this goes for all graduate students by the way) to work 60+ hour weeks. . . and my contract says 20! I have friends that bend over backwards to appease their masters, by working the 60+ hour weeks and doing every little extra thing they tack on to their daily duties, but I on the other hand am enjoying my health, lean mass gain, increasing physical prowess, and life in general. So I might get a little frown out of my advisor every once and a while but somehow the world keeps turning, the sun still comes up in the morning, and the wind still blows. . . I hope my sarcasm is self evident. :shock:

JL said:

You in the physical or life sciences? I thought about graduate school, but I am only interested in a PhD, and the work to get that at my age (31) just might be too much for my sanity. Then, some fellowships pay crap (less than 50,000 dollars). I have heard the stories, though. Of ex doctorate students who did post doc at Scripps Research institute and quit, because they said they just can't work that hard that long. Craziest story was about a guy at Cornell. Supposedly, he works from like 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. 7 days a week. Reportedly, he appreciates the opportunity. I can't see myself doing that. My interests are too diverse.

I am an engineering student at Virginia Tech, working on my masters in Aerospace. . . and handbalancing

JL said:

You in the physical or life sciences? I thought about graduate school, but I am only interested in a PhD, and the work to get that at my age (31) just might be too much for my sanity. Then, some fellowships pay crap (less than 50,000 dollars). I have heard the stories, though. Of ex doctorate students who did post doc at Scripps Research institute and quit, because they said they just can't work that hard that long. Craziest story was about a guy at Cornell. Supposedly, he works from like 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. 7 days a week. Reportedly, he appreciates the opportunity. I can't see myself doing that. My interests are too diverse.

My 2 cents added to this offtopic part of the discussion (being a 35-year-old who got his PhD last year - started when I was 30): the crazy working hours and low wages that seem to be necessary to get a PhD and an academic career in the US have always seemed outrageous to me... here in the Netherlands, a PhD position is a regular +/- 40-hours-a-week job with the associated salary (admittedly, starting a bit low but amounting to a regular 'post-MSc' salary in the fourth and final year). And the funny thing is, even though we average 40-hour weeks we still perform quality research and publish papers in peer-reviewed journals with high impact factors.

Maybe it's because we don't see doing a PhD as a kind of 'opportunity' for which we should be eternally grateful. It's simply a job, doing what you like to do best (research) and you try to do the best you can in the least amount of time necessary (i.e., efficiency). I've heard many stories about PhD students in the US and elsewhere coming in at 7 AM and leaving at 9 PM, only because their professor did so and expected them to show their appreciation/dedication by doing the same... and during all these hours only a basic amount of work was done, it was mostly just 'being present'. I am glad us Dutchies are being a bit more pragmatic

... using this as a bridge to get back on topic again

... I think we are quite efficient when it comes to work and time management in general, but we generally also believe that we work to live and not the other way around. So we try to get the most out of the relatively few hours at work by being as efficient as possible (38h/week is the norm nowadays) and use our spare time to enjoy our lives and families, play sports etcetera.

I'm not saying the Dutch aren't getting more obese nowadays, and there definitely is a lot of room for improvement in terms of nutrition and physical activity, but we're still in the top 5 of tallest and longest-living people on the planet and that's for a reason. And as we speak, a lot of initiatives are being taken to raise 'health awareness' again.

biomieg said:

JL said:

You in the physical or life sciences? I thought about graduate school, but I am only interested in a PhD, and the work to get that at my age (31) just might be too much for my sanity. Then, some fellowships pay crap (less than 50,000 dollars). I have heard the stories, though. Of ex doctorate students who did post doc at Scripps Research institute and quit, because they said they just can't work that hard that long. Craziest story was about a guy at Cornell. Supposedly, he works from like 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. 7 days a week. Reportedly, he appreciates the opportunity. I can't see myself doing that. My interests are too diverse.

My 2 cents added to this offtopic part of the discussion (being a 35-year-old who got his PhD last year - started when I was 30): the crazy working hours and low wages that seem to be necessary to get a PhD and an academic career in the US have always seemed outrageous to me... here in the Netherlands, a PhD position is a regular +/- 40-hours-a-week job with the associated salary (admittedly, starting a bit low but amounting to a regular 'post-MSc' salary in the fourth and final year). And the funny thing is, even though we average 40-hour weeks we still perform quality research and publish papers in peer-reviewed journals with high impact factors.

Maybe it's because we don't see doing a PhD as a kind of 'opportunity' for which we should be eternally grateful. It's simply a job, doing what you like to do best (research) and you try to do the best you can in the least amount of time necessary (i.e., efficiency). I've heard many stories about PhD students in the US and elsewhere coming in at 7 AM and leaving at 9 PM, only because their professor did so and expected them to show their appreciation/dedication by doing the same... and during all these hours only a basic amount of work was done, it was mostly just 'being present'. I am glad us Dutchies are being a bit more pragmatic

... using this as a bridge to get back on topic again

... I think we are quite efficient when it comes to work and time management in general, but we generally also believe that we work to live and not the other way around. So we try to get the most out of the relatively few hours at work by being as efficient as possible (38h/week is the norm nowadays) and use our spare time to enjoy our lives and families, play sports etcetera.

I'm not saying the Dutch aren't getting more obese nowadays, and there definitely is a lot of room for improvement in terms of nutrition and physical activity, but we're still in the top 5 of tallest and longest-living people on the planet and that's for a reason. And as we speak, a lot of initiatives are being taken to raise 'health awareness' again.