What We Talk About When We Talk About Exercise

A Wellness Diary Entry

In 1980, a young Chinese author named Pan Xiao wrote an essay titled “The Road of Life is Getting Narrower and Narrower.” The essay is all about the existential malaise and disillusionment of Chinese youth in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, when promises of freedom and openness clashed with the harsh realities of economic inequality, competition, and rigid social expectations.

Deep stuff. But today I’d like to embrace my gross American (and I mean that sincerely - two of my favorite artists are Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons), and repurpose Xiao’s title to the mundane topic of exercise. Because, Life’s Road Getting Narrower is great imagery not only for mental angst, but also for physical aging. Much better than Use It or Lose It, for example.

There are so many benefits to exercise that if I could put it in a pill, I would prescribe it to all my patients. Every day seems to bring a new study detailing some upside of exercise, with the only apparent downsides being injury, and maybe, just maybe, the intellectual and spiritual shallowness that someone like Pan Xiao might see in those who are a little too obsessed with going to the gym.

Our body’s road, so wide when we are young, gets narrower and narrower. A twenty-year old may have no problem running a mile or touching their toes even if they don’t do it on a regular basis. Not so for a sixty-year old. One way of looking at exercise is as a quest to maintain range over the lifespan - range of endurance, strength, agility, balance, and flexibility. Range of motion.

That’s why too much of one thing is not ideal. Take walking. I always ask about exercise at annual physicals, and a sheepish answer I will commonly get (not being judgemental here) is: Well, I walk a lot. Of course you do. You live in NY. And don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with walking. It’s by far the best way to get from point A to point B. But as far as maintaining range, it barely counts. With walking, you are not asking your body to do anything new or different from what it does the rest of the time.

Take yoga as a counter-example. If you do a yoga routine of, say, 30 poses, that’s 30 different positions that your body would not otherwise be in. That maintains range, and it’s one reason why yoga is my favorite form of exercise.

What would be some other examples of exercises that maintain range? Let’s answer that question according to the four buckets I mentioned above.

Bucket #1: endurance. For outdoor activities, there’s running, biking, swimming, or even rollerblading. For indoor activities, there’s stairs or jumping rope, not to mention cardio machines like ellipticals. As a parent of varsity rowers, one of whom is now a sailor, we had Concept 2 ergs in the living room during Covid - they take up surprisingly little space when you stand them up.

Bucket #2: strength. The classic resistance exercise is, of course, lifting weights. If you know what you are doing, there is nothing better; if you don’t, get a trainer, at least for a few sessions to make sure you don’t waste your time or do more harm than good. If you don’t like lifting, try bodyweight routines, starting with the simple 7-minute workout, a free app you can get on any smartphone. 

Bucket #3: agility. This one is often overlooked. Lifting weights doesn’t do it. Running doesn’t do it. Even yoga doesn’t do it. The best is playing a sport - like tennis, basketball, or soccer - or dancing. If that’s not an option, there are plenty of classes and apps that incorporate agility into their sessions.

Bucket #4: balance and flexibility. I put these together for two reasons. One, because they are the first to go as we get older, and a common reason for falls and other injuries. Two, because it gives me another chance to plug yoga, which elegantly incorporates both. Pilates is another popular option. 

Those are only some examples. There are plenty of others. The key point is to cross-train and dip into each bucket over the course of the week. Which brings up the question of how often to work out, when, and for how long?

I value momentum, so I’m a fan of routine. Like a baseline of ten minutes a day, six days a week, as early in the day as you can. If you have more time and motivation, great; if not, then at least you keep the ball rolling and avoid starting from zero - the dreaded psychological barrier of inertia.

Studies show that doctors do a better job of counseling in areas that they are good at themselves. So it is with me and exercise (as opposed to, say, diet, or even more so sleep). Patients often ask about my exercise routine, so I’ll just share it here. I stopped going to the gym over Covid and never went back. Now all I need is a pair of Hokas and a mat. I run five miles in the park, do yoga at home, and a bodyweight workout, each twice a week for about 45 minutes. Always before breakfast or else it doesn’t happen (except for weekends, when I run on Randall’s Island - my favorite - during Kobi’s soccer practice). 

I will add, as a nod to Pan Xiao, whom I imagine (probably incorrectly) as disdaining American materialism, that this theory of maintaining range applies to more than just the body. It also applies to the mind and the spirit, both of which get narrower with age unless they are stretched in new and unfamiliar directions. But that’s a different post.

One final point: when should you start? To answer that let me bring it full circle and pay homage to the great Raymond Carver by quoting him directly, instead of merely alluding to him in the title. “Time is short and the water is rising….”