Twelve Hours versus eight and a half minutes per week…the choice is yours!!!

Two men are working out on a Friday afternoon. One is jogging along the side of the road. Cars whiz by as he plods along his route. He’s sweating liberally and breathing rhythmically. On Thursday, he jogged for three miles:the day before he jogged 5; on Tuesday it was three miles; and Monday saw him hitting the pavement for 6 miles. Today, after his usual ten minute warm-up of stretching movements, so as to not pull anything while jogging, he’s hoping to get five miles in and finish the week at twenty-two miles. In addition, just as it was on Monday and Wednesday, today his his day to strength train, which he’ll do for one hour right after he finishes his jog. He’s thinking that he might slow his pace a little today, maybe take a little longer to get the five miles in, because the last time he jogged a little faster, that old shin splint flared up a bit, leaving him too fatigued to work out comfortably. He also has to cool down afterward, so that will be another ten minutes of walking and stretching.
He’s a little bit stressed today about being able to get all this in over the next three hours. He will still have to get showered, drive home in time to pick up his family, and then drive across town to his daughters dance recital. But, hey, health comes first. He decides to call his wife; she can take the daughter to the recital, and he’ll do his best to get there on time. He rationalizes away that gnawing feeling that he really should be there for his daughter by telling himself that he can do only what he can do. He’ll get there when he gets there. His time spent away from his family engaged in his health and fitness pursuit this week totaled twelve hours, not including driving time.
The other man is at a strength training facility, where he is completing the last repetition of a set of leg presses. He performed two other exercises prior to this one, spending 90 seconds on a chest press machine and three minutes on an overhead pull-down machine, and he’s hoping to get three minutes on this set of leg presses as well. To the surprise of both him and his trainer, it takes him four minutes to reach positive failure on today’s leg press exercise. As he doesn’t rest between exercises, his actual training time today is eight and a half minutes. His trainer reviews his chart with him after the workout, which shows that his strength is up 20 percent on both the pull-down and the chest press, his leg strength is up 30 percent, and his leg endurance is up 45 percent. “Great workout” his trainer says as the man heads out the door and back to work, “see you in another seven days!” His time spent away from his family engaged in his health and fitness pursuit this week has totaled eight and a half minutes, not including driving time.
Which scenario will you choose for yourself…a version of the former….or the latter. Let me be perfectly clear about this…scenario one ‘s guy is probably unhealthy…a mass of orthopedic injuries, compromised immune system manifesting in frequent infections, and recent evidence clearly shows a vulnerable heart, lungs and entire cardio vascular system. Scenario two’s guy is the polar opposite…his health is vibrant…he rarely gets sick because his immune system is powerful and growing stronger and his heart lungs and cardiovascular system have reponded to his high intensity brief sessions by getting immensely strong and are almost bulletproof. And this guy doesn’t stress about how to fit in his workouts, has twelve extra hours a week to spend with his family and enjoy life and make more money if he so chooses. Is there really any sane, intelligent choice? I don’t think so…and I will do my best to help as many intelligent people become aware of this as possible.
Any Questions…jmwald@gmail.com