Learn It, Lose It, Before You Earn
by Lorine Parks
“Getting in shape” does not just mean losing weight, Greg Welch told us. It means rearranging the molecules, exchanging fat for muscle. Free weights work better than weight machines, but either one serves to generate and regenerate muscle fiber, while building calcium and giving the heart a work-out too.
After showing us the physiology of the muscle, Greg explained that the fibers in it are each attached to a nerve fiber, one nerve for each one thousand muscle fibers. If these fibers are left dormant too long they may not be able to come back to life. Muscle, says Greg, knows no age or gender. Under a microscope, there is no difference. But muscles can age. Engaging the muscles to come back is the essence of “getting in shape.”
While this is a “use it or lose it” proposition, Greg is dedicated to getting muscle fiber back. And, he explained, many foods we think of as “unhealthy” may actually be essential to our diets, in moderation. For example, there are triphosphates in carbohydrates and fat, which are necessary to life.
While weight training is an ideal exercise, Greg thinks the idea of working to the point of pain is “ridiculous.” The school of thought that believes that “if it’s not hurting it’s not working,” is damaging to the body.
Weight training should be done under supervision especially for those who mistakenly think, “more is better.” “Back off,” says Greg. Don’t start a program at full tilt. You need a trainer to design a program for you. “Just come to the Y.”
Weight training is viable for all ages and genders. Men tend to take up weight training for improved performance and for aesthetics. But did you know that weight lifting is more important to women’s bodies than to men’s? Read on.
Muscles attach to tendons and tendons attach to bone, by way of ligaments. If you have ever had a too-chewy piece of steak, you will have observed those pieces of beef anatomy.
But one of skeletal muscle contraction’s functions is, that it generates the release of calcium ions, and keeps up bone thickness. Our bones reach their full growth at age 25, and after that the bone loss ranges from 1% a year when we are young, to as much a 10% a year when we are older. Women lose more than men, and faster. And for women, loss of bone mass is a serious consequence of aging. Think of the all too common deformity known as “dowager’s hump.”
In some diseases like MS (muscular dystrophy) and Parkinson’s, the nerve impulse to the muscle is compromised. But muscle fiber does have the ability to regenerate. There is always some dormant muscle fiber and it can be found. Muscle contraction always promotes movement of body parts. Once a muscle neuron has fired, all the muscle fibers in a muscle contract. This is how therapy can help. Greg’s encouraging words sounded like Kevin MacDonald when he tells us about the progress made by his clients at the Arc, There can always be some learning. In other words, don’t ever give up.