The Strenuous Life

Theodore Roosevelt said that people should live a strenuous life. By that, he meant active. Get outside, do things.

Roosevelt of course went well beyond anything most people do today. He started a ranch out west almost on his own. He swam in the Potomac. He boxed. He explored an unknown river in Brazil.

But I do believe he's right, that we all should strive to be as active as possible. So this past weekend I snowboarded Saturday morning, split wood for three hours that afternoon (it's a great total body workout) and surfed Sunday. Then I worked in the yard, though that was the least strenuous of everything I did.

For me that's an extra-strenuous weekend. But it did feel good.

Just remember that being active can be as simple as getting in workouts when you can or taking the stairs instead of the escalator.

It's Summer, Get Outside

I love the gym, but in the past few weeks I've spent less time there. Why? It's simple. It's summer and I want to spend as much time as possible surfing while the water is warm.

So over the past two or three weeks I've gone to the gym twice during the week and surfed at least once, meaning I'm missing one regular gym session. Sure, I could try to work it in but I know that surfing is a workout itself and I also know my body needs to recover between workouts -- whatever form they take.

But here's the thing, I walk into the gym now feeling a little more refreshed than usual because I'm not there as much. And I think I'm attacking my workouts with a bit more vigor.

So see what you can find to do outside and mix it in with your regular workouts.

Your Core Asset

Right as my feet hit the board I realized I had a problem -- I was off balance. I'd fallen on an earlier wave, so I was determined not to let it happen again. What kept me up? My core.

This happened during a four- or five-hour surfing session yesterday. (Hey, I'm unemployed, so I can surf on a Monday.) The waves had some size to them, anywhere from waist to shoulder high, courtesy of a tropical storm off the North Carolina coast that pushed a swell toward Long Island. And I'm still getting accustomed to my relatively new board, which is just 6'4".

So after falling earlier because I was off balance, I quickly realized on this one wave it was going to happen again. So I braced my core and lowered my center of gravity. The next thing I knew I was stable and surfing down the face of the wave. I'm convinced that if I hadn't done so much core work over the past few months I would've fallen again.

Remember that a strong core helps with everyday activities, too. It's vital, especially as we age (who wants to slump into old age?).

Surfing and Sex

I love it when I find stories of older people who are still active. They make me believe that my quest is possible.

So when I was cleaning up today I found a couple of pages I tore from Surfer magazine last year -- an article about Doc Paskowitz, who still surfs at 85. As I note, I don't completely agree with everything he says, but when someone can still do what he does at his age, it's at least worth considering what he has to day.

He had five simple rules for living a long, active life.

"1. Keep Your Weight Down. Stay slim, trim and elegant. Get to be about 15% body fat and stay there the rest of your life. An easy way to check if you're not at 15% body fat is to pinch-an-inch anywhere on your frame. If it's an inch or over, you're too fat.

2. Fat Makes Fat. Forget all the crap you're hearing about carbohydrates. Concentrate on fat. ... The longest-lived people on earth eat only about 40 to 50 grams of fat per day. If you're like most Americans, you're eating four times that amount. (I don't agree with this one completely, because I do believe that excess carbs are a big problem.)

3. To be Alive, You've Got to Eat Life. Throw it on the ground. If it grows, it's first-class food; if it doesn't grow, it's not. You can't grow Ritz crackers, potato chips or French fries, but a grain of 3,000-year-old red wheat found in Tutankhamen's tomb sprouted when planted. Green leafy vegetables, grains, beans, peas -- these are living things and they make up the bulk of what most people on earth eat -- a lot of fruit and vegetables and a little meat -- the universal meal. (Again, I don't completely agree with this one, mainly on the issue of meat.)

4. Move, Move, Move. Movement is life-like. Movement is life. But you have to give your first priority to the big muscle of the lower extremeties. It's not enough to just arm-paddle. The great exercise of all is walking, brisk walking. I never walk less than 20 minutes a day, though I often walk much, much more than that. I can do it even when I feel lousy. (As you know by now, I'm a big believer in intervals, which you could do while walking.)

5. Surf, Surf, Surf -- as much as you can. Not just for exercise and fun but also for recreation. It's easier to understand the word "recreation" broken up; it's "re-creation." Every time you paddle out, you re-create and re-inspire yourself. You only die once but you have to worry about living each and every day of your life. We did only when we stop living."

By the way, here's what Paskowitz says he does for fun -- surfing and sex.