One Hour a Week

How long would it take to build a house if you only worked on it for 1 hour per week? I know that sounds ridiculous, but it is the best analogy for the "just 10 minutes a day" phrase that so called professionals use when describing the amount of time needed for exercise. Unfortunately, many people grab hold of this and believe that they are living a healthy lifestyle. Sure, if you were to be completely deconditioned, having never done anything more than walked from the couch to the refrigerator and back, 10 minutes would be a lot. However, if you wake up, go to work, take care of your home, go to bed and wake up to do it all over again, then 10 minutes isn't even close to enough.

Many people quote the Surgeon General's report as the catalyst for the ten minutes a day mantra. However, the report merely mentions other reports that claim 10 minutes of activity works. The report goes on to say that ALL American adults need 30 to60 minutes of CONTINUOUS vigorous exercise per day. And the list of health benefits is staggering, yet not surprising.

Here is a link to the report:
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=WZZPc1FmL7QC&dq=surgeon+general%27s+report&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=5UDkU4Tc7k&sig=oipcP5bc9cuXiWQu0IyKv5BsLWQ&prev=http://www.google.com/search?q=surgeon+general%27s+report&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7HPIA&sa=X&oi=print&ct=result&cd=2&cad=bottom-3results#PPP1,M1

It's not a quick read, but it is an interesting one.

We won!! We had our first victory last night. OK, so it was a forfeit, the fact is it's a 1 in the "W" column. I asked my teammates after last weeks game "How many of you picked up a basketball between tonight's game and last week's game?" No hands went up. So how could we think we would be competitive with teams that play 3 times per week? So the "one hour per week is not enough" translates into most everything we do. To be successful in anything, it takes time and effort. How many hours do musicians spend practicing? How many hours has Tiger spent hitting golf balls? Make the time for your healthy lifestyle.

Healthfully yours,
BH&F