Boston Marathon

Can You Run the Boston Marathon ?

I was watching an episode of Nova with my daughter recently. The episode was about a group of novices training for the Boston Marathon. There were 13 people ranging in age from their 20s to their 60s. None of them exercised regularly prior to starting the program. The program monitors predicted that up to one half of the participants would not complete the training regimen or the marathon. The group spent nine months training for the marathon. Amazingly, 12 of the 13 participants not only finished the training, but also completed the marathon. One young woman had to stop early in training because of stress fractures of her lower leg, but the other participants completed the entire 26 mile course, which most marathoners claim to be the toughest marathon in the world.

Yes, You Can!

The participants were not athletes. They were ordinary people just like many of you. This story confirms for me what I believe about exercising and good health. No matter what your current level of health, you can make massive improvements. The human body has an amazing capacity to repair itself and to grow stronger with proper use and care. Medical studies even show that people over 65 can build muscle mass with weight training just like people in their 20s and 30s.

To take advantage of the miraculous ability of your own body, you do not have to train for or complete the Boston Marathon. You just simply need to get moving. Make a commitment to do some type of exercise for 10 minutes a day for the next 21 days. Once you complete this challenge, you can set a new goal to improve your level of fitness. Studies show that the majority of the benefit of exercise occurs when people go from doing no exercise to doing as little as 90 minutes of total exercise per week-that is 30 minutes three times weekly.

Try the Stair Fitness Test

A good test of your level of fitness is to walk up a flight of stairs at a brisk pace. If you get winded, you are not as fit as you need to be to prevent illness. Medical studies show that people who are unable to go up a flight of stairs without stopping have a much higher risk of complications and even death around the time of surgery.

Go now and walk up a flight of stairs. If you have to stop half way up or if you get winded, go see your doctor to check for any underlying health problems and then begin a sensible exercise program.

My StumbleUpon Page