Sweet Quarantine - China Lockdown Day 4

Guangzhou, China quarantine from Bali for two weeks and 10 days to go on the two week lockdown.

I plan on doing a three-day water-only fast starting after dinner tonight so I'll eat dinner 72 hours from now. I like to do a heavy workout prior to the low-carb dinner I'll have before I start my extended fast.

I've been lifting weights since I was 18, so 35 years now. Probably 25 out of the 35 I've been consistently lifting and over the last decade have been doing weight training unbroken. But only in the last few years have I taken seriously leg resistance training. Never skip leg day! Well, unfortunately I skipped leg decades, but for the past half decade I've embraced leg day wholeheartedly and wholeleggedly.

My goal with exercise in general is simply sanity vs. vanity and also functionality - while I chase my four year-old daughter, I'm also running away (for as long as I can) from the grim reaper.

The groundbreaking study above shows a solid correlation between leg strength and cognitive function (I'd often heard grip strength previously, but turns out there's no correlation there).

The study shows that it's not just about the brain sending signals to the legs, but LEGS sending signals back to the brain. The brain thinks: "Well, these muscles are big and growing and firing, I guess the body still needs me to be at the top of my game since it's somehow thriving (exercising, uninjured and successfully securing protein) in a very harsh environment and even though most humans historically already checked out by now."

At least that was the signal our legs sent to our brains as (if) we aged for hundreds of thousands of years. The body and brain are much more intertwined and interdependent than we think.

That body mind connection is a major reason why I stand/move while I work and also why I insist that my MBA students (when we were in a classroom....) get up and do 'walk and talks' where they would connect with another student in the class they'd not met and do a 10 minute walk and discuss/recap what we'd just learn. The connection between brain and body is not as distinct as some hardcore knowledge workers would like to think.

More on my first day of the fast tomorrow, but today I went prison fit crazy and tried some new ways to work out with whatever I had around. Sure I had my good ol resistance band and just my bodyweight as well, but today I also got delivered two new cases of water.

The hip/hinge muscle groups (quadriceps - front leg muscles, hamstrings - back leg muscle and glutes - your butt muscles) are, of course, the largest group of muscles in your body so when you work them, you really spark growth in musculature across your whole body and human growth factor (HGF) which are ways to get your genes to express themselves in positive/virtuous ways as you age. Legit magic potion shit!

It's certainly possible to do a good leg workout with just body weight, it just takes a lot more time and volume of reps and sets.

It was fun to shove the hanger bar from the closet into the cases of water to do a barbell workout like I was in prison in Leavenworth getting prison ft before they threw me into the hole (started sharpening my toothbrush into a point in case after quarantine I meet someone out in the yard who eyeballs me the wrong and has to get got).

I'm a big fan of lunges, especially weighted lunges. Key is to step far out in front and make the front leg all 90-degree angles at the ankle, knee and hip and then use the front leg to push up. If you don't do specific leg exercises yet besides walking, running or cycling, then start with lunges just using your bodyweight.

I'm throwing down the gauntlet and putting out this 10 Week Lockdown Lunge Challenge:

Week 1 - 10 walking, unweighted lunges two times/wk (1.5 mins/day)

Week 2 - 20 walking, unweighted lunges two times/wk ( - 4 mins/day (10 reps - 1.5 mins; rest - 1 min; 10 reps - 1.5 mins)

Week 3 - 30 walking, unweighted lunges two times/wk ( - 6.5 mins/day (10 reps - 1.5 mins; rest - 1 min; 10 reps - 1.5 mins; rest - 1 min; 10 reps - 1.5 mins)

Week 4 - 40 walking, unweighted lunges two times/wk - 8 mins/day (10 reps - 1.5 mins; rest - 1 min; 10 reps - 1.5 mins; rest - 1 min; 10 reps - 1.5 mins; rest - 1 min; 10 reps - 1.5 mins)

Progress by adding ten additional lunges each week and increases the sets until you can do 20 reps in one set.

Week 10 - 100 walking, unweighted lunges two times/wk - 14 mins/day (one set of 20 reps - 2 mins; rest - 1 min; rinse, repeat 5 sets)

For me, working out is all about putting in a system, not goals, and creating habits by slowly building up from a very small, simple and easily achievable base. Then making it something that I can do anywhere, anytime, no excuses.

I used to do 3-400 pushups in my office over an hour in one of the meeting rooms. No need for workout clothes, or for the gym for that matter. I quickly progress from warm up set of 10 reps, then up to 60+ reps, then back down again. Go back to my desk and send an email or two between sets and then jump back into it. My Chinese colleagues all got a chuckle walking in on me but got used to it.

This workout above is the same. It can be done anywhere, anytime with no need for a trip to a gym and all the attendant hassle and time waste around that (schlep to the gym, forgot my shirt, where's my gym card?, oh shit my favorite machine is taken, all treadmills full, I just spent 45% of that workout looking in the mirror, checking my phone, looking at those yoga pants, etc, etc) . If anyone walks in you in the meeting room or see you in the hallway just tell them while you're lunging away: "It's SCIENCE dammit! I'm not just doing a Monty Python-esque funny walk, I'm increasing my cognitive functionality one decade into the future!"

Good luck and Lockdown Love and Good Vibes to You and Yours,

Rich