Sedona Fitness Fun... yes, it's a small town.

We decided to take a week off from being serious and have some fun.  One of our participants sent us the following email:

As I was lying in bed pondering the problems of the world, I rapidly realized that I don't really give a rat's hiney. It's the tortoise life for me!

1. If walking is good for your health, the postman would be immortal.
2. A whale swims all day, only eats fish, drinks water, and is fat.
3. A rabbit runs and hops and only lives 15 years.
4. A tortoise doesn't run and does nothing, yet it lives for 450 years.

And you tell me to exercise?? I don't think so.


We responded that we thought she was incredibly creative and humorous and that we hoped she wouldn't stop exercising because exercise has been shown to increase cognitive functioning and creativity.  So obviously, it was due to exercise that she was able to be so creative and come up with such a clever proposition.  Well, she informed us that she couldn't take credit for it.  She had taken it from an email she had received.  But we have concluded that whoever the author is, they must be taking metabolic training!

So of course we had to analyze it and we came up with the following:








The postman is not immortal because he lives in constant fear of wild and domestic animals, therefore raising his stress levels.

The postman also has serious muscle imbalances caused by carrying heavy loads on one shoulder that could be corrected by taking metabolic training.











So what about those fat whales?  Well, if you did nothing but slow cardio and ate anywhere from 350 to 550 pounds of fish a day... hmmm.  Then there's the sleep issue.  Because they need to breath and are underwater, whales only let one half of their brain sleep at a time.  We know that we have beat to death the issues of getting enough sleep and reducing stress (to the point that one person asked if we live in a bubble world).  But these two factors are crucial in lowering cortisol levels, and we'll say it one more time...   lowering your cortisol level is crucial to improving body composition.

So as we see it, this poor, half-sleeping whale is doomed to being chubby.  However, if he could get in some high intensity interval training and some strength training... 












Now for those rabbits!  For a rabbit, the time between mating and birth is about 28-32 days. This is only about a one-month pregnancy! They will usually have a litter of 3 to 8 babies.  Within hours of giving birth, the female is able to mate again. She can produce up to seven litters a year. That means she can produce 20 to 50, or more, rabbits a year!

We are not sure we would want to live more than 15 years either!










Finally, we get to those tortoises.  We thought maybe they were onto something and then we read about Bibi and Poldi:

Bibi and Poldi are calling it quits after Bibi started attacking her mate

After 115 years, Bibi and Poldi's marriage may be over.

The world's oldest animal marriage between the two giant turtles at an Austrian zoo appears to be over after the two refused to share a cage.

"We get the feeling they can't stand the sight of each other anymore," said Zoo director Helga Happ to the Austrian Times.

So perhaps having the same spouse for over 400 years when you don't get out for a walk, or a swim, or a run can get a little old.


The moral of the story is:

Get in some high intensity metabolic training twice a week, and get 7-8 hours of sleep per night, and you won't become the whale.

Your walking should be considered recovery, meaning it is at a leisurely pace without carrying a heavy load and you may outlive your postman.

Be human and have a "normal" number of offspring and you will outlive the rabbit.

Finally, if you do choose the life of a tortoise, be very, very, careful when choosing your mate. 

What else would you expect to hear from your fitness trainers?