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Sean wrote:
> It seems to me that our bodies respond to the type of exercise we
give it.
> Lift weights, get fit for lifting weights.  Jog, get fit to jog.  I
don't
> know how much the benefits cross over though.

Sean,
I recently read, for the second time, "Walking" by Casey Meyers. I
read a bunch on walking and this is by far the best on the subject. He
talks quite a bit about the specificity principle and says that
walking is the only thing that he's seen that violates it. He cites
research done to prove his point. Do you remember the movie "Chariots
of Fire"? One of the American athletes was Alfie Shrubb who at one
time held all the world records for distances between 2 and 15 miles.
His coach was Harry Andrews. To quote from the book (p 159):
"According to Andrews it did not matter whether your sport was boxing,
fencing, wrestling, rowing, running, javelin or shot put; walking as a
primary exercise was applicable to all. He felt it was nature;s first
exercise and offered "by far the greatest benefit of any form of
training in its results." Andrews program for his budding runners
consisted mostly of walking, interspersed with occasional running..
Even as these athletes progressed, Andrews continued a policy of
morning and evening walks. Running was limited to the aftrnoon and the
time spent walking always exceeded the time spent running".

> I'm into bodybuilding now and don't do any jogging etc because I
want to put
> weight on.
> Cachexia (wasting away) seems to be a major problem of elderly
people and
> there are a large number of bodybuilders from the 20's, 30.s 40's
and 50's
> who are still around and in fantastic shape with plenty of muscle on
them,

I agree. Dave Draper is a good example.

> I will probably start getting into walking soon as that seems to be
the most
> natural and least stressful thing we can do for our bodies and also
what I
> would suspect our ancestors did the most of.

It seems obvious to me that walking is our primary gate. Paul Chek has
a great article on his web site that talks about the benefits of
walking and especially mentions it's benefits on circulation and the
operation of the lymph system. I can tell you that from my experience
the results I have seen from walking far exceed what you would expect
from the caloric burn.

All the best

Chuck

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