When we warm up, either by stretching or performing a moderated version of the activity to come, we’re preparing our bodies in several different ways—three of which are crucial to our performance, recovery, and outcome.

Is all this twisting and folding really necessary?

When we warm up, either by stretching or performing a moderated version of the activity to come, we’re preparing our bodies in several different ways—three of which are crucial to our performance, recovery, and outcome.

The Pulse Raiser

Isn’t it nicer to be woken up gently rather than a bucket of cold water in the face? When it comes to exercise we should treat our hearts with the same courtesy. A gradual rise in intensity rather than a sudden spike will better prepare the heart for what’s coming. The pulse raising element of a warm up should leave us breathless but still able to complete a spoken sentence.

The Role of Mobility

As our bodies begin to move, your synovial joints (think heels, knees, hips, and shoulders) release synovial fluid for lubrication and to protect the cartilage at the head of the bone. As muscle fibers start to lengthen and contract, most of us notice an increased range of motion in the limbs. This improvement in flexibility is increased by the generation of body heat but it’s also due to the breakdown of fascia, the connective tissue that covers our muscles.

After a few minutes of repetitive movement muscles become more elastic and a greater amount of blood, enriched with oxygen and other essential nutrients, is delivered to them. At this point some of us have that lovely feeling of getting into our stride. Sufficient oxygen levels in the working muscles will hold back the lactic threshold so we can keep going for longer before fatigue sets in.

Take a Moment for Flexibility

Our range of motion (how far we can reach with our limbs) determines the amount of skilled movement we can put in to our chosen activity. The more quality and quantity of effort we put in, the more we’ll get out so it’s crucial that we put as much focus on our flexibility as we do with every other part of our fitness training.

There are various stretching techniques and in order to select the right one it’s a good idea to consider the activity you’re going to be doing—for example you could loosen your shoulders before a game of tennis by swinging your arms back and forth. A pre-workout stretch might require dynamic (active) stretches but keep in mind this can sometimes have the unwanted effect of overexciting the surrounding muscles. In an unmonitored environment, passive or static stretches are the safer and more effective option.

Time to Get Warm

When your warm up is complete there’s a lot less resistance between what the body wants to do and what the mind is ready to face. In other words, a good warm up ultimately connects the mind and body and get us in the zone for an awesome session.

Here’s a gentle warm up routine that includes dynamic compound stretches and a pulse raiser or two:

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At the root of this faux-peril is the chilling statistic that every winter, about 100 people die while shoveling snow. Pardon my lack of panic, but 100 people out of 320 million just isn’t that many. For reference, you’re more likely to be killed by some sort of animal, ten times more likely to be shot dead by the police, and 50 times more likely to die from that gas station sushi you picked up on the way home from work.

It’s clear that the article is fearmongering in order to get page views, and well, mission accomplished. I read it. But what blows me away is that a whole lot of people, including my friend, took the article as good advice. From his perspective, it makes sense: he works in an emergency department where he spends all day (and most of the night) putting people back together after they’ve messed themselves up doing stupid human things. His is a business that wants fewer customers, and that’s as it should be.

Are We Really This Fragile?

But how did we get to the point that common household chores are cause to stop and think about our mortality risk? What’s next, hiring somebody to fold your laundry? When did we come to accept a level of fragility so pathetic that some fluffy white stuff could leave you stranded in your home until some enterprising neighborhood kid comes along to rescue you?

In a shining example of everything that’s wrong with science and medicine, a cardiologist named Barry Franklin has been paid actual dollars to become “an expert in the hazardous effects of snow removal.” That’s right, he’s using his lengthy, expensive education and state-of-the-art lab equipment to find out what’s killing an almost imperceptible percentage of the American population. And rather than concluding that the answer is to become a little harder to kill, his advice is to just stop doing stuff.

I can’t think of a more backward and counterproductive message coming from the lips of someone who allegedly specializes in preventative cardiology. His advice confirms the view that many Americans hold, which is that moving is bad, exercise is worse, and physical labor should be avoided at any cost. The same view, it should be said, that has landed us in the middle of a public health crisis as pervasive and devastating as it is absurd.

Get Strong Enough to Survive

As I’ve written before in Calm Down, It’s Not That Complicated, the greatest threat to our happy existence isn’t the kipping pull up; nor is it shoveling snow. The things that are sending us to early graves by the hundreds of thousands are sedentarism and the worst diet science could possibly devise. But rather than take aim at these obvious, enormous, devastating issues, let’s just tell people to avoid one more thing that could get them outside and moving a few times a year.

We were once a rollicking, hardy population that won back to back World Wars and then sent people to the moon. In only a few decades, we’ve degraded to become a soft, pink, squishy, whiny bunch that cowers with their hot cocoa at the onset of flurries. What a sad state of affairs.

Look, if you have an actual heart condition, I’m not here to get between you and the advice of your medical professional. If you’ve been sedentary for the past few decades and literally only get off your ass to go buy more Taco Bell, maybe it’s best you don’t jump straight into clearing that four-foot drift the snowplow left at the bottom of your driveway. All I’m saying is that if you have to contemplate whether there’s a real possibility that doing so could kill you, it’s probably way past time to reevaluate your life and your priorities.

However you choose to define your fitness, the ability to deal with the reality of day-to-day life should be included on the list. Our conflation of the concepts of age and frailty has no backing in scientific literature or anthropological study; it is a social construct. We become unable to handle physical challenge because we choose to avoid it, and for no other reason. We need to fight back against the bogeymen created by the media that tell us what we want to hear, and instead pursue levels of strength, health, and vitality that enable us to actually live life for as long as we are alive.

If you need me, I’ll be standing in my driveway, shovel in hand, staring at the sky and daring it to snow.

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The Basics of Thermogenesis

Thermogenesis can occur in three ways:

1. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis, abbreviated as NEAT. So, this means physical activities other than your training (see NEPA below).
2. Exercise-associated thermogenesis, abbreviated EAT. This would be your scheduled training plans.
3. Diet-induced thermogenesis, or DIT. This would be your body dealing with eating, digesting, and storing of byproducts of digestion.

NEPA stands for non-exercise physical activities. This would include the energy expended preparing meals, walking at your job, typing on a computer, performing yard work, cleaning the house, shivering, and other low-intensity actions throughout the day.

Even though sitting on your butt or performing minimal non-exercise activities does not lend to optimal calorie burning, your NEAT/NEPA number can still play a role in whether you lose, maintain, or gain weight.

Every Move Counts

“Exercise” or not, everything counts. Even these low-intensity activities contribute to an increase in your metabolic (calorie-burning) rate. Cumulatively, all activities have an impact on the number of calories you need to survive in addition to your base-line daily calorie requirements.

“Being aware of and intentional about all these factors will help you determine the optimal balance of calorie intake and energy output relative to your goals.”

This baseline calorie requirement is known as your basal metabolic rate, or BMR. The specific number of calories required to keep you alive, to support internal organ function, and to maintain your existing muscle mass depends upon your body type and current muscle mass. Surprisingly, the baseline calorie expenditure to simply support your body is relatively high. Check out the following examples:

• Female – 38-year-old, 115lb/52kg, 5′-4″/163cm = 1,277 calories
• Female – 22-year-old 155lb/70kg 5′-8″/173cm = 1,545 calories
• Male – 55-year-old 200lb/91kg 6′-4″/193cm = 1,903 calories
• Male – 24-year-old 245lb/111kg 5′-11″/180cm = 2,331 calories

The Role of Your Diet

To get an idea of how changes in NEPA can compare to changes in food consumption and planned exercise, let’s look at some numbers.

Meal 1 – 416 calories

• 4 oz. pink salmon (168 calories)
• 1 cup boiled broccoli (55 calories)
• 0.5 cup cooked couscous (88 calories)
• 8 oz. 1% cow milk (105 calories)

Meal 2 – 768 calories

• 2 large scrambled eggs + 1 tbsp milk + 1 tsp oil (197 calories)
• 1 whole grain bagel (340 calories)
• 1 large banana (121 calories)
• 8 oz. orange juice (110 calories)

Meal 3 – 1,324 calories

• Bacon cheeseburger (Five Guys) (919 calories)
• 1.7 oz bag of nacho cheese tortilla chips (262 calories)
• 12 oz. cola (143 calories)

Meal 4 (Olive Garden) – 1,189 calories

• 2 breadsticks with garlic butter (280 calories)
• Grilled chicken Caesar salad (609 calories)
• Wild berry smoothie (300 calories)

The Role of Calorie Burning

Now, let’s look at planned training and NEPA calories burned in thirty minutes using two of the previous gender examples:

Female (F) – 38-year-old, 115lb/52kg, 5′-4″/163cm

Male (M) – 24-year-old 245lb/111kg, 5′-11″/180cm

For these two athletes, the following number of calories are burned:

• Circuit strength training: F = 222, M = 442
• Cycling – hard: F = 294, M = 588
• Running @ 7:30/mile: F = 344, M = 704
• Walking @ 4.0 miles per hour: F = 137, M = 282
• Walking @ 1.5 miles per hour: F = 51, M = 106
• Martial arts: F = 263, M = 538
• Yoga: F = 89, M = 183
• Racquetball: F = 252, M = 511
• Housework: F = 75, M = 170
• Grocery shopping: F = 68, M = 122
• Lawn mowing: F = 139, M = 283
• Driving: F = 50, M = 100
• Raking leaves: F = 109, M = 245

Given the above activity numbers, let’s put our examples into action in the following case studies.

Female Case Study

38-year-old, 115lb/52kg, 5′-4″/163cm, with a BMR of 1,277 calories.

• Meal 1 = + 416 calories
• Meal 2 = + 768 calories
• Meal 3 = Skipped
• Meal 4 = + 1,189 calories

Total calorie intake = + 2,373

Now, subtract these.

• BMR = – 1,277 calories
• 30 minutes of hard cycling = – 294 calories
• 30 minutes of martial arts = – 263 calories
• 30 minutes of driving = – 50 calories
• 30 minutes of housework = – 75 calories
• 1 hour of walking at 4 mph = – 274 calories
• 1 hour of grocery shopping = – 136 calories

Total calorie deficit = – 2,369 calories

Net total for the day = a 4-calorie deficit.

Male Case Study

24 year-old 245 pound/111 kg, 5′-11″/180 cm male with a BMR of 2,331 calories.

• Meal 1 = + 416 calories
• Meal 2 = + 768 calories
• Meal 3 = + 1,324 calories
• Meal 4 = + 1,189 calories

Total calorie intake = +3,697

Now, subtract these.

• BMR = – 2,331 calories
• 1 hour of circuit strength training = – 884 calories
• 1 hour of driving = – 100 calories
• 1.5 hours of walking at 1.5 mph = – 318 calories

Total calorie deficit = – 3,633 calories

Net total for the day = a 64-calorie surplus.

How Do You Rate?

Look at these facts and assess your daily energy expenditure of NEPA, and ultimately NEAT. Become vigilant about your total daily calorie intake, all physical activities engaged, and their duration. Being aware of and intentional about all these factors will help you determine the optimal balance of calorie intake and energy output relative to your goals.

More on nutrition and activity:

• Is Low Calorie Dieting Dangerous?
• Calorie Burn for Bodyweight Exercise May Be Underestimated
• The Right Way to Lose Fat: What to Eat
• New On Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1. Denzer, C.M. and J.C. Young, “The effect of resistance exercise on the thermic effect of food,” International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism 13 (3) (2003): 396–402.

2. Levine, J.A., “Nonexercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT),”Best Practice & Research. Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 4 (2002): 679-702.

3. Thermogenesis, accessed August 8, 2015.

4. Activity calorie calculator, accessed August 9, 2015.

5. Activity calorie calculator, accessed August 9, 2015.

6. Activity calorie calculator, accessed August 9, 2015.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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