Exercise Not Very Useful

LOL!! And no, your muscles aren't really burning any calories!


http://www.nytimes.com/ref/health/healthguide/esn-exercise-ess.html?em...=120054

Exercise is often said to stave off osteoporosis. Yet even weight-
bearing activities like walking, running or lifting weights has not
been shown to have that effect. Still, in rigorous studies in which
elderly people were randomly assigned either to exercise or maintain
their normal routine, the exercisers were less likely to fall, perhaps
because they got stronger or developed better balance. Since falls can
lead to fractures in people with osteoporosis, exercise may prevent
broken bones -- but only indirectly.

And what about weight loss? Lifting weights builds muscles but will
not make you burn more calories. The muscle you gain is minuscule
compared with the total amount of skeletal muscle in the body. And
muscle has a very low metabolic rate when it's at rest. (You can't
flex your biceps all the time.)

Jack Wilmore, an exercise physiologist at Texas A & M University,
calculated that the average amount of muscle that men gained after a
serious 12-week weight-lifting program was 2 kilograms, or 4.4 pounds.
That added muscle would increase the metabolic rate by only 24
calories a day.

Prisoner at War wrote:
> LOL!! And no, your muscles aren't really burning any calories!
>
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/ref/health/healthguide/esn-exercise-ess.html?em...=120054
>
> Exercise is often said to stave off osteoporosis. Yet even weight-
> bearing activities like walking, running or lifting weights has not
> been shown to have that effect. Still, in rigorous studies in which
> elderly people were randomly assigned either to exercise or maintain
> their normal routine, the exercisers were less likely to fall, perhaps
> because they got stronger or developed better balance. Since falls can
> lead to fractures in people with osteoporosis, exercise may prevent
> broken bones -- but only indirectly.
>
> And what about weight loss? Lifting weights builds muscles but will
> not make you burn more calories. The muscle you gain is minuscule
> compared with the total amount of skeletal muscle in the body. And
> muscle has a very low metabolic rate when it's at rest. (You can't
> flex your biceps all the time.)
>
> Jack Wilmore, an exercise physiologist at Texas A & M University,
> calculated that the average amount of muscle that men gained after a
> serious 12-week weight-lifting program was 2 kilograms, or 4.4 pounds.
> That added muscle would increase the metabolic rate by only 24
> calories a day.


Interesting article. Just one more example of the problems associated
with looking at factors affecting health, such as exercise, in
isolation.

You know, of course, that the article doesn't say that exercise isn't
useful. I guess that was your way of calling attention to this
article.