Couch potatoes beware. The exercise goons (hello!) are coming to get you. As a sofa spud in long-standing training myself, I know the lure of a perfectly indented cushion, contoured to and by your butt. I also am coming to understand the need for brain use beyond just moving my thumb around on the remote [...]]]> by Richard

Couch potatoes beware. The exercise goons (hello!) are coming to get you. As a sofa spud in long-standing training myself, I know the lure of a perfectly indented cushion, contoured to and by your butt. I also am coming to understand the need for brain use beyond just moving my thumb around on the remote control.

A group of “professional couch potatoes,” as one researcher described them, has proven that even moderate exercise — in this case walking at one’s own pace for 40 minutes three times a week — can enhance the connectivity of important brain circuits, combat declines in brain function associated with aging and increase performance on cognitive tasks.

I think it’s the word moderate in there that makes this a key bit. You don’t have to kill yourself or the little dudes with the game controllers permanently grafted to their hands to get a benefit from exercise.

The researchers measured participants’ brain connectivity and performance on cognitive tasks at the beginning of the study, at six months and after a year of either walking or toning and stretching.

At the end of the year, DMN connectivity was significantly improved in the brains of the older walkers, but not in the stretching and toning group, the researchers report.

The walkers also had increased connectivity in parts of another brain circuit (the fronto-executive network, which aids in the performance of complex tasks) and they did significantly better on cognitive tests than their toning and stretching peers.

And that’s the good news, especially considering walking isn’t all that hard. I’ve taken to walking Buzz, the dog that walks like a garbage disposal, on walks during the day. It gets out some of his energy and gives me some of my own. Also, apparently, it are making my brane theenk butter.

Or was that joke too obvious?

Previous studies have found that aerobic exercise can enhance the function of specific brain structures, (researchers) said. This study shows that even moderate aerobic exercise also improves the coordination of important brain networks.

Working together is apparently an important thing for brain bits to do. So good for us.

The even better news here is we’re talking about walking. And you can easily walk with your iPod or iPad or whatever. Which means you can actually watch TV or a movie or listen to music while you’re ambling along at your own pace. You might not knock off all those pounds this way, but you will be able to think better. And that’s better. I think.

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Boy does this movie live up to its name. The Expendables marks a return to the action movies of the 1980s, when men were men and had the muscles and one liners to prove it. And your entire enjoyment of the movie will depend heavily on just how much nostalgia you still have remaining for [...]]]> by Richard

Boy does this movie live up to its name. The Expendables marks a return to the action movies of the 1980s, when men were men and had the muscles and one liners to prove it. And your entire enjoyment of the movie will depend heavily on just how much nostalgia you still have remaining for that genre.

Me? Turns out not so much.

I went to see this one after I got dragged to the movie theater with the young dudes, who insisted that I — and they — needed to see it because it would be “awesome!” They included the exclamation mark.

Like any good James Bond movie, The Expendables opens in the middle of an action scene that sets the stage, shows us just how cool and dangerous these dudes are and sets up a future conflict (all magically resolved by the end of the movie). It also shows why this movie was rated R when a Somali pirate gets blow in half (literally) by an RPG.

Thinking back, I can’t even remember the characters’ names. I just know it starred fading and 60-ish action star Sylvester Stallone, suave English leading man and fighter Jason Statham, kung-fu master Jet Li and a bunch of other former fighters or action stars from the 1980s.

Two of those cameo-stars were Bruce Willis (John McClain from Die Hard) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (former Terminator and current governor of California) and they featured with Sly Stallone in one of the worst scenes in recent memory. The scene took place in a church and you could tell that neither of the three men were even in the same room at the same time. It was an embarrassingly bad cropped-together split-screen shot. Really, I just. . . Well, it was just plain bad.

The plot really isn’t important in this sort of movie. There was a noble damsel in distress, a dangerous Spanish-speaking bad guy and the worst bad guy, a rogue CIA agent trying to get into the drug business. Basically it was an excuse to blow up stuff real good and shoot a lot of extras.

Really that’s about it. If you like this sort of thing, then this is the sort of thing you’ll like. For those of us with taste and a few years on us, it’s a good excuse to go see something that won’t leave a scar on your brain and blood dribbling from your burst eardrums.

I give it 1 dude out of five because, really, it wasn’t Gymkata. And when that’s all you’ve got going for your movie, you know it’s bad.

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This week, we’re concentrating on becoming a healthy dude. We’re three tips in on ways to stick to your exercise plan and actually lose that weight you’ve been packing on for the last couple of whiles.

Tip No. 4: This might seem a bit ritzy, but it does work. Think about investing in a trainer. You [...]]]> by Richard

This week, we’re concentrating on becoming a healthy dude. We’re three tips in on ways to stick to your exercise plan and actually lose that weight you’ve been packing on for the last couple of whiles.

Tip No. 4: This might seem a bit ritzy, but it does work. Think about investing in a trainer. You wouldn’t want to do your company taxes if you’re not a trained accountant, so why would you think that those long-ago gym classes would qualify you to design your important exercise program? Sure we all know how to throw around the weight machines, but it’s deciding what to do and when that can really help maximize your exercise benefits. A trainer is a good idea, even if it’s just for a short while to help you get started. You might not even have to pay for the help. I know the Y(MCA) where I work out has a lot of great instructors who are always ready to help. Just ask around.

Tip No. 5: Music can influence your mood and your exercise as well. I’m pretty sure most of you dudes and dudettes out there have got an iPod or some sort of MP3 player so you can listen to your tunes. Spend the time to customize a good playlist for working out. Make sure you’ve got lots of up-tempo songs to keep your mind moving as hard as your body. You’ve also got to make sure the playlist is long enough that you’re not listening to the same songs every time you do the same exercises. That gets you into a rut and that can lead to you slowing down or stopping. That’s no good. I also like to load up some videos (movies I haven’t seen yet, that kind of thing) for when I’m on the elliptical machine. I find a good movie makes the time fly by.

Tip No. 6: Get those competitive juices flowing, even if you’re just competing against yourself. This one really works for me. Try to see how long you can go without missing a scheduled workout. Don’t let anything stop you. Unless it’s something you can’t avoid. Then, once your streak gets broken, start a new one and use that one to surpass your last streak. Make sure you have more workouts in a row than your buddy. That’s always good for a laugh.

Tip No. 7: Get high. Well, in a manner of speaking. Exercise can trigger the release of dopamine and other neurotransmitters that stimulate the pleasure centers of your brain. In other words, working out can make you feel good. Which, oddly enough, will make you want to come back and do more exercise. Strange how that works, yeah? I’ve found it also works even better if you’re doing something with a friend, maybe a little something competitive. Yeah, that’s the stuff.

Back with the last three tomorrow.

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