A Friendly Nudge - Addicted to Better
...because we all could use a little encouragement!
I just read the new study linking 90-120 minutes of resistance training to a reduction in all cause mortality, death from cardiovascular disease, and death from neurological diseases such as dementia. The reductions ranged from 13-27%, so not insignificant. One of the points made in the study was that more wasn’t necessarily better once you surpassed 119 minutes. When resistance training was paired with a few hours of moderately vigorous aerobics like walking, cycling, tennis or swimming the mortality reduction bumped up to 45%.
Even though I exceed 119 minutes by a significant margin, I’m not likely to reduce my resistance training. A decent chunk of mine comes from physical therapy and the balance is a couple of gym sessions and some mobility and exercise snack work at home. Since my achilles and meniscus are feeling immensely better I’ll be adding more walking, hiking and some stationary biking to my routine.
Resistance training is having a moment. It seems like almost weekly there’s another study or report about the beneficial aspects of resistance training so it’s not surprising that it improves lifespan. For me, the most encouraging thing I saw in the study was the diseases that resistance training impacted the most were neurological diseases like dementia.
But my motivation for exercise isn’t some theoretical benefit that I might experience years from now. It’s how it makes me feel today and next week that keeps me motivated. I have more energy and fewer aches and pains and I sleep better. I love the increased strength and resiliency that I get but one of the biggest upsides for me is the cognitive and emotional boost that it delivers. There’s a sense of well being and a type of relaxation that I feel when I’m walking to the car after a tough session at the gym or PT. The science points to the increased production of endorphins and endocannabinoids and the gradual reduction of the density of stress receptors in the hippocampus. I just know that the world feels a little calmer and my odds of navigating it successfully improve afterwards.
What changes have you noticed the most about how you feel since you’ve been exercising? Do you experience it after most sessions or does it take a certain exertion or intensity level before it happens?
James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, talks about exercise being a keystone habit, or an activity that can usher in other healthy habits like eating better. Researchers out of Portugal in a paper published in 2023 theorize that this linkage might stem from the greater sense of self-determination that we gain from regular exercise. It would be a shame to let those good intentions go to waste because you don’t see yourself as someone who can cook. That’s why I’m always imploring you to play with your food and trying to include a variety of dishes and approaches that hopefully make preparing your own meals a little more intuitive.
So let’s reward ourselves for all of our discipline and effort with something tasty.
Pan Seared Pork Tenderloin and Pan Sauce
Pork tenderloin is an affordable, lean protein that I used to avoid because I routinely over cooked it and was left with something that was about as appealing as shoe leather. After reading KenjiLopez-Alt’s The Food Lab I shoot for a temperature in the 130-135℉ medium rare to barely medium range. The 2 minute turn method is a great way of developing a solid sear, a tenderloin cooked to your desired level of doneness and a delicious pan sauce.
Ingredients:
1-2 lb Pork Tenderloin, trimmed of any excess fat or silver skin
¾ cup dry white wine
¾ cup chicken stock
1shallot diced
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp powdered gelatin
1-2 tsp dry or fresh herbs of your choice
1 glug soy sauce
1 glug sherry vinegar
Olive oil to pat down the pork tenderloin and 1 tbsp to add to the pan to saute the shallots and bloom the herbs if you’re using dried herbs
Salt to taste
Put the white wine and chicken stock in a glass measuring cup or something that you can pour from and stir in the gelatin. This will help thicken the pan sauce.
Rub a small amount of olive oil on tenderloin and sprinkle with salt.
Put the tenderloin in a cold stainless or cast iron skillet, turn the burner up to high and set a timer or running stop watch. Turn the tenderloin every 2 minutes and after you’ve browned both sides and each edge of the tenderloin, lower the heat to medium and flip the tenderloin every 2 minutes until you reach your target temp. I pulled the tenderloin at 130℉.
Place the tenderloin on a plate and tent with foil.
Add a small amount of olive oil to the skillet and add the diced shallots and if you’re using dried herbs, add those. Stir and begin loosening the fond to incorporate it into the sauce.
After 30-40 seconds, add the chicken stock, white wine, gelatin mixture and continue to scrape the bottom of the skillet to make sure you don’t waste any of that delicious fond.
Turn the heat to medium high to reduce the stock by ½ and as it gets thicker your spoon or spatula will leave a trail in the sauce.
Add the butter and stir to combine and then add a small glug of soy sauce and then add a similar glug of sherry vinegar and taste the sauce to determine if it needs any additional acidity or salt.
We served this with air fryer okra and white rice.
Enjoy!
Now let’s give you some exercise options for the week.
With exercise our goal is to have an exertion level that’s strenuous enough to challenge us while allowing us to maintain proper form and to leave 2 reps in reserve. A good indication of this is when your reps start to slow down. That’s usually a signal that your set is at or near its end. So if the rep range is 8-12 but you’re starting to shake and slow down at 5, then your set is 5 instead of 8. Our goal is consistency and injury or feeling wrecked the next day is the enemy of consistency.
You can do these exercises individually as snacks or as a circuit. Skip any that you don’t feel ready for and if you’re doing any of these as exercise snacks, do an easy set as a warm up or one of the warm up exercises first.