#016 | Alfresco libations, the importance of muscle strength, Dutch cycling infrastructure, & the biggest pool in the U.S.
"Being strong keeps you doing the activities you love..." - like maybe cycling Netherlands or drinking wine with friends?
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Maximal Strength Training:
In the last Substack (linked above) I talked about the importance of muscle mass and why you should make sure your workouts include exercises that increase it. Here I’m going to talk about the importance of muscle strength.
It seems strange at first, but muscle size and maximal strength are not the same thing, even if they are often conflated. It’s true that bigger muscles tend to be stronger, but there is a lot more than just muscle size that dictates someone's strength. This is why powerlifters tend to be smaller than bodybuilders, but stronger when it comes to squatting, deadlifting, and benching. This difference in strength is likely due to neuromuscular drive (aka motor unit recruitment), connective tissue development, movement efficiency, and maybe some other factors. For our purposes, the important thing to keep in mind is that muscle strength and muscle mass are two different things and they are trained for in two different ways.
So why is muscle strength important? Most of us reading this don’t want to be powerlifters. Most of us don’t go around asking: “So, what do you bench?” Well, it turns out that being strong is helpful for more than just lifting weights in the gym. It improves physical capacity, quality of life, bone density, cognition, and resilience to injury - all things that help you live a long and fulfilling life. Let’s dig in.
Physical Capacity
If you’re strong, you’re more capable. You’re able to carry your groceries, put your luggage in the overhead bins, or pick up your 110 lbs English Mastiff and carry her to the car after she tore her Cranial Cruciate Ligament (speaking from experience). In all these situations you want to feel capable of handling what life throws at you.
Quality of Life
Doing the things you love as much as possible and for as many years as possible seems like an obvious thing to work towards. Being strong keeps you doing the activities you love and helps you perform better while doing these activities. You’re more able to enjoy your backpacking trip if you don’t feel like an exhausted wreck after carrying a 30 lbs backpack 10 miles, then setting up a tent and cooking dinner. Being able to enjoy these activities makes life that much more worth living and provides more of the experiences that make up a rich and fulfilling life.
Bone Density
As I mentioned before here, lifting heavy weights puts strain on bone and forces it to remineralize. This makes your bones stronger and less likely to break. This is very important because hip fractures are a big problem in older populations with some studies stating that 33% of sufferers die within a year of breaking their hips.1 Women are particularly susceptible to hip fractures because of the bone mineral loss due to menopause. The best way to prevent this is to start lifting heavy weights as early and often as possible. This will prevent bone loss and keep you from spending your last years in a hospital bed.
Cognition
We’ve talked about the connection between muscle mass and cognitive health before, but as we pointed out above, we’re talking about muscle strength here. It turns out that muscle strength is also correlated with positive cognitive health outcomes, in fact “cross-sectional studies have consistently demonstrated an association between muscle strength and cognitive function.”2 Those individuals who perform better on strength tests (hand grip dynamometer, isokinetic dynamometer, etc) also perform better on cognitive tests. Meaning if you’re stronger, you’ll perform better mentally and this has been tested not only in senior populations, but middle aged folks as well (40+). Again, another case for starting early and often to get the most out of life.
Resilience to Injury
Lower extremity strength has been associated with reduced risk of falls.3 This seems pretty obvious, but the stronger your legs are, the less likely you are to take a fall or if you do fall, the less likely you are to injure yourself. This might mean the difference between being laid up for 4 months due to injury and being able to go on a hike every weekend to decompress from a stressful work week. Injuries can have longterm effects and a broken ankle could mean never fully recovering and getting back out on the trails.
Takeaway
For most of us, it really boils down to being strong in order to get the most out of life. We want to do the activities we enjoy, help the people we care about, and feel capable and confident in how we move through life. In my mind, this is a noble pursuit and is the reason why focusing on developing maximal strength should be an integral part of any well rounded workout routine.
Recently I’ve been obsessed with cycling infrastructure in the Netherlands. I’ve ridden bikes since I was a kid and in adulthood have done some longer rides, the longest of which was a ride from San Francisco to San Diego. This is a standout memory for me, but I do remember some parts where we were dangerously close to car traffic - not super enjoyable. In the Netherlands, you wouldn't have to worry about this. The bike paths there are incredible and are maintained better than a lot of the car freeways in the US. I’m looking forward to visiting sometime in the future and cycling through the country. It’s also super flat, so it's pretty enjoyable to get around by bike - aside from the rain I guess.
📣 🌐 SPEAKING OF WHEREVER… 🌐 📣
This newsletter was created as an extension of the world building we are doing around a brand and product we developed to help you stay strong while on the road and around the globe.
What is WORKOUT WHEREVER BY MAZAMA WELLNESS?
• portable exercise equipment that fits in your carry-on or on the shelf - we call it The Equipment Cube™
• on-demand workout videos - designed to pair with your equipment
• a (this) casual newsletter providing you with tips and inspiration re: travel, fitness, nutrition, quality of life, and relevant memes.
DROPS THIS SUMMER!
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San Francisco used to have the biggest swimming pool in the United States. It opened in 1925 and was 1,000 by 150 feet. It was so big that the lifeguards had to patrol the pool by rowboat. And if you’re wondering what person in their right mind would go swimming in an outdoor pool in the cold, foggy Sunset neighborhood of SF - it was heated. The intake of seawater was heated to between 65° and 75° Fahrenheit, which I’m sure is better than the ocean temperature, but is still pretty frigid, which was probably what led to its decline in popularity and closure in 1971.
Still, a pretty cool idea and it’s unfortunate that it doesn’t still exist because wetsuit swimming or rowing would be pretty fun activities to do in such a wide open space. If you read the last Substack, you’ll remember that the Sutro baths were just a bit north of the Fleishhacker Pool and were also very popular in the early part of the 20th Century. I guess maybe people were just built differently back then because they seemed to enjoy that frigid ocean water much more than folks these days.
Summer, Summer, SummerWine
Happy Summer! Tis the season for alfresco natural wine imbibing.
Here is a list of places I’d crowd a sidewalk with chatty strangers while sipping a chilled red the color of a smashed overripe raspberry.
Some locations, I’ve already done just that and some I endeavor to do so in the future.
We’re not sitting. We’re standing. Outside. On the sidewalk – maybe a pinch in the road. Convivial. Clinking. A few decibels shy of shouting. a la Action Bronson and crew in Paris–F*ck, That’s Delicious vibes. All these locations lend to this behavior. Enjoy.
You heard it through the grapevine…
- In no particular order -
(Instagram @ordinaire_oakland)
Dustin contemplating our next bottle at Ordinaire Natural wine + ice cream pairings!
✅ Ruby Wine - San Francisco, CA
Loud-but good-music, sidewalk dance floor, small bites from the shop next door, by the glass is available but really it’s bottle or bust.
WANTED : Last seen at Ruby Wine - I will pay the bounty if you ever see this wine again. // MEHR FRAUEN? JA BITTE 2020 It looks like a wine bar opened next door since our last visit - let’s add it to the list for funzies.
This is essentially standing (or milk crate on the sidewalk) room only with the tram whizzing by near a corridor of streets that feel like a secret and a thoroughfare at the same time.
Never will you feel so welcomed into a wine bar when you have no idea what you are looking for than at Black Sheep. The owners are storytellers who really seem to enjoy putting you on to new producers. It used to be a small wine bar with about 4 seats and 50+ people crowding the door, or spilling over into the nearby Praça (garden/park) but they recently opened an expansion next door. I suspect the culture of wandering with your wine glass still exists.
Vino Memento : Place’s we’ve been that cease to be
Circoletto - Roma, IT
We’ve never been so seduced/charmed by a bar/restaurant and it’s employees (shout out to Matteo and team). Truly heartbroken to hear it closed, but check out Fratelli Trecca which seems to have opened in its place if you are in Rome.
Awe. Dustin looking lovingly at Natasha as she snaps his photo an hour after landing in Rome. 
Comida Independente - Lisboa, PT
While living in Lisbon, we frequented this spot for wine, cheese, oysters, and jars of locally produced kraut. It looks like maybe they are just taking a pause rather than closing for good.
🥂 🇮🇹 Salute, 🇵🇹 Saúde, 🇫🇷 Tchin Tchin or Santé, 🇺🇸 Cheers !
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Schnell S, Friedman SM, Mendelson DA, Bingham KW, Kates SL. The 1-year mortality of patients treated in a hip fracture program for elders. Geriatr Orthop Surg Rehabil. 2010;1(1):6-14. doi:10.1177/2151458510378105
Sui SX, Williams LJ, Holloway-Kew KL, Hyde NK, Pasco JA. Skeletal Muscle Health and Cognitive Function: A Narrative Review. Int J Mol Sci. 2020;22(1):255. Published 2020 Dec 29. doi:10.3390/ijms22010255
Sadaqa M, Németh Z, Makai A, Prémusz V, Hock M. Effectiveness of exercise interventions on fall prevention in ambulatory community-dwelling older adults: a systematic review with narrative synthesis. Front Public Health. 2023;11:1209319. Published 2023 Aug 3. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1209319
This made me want to visit Netherlands