problem-solving ability and improved mood. Research arrives every few months, it seems, offering additional proof of this basic truth, but itâs hardly new. Friedrich Nietzsche and Henry David Thoreau, two giants of 19 th century thought, were not only both ardent advocates of hours-long vigorous walks every day, both believed that walking improved their thinking. As Nietzsche put it: âSit as little as possible; do not believe any idea that was not born in the open air and of free movement â in which the muscles do not also revel.â
Basic health depends on being active â but that doesnât have to mean knocking yourself out with high-intensity workouts. In fact, a 2014 study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Life Science Division, found that walking briskly was as effective as running in lowering your chances of having high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes.âThe findings donât surprise me at all,â Russell Pate, Ph.D., a professor of exercise science in the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, told the American Heart Association. âThe findings are consistent with the American Heart Associationâs recommendations for physical activity in adults that we need thirty minutes of physical activity per day, at least 150 minutes of moderate activity per week or seventy-five minutes of vigorous activity per week to derive benefits.â
Bochy found out for himself early in 2015 what a difference regular walking could make for his basic health. During his yearly physical examination at Giants spring-training camp in Scottsdale, Arizona, in February, irregularities with his heartbeat were detected. Team physician Robert Murray and trainer Dave Groeschner encouraged him to head over to the Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center the following day â and, as he joked later, the next thing he knew, heâs having two stents placed near his heart to improve blood flow. Within days Bochy was back on the field managing the Giants, feeling better than he had in many months. He told the doctors about his penchant for regular long walks. They said without them he might not still be alive.
âThere were two blockages, a little over 90 percent on two blockages,â Bochy told me. âOnce they put the two stents in, I felt so much better. I felt like I could walk up Camelback Mountain in Scottsdale.â
One purpose of this book is to help people get to know Bruce Bochy a little better; heâs become a beloved figure in the Bay Area and with good reason. But mostly Bochy is a vehicle: Heâs doing this book because he believes itâs important for people to stay active, not just to get in their exercise but to have fun with it and to make the most of that exercise as an outlet that helps clear the mind and leads to a more balanced, relaxed approach to life. Of course thatâs not always easy to maintain! But itâs worth taking the steps â you knew that one was coming â to give yourself a shot at feeling better and living better.
Bochy is donating the proceeds of this book to sponsor programs for young people at the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods near Santa Cruz, California, publishers of the book: specifically, our âFind Your Voiceâ weekend workshop for aspiring writers eighteen to twenty-one, and a weeklong Bruce Bochy Fellowship for young people looking to make a career out of writing about sports. For details on either, please visit the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods website at www.wellstoneredwoods.org or write [email protected] .
âSteve Kettmann
CHAPTER 1
TAKING MY DOG FOR A WALK
I still miss my black lab Jessie. We got her when she was a puppy, just six weeks old. We were living down near San Diego when I was managing the Padres and Elizabeth McNamara, a girl in the neighborhood, knew I wanted a lab puppy. I had two boys and I wanted them to grow up
Basic health depends on being active â but that doesnât have to mean knocking yourself out with high-intensity workouts. In fact, a 2014 study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Life Science Division, found that walking briskly was as effective as running in lowering your chances of having high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes.âThe findings donât surprise me at all,â Russell Pate, Ph.D., a professor of exercise science in the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, told the American Heart Association. âThe findings are consistent with the American Heart Associationâs recommendations for physical activity in adults that we need thirty minutes of physical activity per day, at least 150 minutes of moderate activity per week or seventy-five minutes of vigorous activity per week to derive benefits.â
Bochy found out for himself early in 2015 what a difference regular walking could make for his basic health. During his yearly physical examination at Giants spring-training camp in Scottsdale, Arizona, in February, irregularities with his heartbeat were detected. Team physician Robert Murray and trainer Dave Groeschner encouraged him to head over to the Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center the following day â and, as he joked later, the next thing he knew, heâs having two stents placed near his heart to improve blood flow. Within days Bochy was back on the field managing the Giants, feeling better than he had in many months. He told the doctors about his penchant for regular long walks. They said without them he might not still be alive.
âThere were two blockages, a little over 90 percent on two blockages,â Bochy told me. âOnce they put the two stents in, I felt so much better. I felt like I could walk up Camelback Mountain in Scottsdale.â
One purpose of this book is to help people get to know Bruce Bochy a little better; heâs become a beloved figure in the Bay Area and with good reason. But mostly Bochy is a vehicle: Heâs doing this book because he believes itâs important for people to stay active, not just to get in their exercise but to have fun with it and to make the most of that exercise as an outlet that helps clear the mind and leads to a more balanced, relaxed approach to life. Of course thatâs not always easy to maintain! But itâs worth taking the steps â you knew that one was coming â to give yourself a shot at feeling better and living better.
Bochy is donating the proceeds of this book to sponsor programs for young people at the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods near Santa Cruz, California, publishers of the book: specifically, our âFind Your Voiceâ weekend workshop for aspiring writers eighteen to twenty-one, and a weeklong Bruce Bochy Fellowship for young people looking to make a career out of writing about sports. For details on either, please visit the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods website at www.wellstoneredwoods.org or write [email protected] .
âSteve Kettmann
CHAPTER 1
TAKING MY DOG FOR A WALK
I still miss my black lab Jessie. We got her when she was a puppy, just six weeks old. We were living down near San Diego when I was managing the Padres and Elizabeth McNamara, a girl in the neighborhood, knew I wanted a lab puppy. I had two boys and I wanted them to grow up
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