Art DeVany did a follow up post commenting on my interview with Dr. Ilardi. While he emphatically endorsed Dr. Ilardi’s approach to treating depression, he did make a point to emphasize the following:
He [Dr. Ilardi] does undervalue, in my opinion, the virtues of muscle mass and physiologic capacity (metabolic headroom), though I do think he would include them if he thought depressed individuals were capable of that level of effort. He extols the value of exercise but does not seem to see the aerobic component of intermittent training. Were it pointed out to him, I feel that he would be even more open to the right kind of strength training the EF way.
I agree. All too often strength training is either marginalized or outright eliminated by fitness “experts” who are still stuck in the cardio-aerobics mindset. And the bottom line is that short burst, intermittent, and high intensity activities of the larger muscle groups are much more closely correlated to the types of activities that we as a species were likely to engage in over the past 100,000+ years.
So get in a Power Law workout (45-minute max) and get outside in the elements!