$1000 a mile - you in?

            “My body will never breakdown, I will walk forever.”

-       Overconfident male

During my childhood we had many family dinners where arguments soon took over the conversation. My family consists of three different parties – the overconfident brothers, the constant disagreeing females, and the joke cracking father. No matter the argument, these three sides always formed. Eventually, the brothers would turn on each other and they would begin to argue between themselves. Essentially, a nice, calm family turned into ravaging wolves just waiting for the other person to say something wrong.

            Usually our arguments involved money and some sort of crazy action. One of the favorite arguments featured a feat of stamina and getting paid for the duration of time you could make it. Stamina is a funny thing – many people have it and they don’t even know it. So much of stamina is actually mind over the body, which is often referred to as “will power.” Which brings us to our debate….

            How far could you walk if you were paid $1,000 for every mile?

            Now, before we really dive into this argument, we need to set some parameters. First, once you stop moving you are done with the challenge. Secondly, after you continue to walk you are paid for every mile completed – if your last mile you don’t make it, you don’t get paid. Essentially, you are beginning to walk as long as possible and once you stop – you are given a briefcase of cash that matches the number of whole miles completed.

            It is incredibly important to have a strategic plan to go as far and as long as you possibly could. The first phase of the argument – how far would you want to go? Many people when asked this question would have a specific goal in mind. They would walk 20 miles and be done, enough to buy a car they had been checking out. Some might only walk five miles and take their $5,000 and be happy with it. These people are missing out.

            According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the average American that works in a professional, management and related occupations earn $63,000 annually. That number can be broken down to $1,211 a week and $30 and hour. Essentially, if you were to go to college and earn a degree and then immediately find a job – on average you will be earning $30 an hour. Yes, this value can change from occupation to occupation or from city to city. For the most part, the average American citizen makes $30 an hour and would love to have a pay raise.

            During this “walk-a-thon” you are given a chance to drastically increase your hourly wage. The average “fitness walking pace” is one mile for 15 minutes. That is four miles in one hour and roughly $4,000 an hour. One does not simply walk away from a chance to earn that amount of money, that quickly (pun intended).

            To answer the first question: How far would you want to walk? As far as humanly possible. I would never want to put an end point on an opportunity like this. If ever presented, highly unlikely, I would continue to walk until my legs fell off. Which brings up the second question: How far could someone physically walk without stopping?

            The physicality of a challenge like this is extremely difficult to pinpoint. Many females love to spend an entire Saturday completing a mission to “shop until you drop.” However, do they ever actually reach their physical limit of shopping? If not, what is that physical limit? When will the human body breakdown?

            There are multiple physical aspects when examining the human body and its ability to walk and exercise. When exercising the body needs sugar for energy required to contract muscles and movement. When we eat sugar, or glycogen, or body stores it and that can create our fatty tissues. However, if monitored and used properly – the sugar intake can increase our energy and ability to exercise. Marshawn Lynch is an NFL running back – and a bruising back to say the least. Lynch is known for his punishing runs and eagerness to run into the person, rather than avoiding, trying to tackle him. He also known for his sideline antics and sideline snack….. skittles. Lynch can be seen snacking on skittles during the course of an NFL game. This energy intake helps propel him through the course of the game.

            The body also uses adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Essentially, ATP has three parts: a nitrogenous base, a sugar ribose, and a triphosphate. The downfall of the human body is in the biochemical ability to only hold so much of each ATP and sugar. So what happens when the body runs out? Where do we find the energy to keep going?

            In order to create more ATP the body requires oxygen. As we continue to work out we are also trying to force as much O₂ into our system to help create the needed ATP. Have you ever watched an NFL game and the players come to the sideline and put on an oxygen mask? These players are trying to meet their bodies needs of oxygen in order to create more ATP for the muscles. When your body can no longer create ATP – or the oxygen intake can not keep up with the workout – lactic acid begins to build in the muscle. The lactic acid is our body’s way of forcing us to stop and go through a recovery process.

            When exercising, your muscles need a time to repair and recover. If never given that proper amount of time – your muscles may never fully repair. During the workout, you are attempting to break down the muscle. This muscle will then repair itself stronger and bigger. Essentially, it is similar to if you break a bone in your body. Once you break that bone your body sends all kinds of nutrients and calcium to make that specific location stronger. Can you still break that bone in the same place? Sure, but you would be hard-pressed to break that bone with the exact similar amount of force on the bone. Likewise, can you still breakdown your muscle? Sure, but it would take a much greater force (or heavier weight) to break down that muscle.

            So the real question is more related to someone’s ability to hold off the lactic acid as long as possible, right? To a point – what if you never allow body to reach that point? Many people believe that your body has the ability to go as far, and as long, as you are mentally able to take it.

            Tim Noakes, a sports psychologist from the University of Cape Town, is known for his studies in the sports science world. Once he carried out a study that that force a rule change in the game of Rugby. He also contested that the required amount of fluid intake during a marathon was too much. He concluded that marathons runners were getting fatigued and collapsing from too much fluid intake, not dehydration. Naturally, this theory was refuted and brushed off. However, in the 2002 Boston Marathon 13% of the runners were found to have suffered from water intoxication, which one runner died as a result. Naturally, Noakes’ study was taken a little more seriously after the race.

            Noakes also believes that the human body is only limited by what the brain allows us to do. His theory was that when we are tired or fatigued, it is not because we have used all of our energy – rather we have used all the energy that our brain allows us to sue. His study involved testing many different athletes and their muscles fibers. He found that when his athletes said they were too fatigued to continue – they actually still had many unused muscle fibers.

            First, Noakes tested the oxygen intake. Noakes tested the basic theory in which our muscles run out of oxygen and that is why we are fatigued. However, in his studies Noakes was unable to find any athletes that were running out of oxygen. Sure, it may be harder for their bodies to generate the oxygen – which is why you see athletes taking deep breathes. However, Noakes could not find athletes that were completely depleted of oxygen.

            Next, Noakes studied the muscle fibers. He had cyclists ride exercise bikes with wires attached to their muscles. He was going to measure the use of each muscle fiber. He found that when the athletes said they were too fatigued to continue – nearly 50 percent of their muscle fiber was still available to be used.

            Essentially, Tim Noakes and his colleagues had convinced themselves that muscle fatigue is actually generated by the brain and not the muscle itself. Every has probably experienced the feeling of working out and being so fatigued that you just couldn’t run another mile. Yet, you are able to walk to the car and move around your home. What if at the very moment you walk out the gym and pack of rabid dogs start to attack you? Would your muscles be fatigued to the point at which you could no longer protect yourself?

            Our brain is designed in a way to always make sure we have enough muscle fibers left to be able to function throughout the day. Our brain begins to shut down different parts of the body well before they are actually depleted. This is for our own safety and functionality. What would the world be like if our brain never placed a safeguard on our body? We would have people passing out all over the street.

            So, when you are discussing how far could you walk for $1,000 a mile – you are essentially asking yourself, how long will your brain allow your body to go, before its safeguard kicks in? Many people may argue that they work out five days a week and are in great shape, but does that really matter if they are mentally unable to push their body to their limit? For argument’s sake, let’s say they can push their body to the limit.

            If you break down the challenge into sheer numbers, you may have a better idea of the payday you are able to receive. The average fitness walking pace is a mile every 15 minutes. The pace will gradually get slower as the person continues to walk throughout the day. It is a safe assumption that the person can finish at a 20-minute mile pace, which means they will be able to walk 3 miles in an hour. If that same person is able to walk for 20 hours straight – they would earn $60,000. If they are able to push themselves one more hour they are able to make the same amount of money that the average professional American makes in one year.

            Essentially, if you can turn your brain off and push your body to the limit for one entire day, you could stop working for an entire year. The question is: Can you turn your brain off and push yourself to your utter limit in order to have the biggest payday of your life?