"The Legs Feed the Wolf"- Herbie

Herb Brooks is a modern messiah of sorts to anyone who plays hockey.

For those not in the know, Herbie was the coach of the 1980 Olympic Hockey team:

Yeah, that team…..

Herb was the mastermind…

Well, Herb was known to be a little eccentric. one of the things he is most remembered for was his sayings, known to his players as “Brooksisms”.

Players kept a notebook of “Brooksisms,” sayings the coach used for motivation, such as: “You’re playing worse and worse every day and right now you’re playing like it’s next month.”– AP

One of the most memorable “Brooksisms”:

“Red line, back. Blue line, back. Far blue line, back. Far red line, back. And you have 45 seconds to do it. Get used to this drill. You’ll be doing it *a lot*. Why?

Because the legs feed the wolf,

gentlemen. I can’t promise you we’ll be the best team at Lake Placid next February. But we will be the best conditioned. That I can promise you.”- Herb Brooks Foundation

Obviously, legs and hips are important in elite level sports, or any level sports for that matter. But Herb’s advice should be a guide for everyone to follow. It appears that strong legs KEEP YOU ALIVE!

Targeting Leg Fatigue in Heart Failure-

“leg muscle dysfunction is related to the severity of symptoms in heart failure patients. These findings suggest that daily activity in patients with severe heart failure may not simply be limited by the failing heart, but also by an impairment in the leg muscles themselves.”

actually the article is about warmups….they seem to increase the tolerance to exercise, which is usually limited by the fatigue of the legs.

That said, I don’t think it’s a jump to conclude that a stronger lower body before heart failure would lessen this fatigue of exercise after heart failure.

Pluuuuusssssssss, if the legs are becoming fatigued early on when resuming an exercise program following treatment for heart failure that kinda, sorta tells me there is something going on there.

Like, they might be important for total body function?

Me thinks, yes….

Ohh, and a word about warmups, my younger self would punch me of today in the balls for this but….