I'm not sure if it was June Cleaver of Leave it to Beaver or Margaret Anderson of Father Knows Best. All I know is that these 1950's sitcom moms impressed me with their housekeeping skills. Not only were their homes clutter-free, but these gals vacuumed in crisply ironed dresses and high heels! Total reality back then. Not.
Fortunately, my mom didn't set that kind of example. I would have terrible conflict now with my own housekeeping habits, and probably with my female identity, had my mother been June or Margaret in the flesh. Instead, my mom who is now eighty-seven, is a realist. "Life has its challenges," she'd say, "but you just pick yourself up by the bootstraps and go on."
I remember when my mom announced that she was not ever going to call herself a senior citizen. "People look at you differently, and I don't feel any different!" She was emphatic. "I don't care if I don't get the discounts!"
Her words that day have always stayed with me. People's perception of what is old divides the young and the more mature populations. It's as if an invisible line divides the two, and the younger folks (including those older ones in denial) will not cross that line without a fight. Baby boomers - that's me, too - are the toughest fighters.
So what are we afraid of? Why is crossing that threshold so scary? In talking to other boomers like myself, I hear that "old" equates to loss - loss of a youth and all of its possibility, loss of a professional identity, loss of time. But most significant of all is the fear of losing one's independence - not being able to do what you want to do because your health and/or mobility have become impaired.
I can hear some of you murmuring back to me, "Old is as old does," or "Old is a state of mind." I would be the first to agree that attitude is paramount, especially as it applies to being proactive with exercise and lifestyle choices. But the reality is that some health conditions may be out of our control. The wisdom of knowing what you can do about what you CAN control is the difference between feeling fear or fearlessness as we age.
My mother, orphaned at age eight during the Depression, is a survivor because life-imperfect was better than no life at all. "Take a walk when life gets you down," she used to say. "Be glad you can walk. Now walk! You'll feel better." And that is what I did.
I am still walking because I know I can. My clients are moving their bodies because they know they can. If fear of potential losses in older age grips you at times, then refocus on what you CAN do now. Chances are you can keep those assets if you commit to strengthening them, mobilizing them, and taking ownership of them. You have an investment in YOU.
Reality isn't the 1950's sitcoms (though I did love watching them) or any other airbrushed image of what life is supposed to be like. Aging is a reality, but fear doesn't have to be the pre-requisite. Assess your strengths and limitations, focus on what you can do to stay healthy, and for goodness sakes, get up and walk!
THE WALKING PRESCRIPTION:
...One step at a time, one foot in front of the other, shoulder blades back, tummy in and looking forward...
FREQUENCY - whenever possible (aim for a minimum of three times a week)
DURATION - as long as your body lets you (20 - 30 minutes is ideal)
INTENSITY - be sure to keep breathing (you should be able to hold a conversation, albeit labored)
Sunday
STAYING CONNECTED
Remember the old song that goes, "The hip bone's connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone's connected to the ..."? I forget the rest of the lyrics, but I do remember ad-libbing every body part name and connecting it to another as I belted out that familiar tune. Little did I know I'd be speaking those same words to clients decades later while training them.
Aside from memory becoming an issue in the boomer and beyond generations (I really don't remember that song's theme), the connections - or connective tissue - between body parts begins to protest during these later years. Our bodies cannot function without these fibrous attachments, much like a door can't swing open and closed without its hinges. What's more, we can't see this tissue - we can only feel its protest when it starts to complain during a physical movement. In fact, overstressed connective tissue probably causes more of our exercise "ouches" than overworked muscles.
These connections between body parts are made up of a tough, fibrous, elastic substance called collagen. It is strong, yet flexible. They are called ligaments and tendons, and they are the movers and shakers of corporate collagen. Ligaments, for example, connect bone to bone at a joint. They allow for flexibility and movement, yet provide stability. The movement, depending upon the specific joint, can be in multiple directions. But each joint has its limit. If movement exceeds your individual limit, damage to the connective tissue will result. Ligaments, when torn, are lousy at self-repair. Without surgery, they can remain loose and thus affect stability and balance.
While ligaments connect bones at a joint, muscles are needed to power a movement. The muscles are connected to the bones by tendons. These guys are tough, too, and even less flexible in nature. Tendon tissue weaves around and between the muscle fibers giving strength and stability to the muscle. Blood supply to this tissue is limited, so healing and repair after injury is slow at best.
Both ligaments and tendons respond to strength training by becoming thicker, which helps them withstand the contractile forces created by the stronger strength-trained muscle. As we age, however, the collagen within them becomes more rigid. Water loss in the tissue reduces flexibility and thus increases wear and tear and vulnerability to injury.
Thankfully, just as bone renews itself, connective tissue cells also turn over, and this process is enhanced with strength training. Too much of a good thing - like excessive load or too much too soon - can trigger a breakdown. Gradual progression in exercise resistance is key in avoiding injury to the tissue. No sudden changes. Exercise programs must also emphasize all muscle groups to create a balance in strength. Imbalances in muscle strength set the groundwork for certain muscles becoming overused, and this can lead to damaged connective tissue.
My clients don't have to endure my singing a song about one body part being connected to another, but the lyrics can be found in my instruction. Connections - the ligaments and tendons - are the gatekeepers of strength training. A conservative approach - lighter weight and more repetitions - to start with can let the connective tissue adapt to the load being placed upon it. If the tissues don't talk back to us, then we know it's okay to progress in gradual increments.
Listening to your body's messages is almost an art. We are often poor listeners or ignore those messages when we want results quickly. But not listening will eventually derail your progress because damage will force you to stop your exercise program. And starting over from square one is never fun. So take it slow, know your fitness level, and stay connected.
Aside from memory becoming an issue in the boomer and beyond generations (I really don't remember that song's theme), the connections - or connective tissue - between body parts begins to protest during these later years. Our bodies cannot function without these fibrous attachments, much like a door can't swing open and closed without its hinges. What's more, we can't see this tissue - we can only feel its protest when it starts to complain during a physical movement. In fact, overstressed connective tissue probably causes more of our exercise "ouches" than overworked muscles.
These connections between body parts are made up of a tough, fibrous, elastic substance called collagen. It is strong, yet flexible. They are called ligaments and tendons, and they are the movers and shakers of corporate collagen. Ligaments, for example, connect bone to bone at a joint. They allow for flexibility and movement, yet provide stability. The movement, depending upon the specific joint, can be in multiple directions. But each joint has its limit. If movement exceeds your individual limit, damage to the connective tissue will result. Ligaments, when torn, are lousy at self-repair. Without surgery, they can remain loose and thus affect stability and balance.
While ligaments connect bones at a joint, muscles are needed to power a movement. The muscles are connected to the bones by tendons. These guys are tough, too, and even less flexible in nature. Tendon tissue weaves around and between the muscle fibers giving strength and stability to the muscle. Blood supply to this tissue is limited, so healing and repair after injury is slow at best.
Both ligaments and tendons respond to strength training by becoming thicker, which helps them withstand the contractile forces created by the stronger strength-trained muscle. As we age, however, the collagen within them becomes more rigid. Water loss in the tissue reduces flexibility and thus increases wear and tear and vulnerability to injury.
Thankfully, just as bone renews itself, connective tissue cells also turn over, and this process is enhanced with strength training. Too much of a good thing - like excessive load or too much too soon - can trigger a breakdown. Gradual progression in exercise resistance is key in avoiding injury to the tissue. No sudden changes. Exercise programs must also emphasize all muscle groups to create a balance in strength. Imbalances in muscle strength set the groundwork for certain muscles becoming overused, and this can lead to damaged connective tissue.
My clients don't have to endure my singing a song about one body part being connected to another, but the lyrics can be found in my instruction. Connections - the ligaments and tendons - are the gatekeepers of strength training. A conservative approach - lighter weight and more repetitions - to start with can let the connective tissue adapt to the load being placed upon it. If the tissues don't talk back to us, then we know it's okay to progress in gradual increments.
Listening to your body's messages is almost an art. We are often poor listeners or ignore those messages when we want results quickly. But not listening will eventually derail your progress because damage will force you to stop your exercise program. And starting over from square one is never fun. So take it slow, know your fitness level, and stay connected.
BOOMERS LOSING BALANCE
Cobblestones. LARGE cobblestones. These rounded mounds, like small islands floating in concrete, paved the Savannah, GA riverfront. My husband, son and I navigated this historic city's sidewalks this past week. We wore our sneakers and walked and walked ... and walked. During an evening ghost tour, we couldn't decide which was scarier - the ghosts of the yellow fever victims who were buried alive in 1820, or the equally old walkways beneath our feet.
Well, a balancing act it became. Our son would claim we never did find our footing as our feet repeatedly rolled to the sides of cobblestones. He laughed several times when our sneakered toes caught the elevated edges of the cement sidewalk panels. No one laughed, though, when my husband looked up at an ornate cast iron balcony and then stumbled off the deeply depressed curb side. In seconds, his 6'2" frame draped across the feet of a couple licking their ice cream cones. Some minor ankle soreness and a broken camera were the only casualties, thank goodness. It could have been so much worse.
You see, my husband and I are baby boomers. Both in our fifties, we have decades of old sports injuries and plenty of normal wear and tear. We also don't look where we are going. My husband's knees and ankles, despite regular exercise, have the stability of the Georgia taffy we watched droop and twist as the candy machine pulled it. His connective tissue doesn't connect well anymore. This issue continually challenges his balance. Flash forward twenty years, and that fall could have retired him permanently.
Balance is a buzz word in fitness today. Defined as "the process by which we control the body's center of mass with respect to the base of support, whether it is stationary or moving" (Rose, 2003), balance is vital to wellness and independence, especially in our later years. The core - the muscles of the abdomen and back that form your body's "corset" - have become the celebrity muscles on the fitness stage. Their strength is essential for balance. This muscle girdle keeps the upper and lower body from teetering like a tall stack of dishes might do while resting on a waiter's elevated, upturned palm.
There has to be more to it than that, though, because my husband exercises his core religiously. Well, there is. Several body systems contribute to overall balance, and they are all adept at compensating for each other when a team player is sidelined. But there are limits. The sensory systems - visual, somatosensory (spacial location and movement of the body relative to the support surface), and vestibular (inner ear) gather information from the surrounding environment and from our own actions within it. From this info, our body (or motor system) responds both consciously and subconsciously to keep our balancing act together - or not.
With wear and tear, age or disease, one or more of these systems may become impaired. The interaction between these systems then becomes suboptimal. So, they help each other out. But like the average family, dysfunctional members can and do exist. The interdependency of the family members is complex, but it does have its limitations. If more than one sensory system is compromised or the body's motor system response is poor, significant balance issues will result.
My husband's body collapsed like a marionette puppet on loose strings because his visual sensory system (looking up instead of at the cobblestones beneath his feet) and his responding motor system (his poor leg and ankle strength) didn't perform optimally. Balance was threatened and down he went.
So what does that mean for him and other baby boomers like him? As a trainer, I would first assess an individual's systems and identify where the weaknesses exist. Vision and inner ear problems are the territory of other specialists and would need to be addressed. My expertise is with the motor system - the body's musculoskeletal strength and endurance. Overall muscle strengthening through resistance exercise is essential. But I can also emphasize strengthening areas of weakness, like the knees and ankles. In my husband's case, surgery has been suggested by an orthopedic surgeon to repair his damaged connective tissue. In the interim, however, maximizing his hip, leg and ankle strength would help him now AND later during recovery from any future surgery. For those who just need to tweak their strength, exercises using weights or resistance bands is essential. The muscles and connective tissue need to be stressed enough in order to strengthen. As to which muscles should be worked, the answer is ALL of them, and at least twice a week. If you can perform an assessment on yourself or hire a professional to do one, all the better. A road map can help when you don't know your way.
There are many systems at work within your body helping it to stay upright, especially when the terrain beneath you abruptly changes. The body is an amazing machine as it gathers information and miraculously performs, even with deficits. But all of that accumulated use from living a long life can wreck havoc if you don't maintain those systems. Exercise, once again, is a nonnegotiable. It is within your control to optimize your body's mechanics. Today, it may just be a camera that shatters. Tomorrow, it could be a body part.
Well, a balancing act it became. Our son would claim we never did find our footing as our feet repeatedly rolled to the sides of cobblestones. He laughed several times when our sneakered toes caught the elevated edges of the cement sidewalk panels. No one laughed, though, when my husband looked up at an ornate cast iron balcony and then stumbled off the deeply depressed curb side. In seconds, his 6'2" frame draped across the feet of a couple licking their ice cream cones. Some minor ankle soreness and a broken camera were the only casualties, thank goodness. It could have been so much worse.
You see, my husband and I are baby boomers. Both in our fifties, we have decades of old sports injuries and plenty of normal wear and tear. We also don't look where we are going. My husband's knees and ankles, despite regular exercise, have the stability of the Georgia taffy we watched droop and twist as the candy machine pulled it. His connective tissue doesn't connect well anymore. This issue continually challenges his balance. Flash forward twenty years, and that fall could have retired him permanently.
Balance is a buzz word in fitness today. Defined as "the process by which we control the body's center of mass with respect to the base of support, whether it is stationary or moving" (Rose, 2003), balance is vital to wellness and independence, especially in our later years. The core - the muscles of the abdomen and back that form your body's "corset" - have become the celebrity muscles on the fitness stage. Their strength is essential for balance. This muscle girdle keeps the upper and lower body from teetering like a tall stack of dishes might do while resting on a waiter's elevated, upturned palm.
There has to be more to it than that, though, because my husband exercises his core religiously. Well, there is. Several body systems contribute to overall balance, and they are all adept at compensating for each other when a team player is sidelined. But there are limits. The sensory systems - visual, somatosensory (spacial location and movement of the body relative to the support surface), and vestibular (inner ear) gather information from the surrounding environment and from our own actions within it. From this info, our body (or motor system) responds both consciously and subconsciously to keep our balancing act together - or not.
With wear and tear, age or disease, one or more of these systems may become impaired. The interaction between these systems then becomes suboptimal. So, they help each other out. But like the average family, dysfunctional members can and do exist. The interdependency of the family members is complex, but it does have its limitations. If more than one sensory system is compromised or the body's motor system response is poor, significant balance issues will result.
My husband's body collapsed like a marionette puppet on loose strings because his visual sensory system (looking up instead of at the cobblestones beneath his feet) and his responding motor system (his poor leg and ankle strength) didn't perform optimally. Balance was threatened and down he went.
So what does that mean for him and other baby boomers like him? As a trainer, I would first assess an individual's systems and identify where the weaknesses exist. Vision and inner ear problems are the territory of other specialists and would need to be addressed. My expertise is with the motor system - the body's musculoskeletal strength and endurance. Overall muscle strengthening through resistance exercise is essential. But I can also emphasize strengthening areas of weakness, like the knees and ankles. In my husband's case, surgery has been suggested by an orthopedic surgeon to repair his damaged connective tissue. In the interim, however, maximizing his hip, leg and ankle strength would help him now AND later during recovery from any future surgery. For those who just need to tweak their strength, exercises using weights or resistance bands is essential. The muscles and connective tissue need to be stressed enough in order to strengthen. As to which muscles should be worked, the answer is ALL of them, and at least twice a week. If you can perform an assessment on yourself or hire a professional to do one, all the better. A road map can help when you don't know your way.
There are many systems at work within your body helping it to stay upright, especially when the terrain beneath you abruptly changes. The body is an amazing machine as it gathers information and miraculously performs, even with deficits. But all of that accumulated use from living a long life can wreck havoc if you don't maintain those systems. Exercise, once again, is a nonnegotiable. It is within your control to optimize your body's mechanics. Today, it may just be a camera that shatters. Tomorrow, it could be a body part.
Saturday
A HUNCH YOU DON'T WANT TO HAVE
"What can I do to get my husband to stand up straighter? He's starting to look like an old man!"
These are the pleading words of my well-meaning, boomer-age-and-beyond female clients. They are wives, and they are on a mission. They have made the decision to strengthen their own bodies and improve their health. Now they are determined to get their husbands to follow suit - especially to straighten up their backs.
First, ladies, you need only encourage your husbands - not nag them. You can set the example, but exercise adherence is proportionate to a person's motivation and their readiness to take action. Complaining about your husband's posture may pressure him to exercise (just to keep the nagging at bay). But unless your husband is experiencing the inevitable neck and upper back pain, the lower back compression and discomfort, or the frustration of looking years older than he is, he's not likely to stick with the program. Maybe - just maybe - you can get him thinking about what lies ahead for him if he doesn't straighten up. Information is power, both for you and for him.
Now listen up. This upper back curvature, known as kyphosis, is not gender-specific. So please take a look in the mirror, ladies, first. This curvature is also NOT an inevitable part of the aging process. Older folks can stand tall, too. Assuming the spine is not curved due to a genetic or structural abnormality, that upper back hunch can be improved, if not corrected, before it is too late. Intervention, such as changing lifestyle habits and performing strengthening exercises is crucial, however.
Weakness in the upper and mid-back muscles can occur through repeated postural alignment patterns. For example, spending hours a day bent over a desk or a computer, or not pulling the shoulders back and sucking in the tummy when you walk, can help create this problem. Over time, those back muscles lengthen and weaken, and the chest muscles shorten and tighten. Being curved forward actually feels more comfortable than standing tall when the strength of both muscle groups is not equalized. If only the imbalance stopped there. Unfortunately, the neck is jutting forward now, and the lower back becomes compressed (curves the opposite way) to keep you from toppling over. Add to that tightened hip flexors that can no longer lift the leg fully and weak hamstrings and glutes that fail to straighten the leg optimally, and you now have additional lower body issues. The abdominal muscles, if weakened, protrude as the lower back compresses and no longer support the spine. Breathing can even become difficult if the diaphragm is squished by this hunched posture. The beautiful anatomical chain that the human body is becomes adept at compensating for these imbalances. Some muscles are carrying more than their load while others are slackers on the job. Your body is now a chain of weak links.
Ladies and gents, given enough time, your spines will no longer be able to straighten and progressive curvature will really start to get you down (no pun intended!). The good news is that intervention using resistance exercise and static stretching to bring balance back to these muscle groups, can bring you back up, literally. Practicing healthy posture (yes, walk while balancing a book on your head) and taking breaks from desk and computer work will also help.
So, to both the men and the women who love them, prevent the aging appearance and functional problems associated with kyphosis by beginning an exercise and stretching program now. Emphasize ALL of the major muscle groups to be sure that balance is restored. If you have a hunch that you or a loved one has a hunch, begin now to change it. And ladies, let's redirect the energy wasted on nagging and, gentleman, the energy you're expending to fend off the nagging, and use it at the gym instead!
These are the pleading words of my well-meaning, boomer-age-and-beyond female clients. They are wives, and they are on a mission. They have made the decision to strengthen their own bodies and improve their health. Now they are determined to get their husbands to follow suit - especially to straighten up their backs.
First, ladies, you need only encourage your husbands - not nag them. You can set the example, but exercise adherence is proportionate to a person's motivation and their readiness to take action. Complaining about your husband's posture may pressure him to exercise (just to keep the nagging at bay). But unless your husband is experiencing the inevitable neck and upper back pain, the lower back compression and discomfort, or the frustration of looking years older than he is, he's not likely to stick with the program. Maybe - just maybe - you can get him thinking about what lies ahead for him if he doesn't straighten up. Information is power, both for you and for him.
Now listen up. This upper back curvature, known as kyphosis, is not gender-specific. So please take a look in the mirror, ladies, first. This curvature is also NOT an inevitable part of the aging process. Older folks can stand tall, too. Assuming the spine is not curved due to a genetic or structural abnormality, that upper back hunch can be improved, if not corrected, before it is too late. Intervention, such as changing lifestyle habits and performing strengthening exercises is crucial, however.
Weakness in the upper and mid-back muscles can occur through repeated postural alignment patterns. For example, spending hours a day bent over a desk or a computer, or not pulling the shoulders back and sucking in the tummy when you walk, can help create this problem. Over time, those back muscles lengthen and weaken, and the chest muscles shorten and tighten. Being curved forward actually feels more comfortable than standing tall when the strength of both muscle groups is not equalized. If only the imbalance stopped there. Unfortunately, the neck is jutting forward now, and the lower back becomes compressed (curves the opposite way) to keep you from toppling over. Add to that tightened hip flexors that can no longer lift the leg fully and weak hamstrings and glutes that fail to straighten the leg optimally, and you now have additional lower body issues. The abdominal muscles, if weakened, protrude as the lower back compresses and no longer support the spine. Breathing can even become difficult if the diaphragm is squished by this hunched posture. The beautiful anatomical chain that the human body is becomes adept at compensating for these imbalances. Some muscles are carrying more than their load while others are slackers on the job. Your body is now a chain of weak links.
Ladies and gents, given enough time, your spines will no longer be able to straighten and progressive curvature will really start to get you down (no pun intended!). The good news is that intervention using resistance exercise and static stretching to bring balance back to these muscle groups, can bring you back up, literally. Practicing healthy posture (yes, walk while balancing a book on your head) and taking breaks from desk and computer work will also help.
So, to both the men and the women who love them, prevent the aging appearance and functional problems associated with kyphosis by beginning an exercise and stretching program now. Emphasize ALL of the major muscle groups to be sure that balance is restored. If you have a hunch that you or a loved one has a hunch, begin now to change it. And ladies, let's redirect the energy wasted on nagging and, gentleman, the energy you're expending to fend off the nagging, and use it at the gym instead!
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