The Amazing Stickie is taking some much-needed time off, so we have the return of the Thursday List.
This week’s list is produce in season for April! Hooray for spring!
• strawberries
• asparagus
• artichokes
• snap peas
• spring onions/garlic/leeks
• fennel
• rhubarb
• baby carrots
• radishes
Yummy! (Well, except for the carrots. I hate carrots. More for the rest of y’all.)
As I mentioned, April is my birthday month. That mean—news flash!—I’m getting older, just like everyone else. Workout needs change a bit as we age, so here are some things older adults might want to focus on.
Number one is balance. Falls are one of the biggest risks we face as we age. The data on what happens after we fall and break a hip is not pretty. It might be time to seek out that Pilates or yoga class. There are other simple things to do in daily life that help, too, like practicing standing on one foot while waiting for the microwave to be done. Balancing on one foot while brushing our teeth is also a useful challenge. In our regular workouts, we can focus on our asymmetric exercises (e.g., single leg squat, one arm clean and press) to help with balance. And let’s not forget our friends the core exercises.
Number two is strength training. We lose muscle mass and bone density as we age. Strength training is our number one tool to combat the forces of age. We need to lose our fear of heavy lifting, too: it’s more effective for our goals. (Note: heavy lifting does not mean that we all rush out and lift 3 million pounds. It means that we lift weights that are relatively heavy for us, around 70 to 85% of our single rep max for each exercise.)
Bonus points go to folks who exercise with friends for the social interaction (caveat: you can’t just chat and pretend to work) and for folks who get outside while they get their heart rates up.
As always, it’s worth checking in with your medical professionals to make sure that you are choosing appropriate exercises for your personal condition.
Go play.
April is my birthday month, so I’ve got presents on my mind. Here are some presents I am giving myself over the next year:
Cardio: Most of the time, cardio comes to me in the form of time on my spin bike, or, as I like to call it, the Magic Mood-Fixing Machine. I know cardio burns calories and does good stuff for my heart and plenty of other things, but the real reason I do it is because it makes me feel good. Period. When I’m not getting it on the spin bike, I get my cardio playing pickleball (bonus points for being social!) or walking/hiking/swimming (bonus points for outside time!).
Weight Training: I love feeling strong. My bones also need to be strong as I get older. I need an amped-up metabolism and a body with more lean mass.
Pilates: Uncle Joe knows what my body needs. Doing Pilates refines my movements, improves my balance, and creates mobility in a frame that is particularly good at being immobile.
Yoga: Times are stressful. I need to chill out, get flexible, and breathe.
Water: I need it inside and out. I want to drink it, swim in it, and soak in it.
What gifts do you all want for yourselves?
Balance comes from lots of things, but mostly practice. So we’re practicing with our round lunges this week. Three rounds.
tap backs | 30 |
bench press | 20 |
round lunges | 10 |
| |
suitcase swing | 30 |
flies | 20 |
quadruped lateral raise | 10 |
| |
opposite knees | 30 |
curls | 20 |
toe reaches | 10 |
Today the Amazing Stickie is working on her amazing behind by doing dumbbell frog pumps.
She begins lying on her back with dumbbells held at her hips and her legs in butterfly position (feet together, knees out). From there, she lifts her hips toward the ceiling and lowers them.
A set of ten should be good.
I’ve talked before about what I call my oilcan exercises—the things I do every day to keep me from feeling like the Tin Man, all squeaky, rusty, and immobile. I put together sets of oilcan exercises for my clients, too, because we need to move our bodies more than once or twice a week.
Oilcan exercises don’t have to take very long. They make a great warm up or cool down for our other workouts, or they can be a stand-alone thing to do on rest days. We want to make it easy to get these things done, so we don’t want hours and hours of stuff that we won’t do. At most, they should take ten or fifteen minutes, but five is more likely.
What the oilcan exercises are varies by person. Each of us has different problem areas. A person with knee issues will focus on stuff to strengthen and protect the knees. People with back pain have a different set of things to do. Over time, we need to evaluate what we’re doing and see if we can give up some things or need to add a few new ones.
Want your own set? Poke me and we’ll talk.
Recovery from injury or surgery can be really frustrating. Those of us who rely on movement for mood and stress management can get a little squirrelly while we (impatiently) wait for the body to heal. But, trust me, it is worth it.
Any injury that requires medical attention is something that your trainer needs to know about. I want to know what the doctor has to say about when my clients can return to workouts, what movements they should avoid, and how to help them get back to normal safely. Often this means that I don’t get to see them until they are released from physical therapy.
Physical therapists are awesome humans who know how to safely rehab people’s injuries or post-surgical selves. They are kind people who hurt us for our own good as we regain strength and confidence. When they say we’re good to go, we can get back to our normal workouts. The things they have us do may not be as fun as our usual workouts, but diligently doing the exercises they give us makes the difference between coming back strong and maybe not getting to come back at all.
When we do return to normal workouts, we need to expect that it will take a bit of time to get back to where we were when we left off. This is normal, if frustrating. Remember: we can only work out with today’s body.
Worst case, we focus on exercising our patience.
