Shoulders

Head, shoulders, knees, and toes (knees and toes). There are two and only two ball-and-socket joints in the human body. They are the shoulders and hips. This type of joint allows for free movement across several planes. In the shoulder, the ball part in the end of the humerus which sits the socket of the acetabulum. This arrangement means your shoulder loses a bit of stability in order to extend range of motion (ROM).

Since that is the way we are built, utilizing the full range of motion means we are getting the best bang for our buck. Dislocates and pass-throughs are a way to facilitate that full ROM. Your shoulder is going through all the planes of motion with the ease of a PVC twirling around.

Why? This is a warm-up exercise to prepare for load. By going through the full ROM movements, you are preparing your muscles for greater use. You are also reminding your muscles that we used to be able to do this with ease and with practice, we can again. Warm-up movements allow your body to acclimate to the stressors of exercise, prepare for load later, and get your heart in gear for a greater challenge.

Having full ROM in your shoulders allows for greater arm movement, but also stabilizes your shoulder for reaching and your arms for pulling or pushing. Having a strong shoulder girdle makes getting up off the ground easier. You would think it was all legs. You would be wrong.

Story time: My son is a personal coach, used to own a CrossFit gym, and is a firefighter. One of his company’s stations is right outside a Sun City. While assigned at that firehouse, he spends a lot of time picking up old people. Many falls occur in the bathroom and we are usually not at our most dignified in that room. While he is a kind and generous man who can help the fallen, he doesn’t want his parents in that situation. He programs our workouts to keep us upright, but also to get us back to upright should the worst happen.

I complained about all the arm work because my bench press just sucks. I feel weak and hopeless because my brain wants to move more weight than my spaghetti arms can handle. So I whined. “Why all the arm stuff?” He answered that I was not going to defy gravity and magically rise from the floor without the ability to push myself up. It’s not all legs. You need your arms.

I still hate bench presses. I do them with sadness in my heart. I don’t feel that way with dumbbell bench presses which makes no sense, but as we go through our fitness journey, we must realize that not everything can be explained with words.

Shoulders are important because they are the connection to the arms. Strong arms, good core strength, and determination is what is going to get me and you into a position so we can rise like a phoenix from the ashes if we are ever flat out on the floor.

Did you realize how important arms are to getting up off the floor?

Stay balanced.

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Stand Tall

One of the perils of Old Age is falling. Old people tend to fall over far more frequently and with far greater devastation than young people – at least after they have learned to walk. This falling is something to be avoided if possible. Knowing how to catch oneself in a fall is helpful and being able to get back up is wonderful. Being able to do all these things is called Functional Fitness.

Since most moves in the gym begin with “stand tall” (and in yoga – mountain pose – which is the same thing), this is where I want to start. Most of us pay no attention to how we stand.

I’m concerned with the functionality of fitness and general good (or at least better) health. After all the time I’ve spent in the gym, I’m also pleased as punch at some of the audacious things this old body can still do. But the main goal remains being able to stay healthily alive. This means I have to have control over my body.

Engaging the core muscles helps to create a balancing effect. Feet are planted firmly and spaced hip distance apart, knees over ankles and hips over knees. Knees are not locked out. The butt gets tucked under which engages all the massive gluteal or butt muscles. Lifting the chest high engages the muscles around the stomach. Having the shoulders squared with the shoulder blades back and down engages the upper back muscles. This builds your suit of armor holding you erect.

This posture is noticeable in a time of slouching – which is human history. We all tend to slouch. It’s easier than actually holding yourself upright. So we sag. But eventually, it becomes all we can do if we don’t work at building, through daily routines and practices, the essential suit of armor. When you stumble, if your muscles are used to firing, they will be what catches you before you hit the ground. This is better than falling and catching yourself with your hands and breaking a wrist – which is preferable to face-planting.

Another benefit of standing tall is that your lungs are opened up. Your diaphragm is now able to move more freely and completely. Give it a try right now. Hunch over and take a deep breath. Now stand or sit tall and take a deep breath. There is a difference. The alveoli are found at the ends of all the branching throughout the space in the lungs. That is where air exchange takes place. By standing (or sitting) tall, you are opening up or decompressing the basilar alveoli. Breathing moves more air when you stand or sit tall.

Most, if not all, exercises require some core muscle engagement. Standing tall helps you get reacquainted with those muscles. Standing tall is a core (pun intended) part of a healthy movement plan. Take some time and make some effort to practice this standing technique. It is the primary part of functional movement, a goal I hope you value as much as I do.

Stay balanced.

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Introduction

Getting old is a gift denied to many. Being old is a pain in the butt. There are so many things of the before times that are no longer in the here and now. The memories, distorted and altered by time, remain clearer than the blurry vision of what is yet to come. It’s a mess. A big mess.

I’ve been struggling with all this existential stuff post-retirement. Here are some of the things I’ve learned.

Life is easier in a healthy body.

It’s not as difficult as one might think to get a healthy body.

Move more.

Eat real food.

Activity is good at any age. We weren’t built for a sedentary life of ease. We weren’t built for chairs and screens. We were built to warily move across the savanna looking for scarce food. We survived through interdependence with our clan or group or extended family. We usually died young of deprivations.

Today we live long and depending on our choices, we prosper. Those choices can be as difficult or as easy as habits dictate. Making a routine is one way to limit the need for choices to be made second by second. Building habits of movement and healthy eating can improve life outcomes. Luck helps as well.

There are things we each can do to better our chances of a healthy old age. Some of them depend on the choices made half a century ago. Having been a healthy adult for the entire time will give you a better starting point than if you are trying to drastically improve your overall condition in old age. But none of us can go back in time and change what we did. And even having made the “right” choices decades ago doesn’t guarantee anything. Life is, after all, a crap shoot. All we can do is improve the odds.

I was the score keeper for a CrossFit Games event my son’s gym was sponsoring. It all looked so amazing. The athletes were doing such wonderful things. I wanted to do that, too. But I was already old and had never done anything at all like what I was seeing. I wished for something. But I did nothing. This does not work. Ever.

The next year, I was once again the scorekeeper and not the doer of any deeds. I was simply a year older. I had always been active, playing racquetball for years and other group activities such as Curves or water aerobic classes. But all this moving weights around and hanging from bars and flipping tires! It was all so beyond my experience.

My son found a local-to-me CrossFit gym. I walked in on a Saturday for a free trial class. I couldn’t finish the class. I cried. The coach said if I was willing to work, they were willing to work with me. I wished I could do all the things. So instead of just continuing with the wishing part, I decided to go with the doing part. I was 59 years old at the time.

When I began this foray into gym life, I could do … nothing. Not a thing. I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing and no idea how to get my body to do it. I had no stamina – still a problem for me, and next to no actual strength – I’m pretty dang strong now. What I had was determination and grit and a willingness to try. I also came home and cried frequently. It was never enough to keep me from going back. I went. Religiously. Regularly. And eventually I got better at it.

My biggest mistake when I began this journey was comparison. I was not only comparing my old-enough-to-be-their-mother self, but sometimes my old-enough-to-be-their-grandmother self. I was not taking into account my own situation and limitations. I wanted to be like the cool kids who could do the things spectacularly. I never got to the spectacular point. But I was always there and doing the best I could with the body I had to work with. It was seldom pretty. But it was always awesome. I was doing things I never thought I could.

Fitness comes in many forms. There are exercises that are just crazy. There are pieces of equipment that are terrifying. There is no reason to worry about those things. There are loads of exercises that are available to beginners and equipment isn’t even always used. There is a way for the determined. You have to choose to be determined.

What I have become is expert in failing forward. I try and do not, as Yoda might say. And then I keep trying until I do. That is the entire secret. If you can find the strength of will to allow yourself to be a beginner and fail and fail and fail again, you can eventually become not just adequate, but pleasantly capable. It is surprising when you realize it has happened. It’s a gradual process until one day you find you just did it. Amazingly satisfying.

I would love to share some of my insights from over 13 years of gym life. There were pitfalls that may be unavoidable, but I have some idea of how to skirt around them without completely falling in. Health isn’t just about exercise, it includes many other aspects, one of the most easy to control for, is what you eat. I have clues for that as well. I have an intention of sharing my “wisdom” such as it is. If you are interested, please follow along.

Stay balanced.

March 31

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René Descartes (March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. Born in the Kingdom of France, he spent about 20 years of his life in the Dutch Republic. He was one of the most famous people of the Dutch Golden Age and is considered to be one of the founders of modern philosophy. In fact, the Cartesian coordinate system is named for him. He is the father of analytical geometry, the bridge between algebra and geometry. He is a key figure of the Scientific Revolution.

March 30

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Vincent van Gogh (March 30, 1853 – July 29, 1890) was a Dutch post-impressionist painter. He is one of the most famous and influential painters in the history of Western art. He worked for little more than a decade and produced about 2,100 works of art, about 860 of which were oil paintings. Most of his works was produced in the last two years of his life. He suffered from psychotic episodes and was hospitalized for this. He died at the age of 37 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

March 29

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Pearl Bailey (March 29, 1918 – August 17, 1991) was an American actress and singer. She began her career on the vaudeville circuit and made her Broadway debut in 1946. She won a Tony Award for the title role in an all black production of Hello Dolly! She also won a Daytime Emmy award in 1986. She also was awarded the Bronze Medallion in 1968, the highest award given to a civilian by New York City.

Photo By TheRichic – Spanish Royal Crown 1.jpg, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53452337

March 28

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Lady Gaga (March 28, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, she is known for unconventional and/or provocative work. She learned to play the piano at age four and began performing as a teenager and released her debut album in 2007. She launched the Born This Way Foundation in 2012, a non-profit that focuses on youth empowerment. She is also noted for her support of the LGBTQ community.

March 27

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Heinrich Mann (March 27, 1871 – March 11, 1950) was a German novelist. He wrote novels concerned with social themes and his satirization of Imperial German society in Der Untertan garnered him praise from the Wermar Republic. He continued to write in this vein until 1930. At that time, he took over President of the fine poetry division of the Prussian Academy of the Arts. His criticism of fascism made it imperative that he flee the country by 1933.

March 26

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Larry Page (March 26, 1973) is an American computer scientist and Internet entrepreneur best known as being one of the co-founders of Google. He and Sergey Brin founded the search engine in 1998. Page was CEO of that company until 2001 when he took over as CEO of Alphabet Inc., a position he retired from on December 3, 2019. He is the ninth richest person in the world (October 2019) with a net work of $55.8 billion.

March 25

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Arturo Toscanini (March 25, 1867 – January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed musicians of his time. He was a perfectionist with an ear for the details of the pieces played before him. He was director of music at La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, and the New York Philharmonic during his lifetime. He was first music director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra from 1937 to 1954. He took a brief foray into politics, but found music was his true calling.