Can you do a “Turkish Get-Up”? Do you even know what it is? It’s an exercise. You can check with the search engines online to see various varieties of Turkish Get-Ups. I always thought they were a body builder’s exercise or a heavy duty kettlebell exercise. Kettlebells are like cannon balls with a handle and they are a huge fad in gyms today. People lift 100 pounds or more with one arm doing the Turkish Get-up. But at the gym this morning, I watched one of the Personal Trainers working with a senior lady and got her started doing Turkish Get-ups with no kettlebells or dumbbells or any weight at all. Of course after the trainer demonstrated the move, she said: “no way can I do that!” He said “yes you can” and within ten minutes she was doing them. She was doing them with a bit of difficulty, but she was doing them, and she was excited that she was able to do it. Because she took the time to try the movement, she was finally able to do it after several attempts. She did more than she thought she could. And chances are, when it comes to exercise and moving your body, you too can do more than you think you can.
Last October, I wrote a post about The Five Tibetan Rites. Later, after I had published the post, I created a handout for a workshop that described the exercises, complete with photos of me doing the movements, taken by my wife. My wife commented that “no way could she ever do those exercises because they would be too hard on her arms and shoulders, as well as the rest of her body. A couple of months later she started taking a class at the gym that included the Five Tibetan Rites. Guess what? Of course. The Five Tibetan Rites are part of each class and she does them nearly flawlessly – something that she was convinced she could never do – until she tried it and did it. Yes, you too can do more than you think you can.
Last week I discussed core and abdominal muscles and linked to a short Ebook with some photos of the body movements and exercises. I admonished readers not to do more than four or five of the exercises during any one session. Why? I felt that doing all ten at one session would be too many at one time and that I didn’t want anyone to get a sore stomach from doing too much. I got this Email later in the week:
Subject: Re: Energy Bite 48 – Your Core, Part 2
Good morning, Bob!
Thanks for your 10 Core and Abdominal Exercises for Seniors Ebook. I just finished doing the exercises, and I did all ten. You did a wonderful job creating the SeniorFlow series! The text was very understandable and the photos clear and helpful. It was a good work out! Thanks, again. Have a great day!
Blessings,
Gertrude
She did more than she thought she could and just kept on going. I saw her later in the week and I asked her if her stomach muscles were sore. “Not a bit” she replied. Where did I see this terrific young lady (she’s a couple of years younger than me so she’s young). Well, it turns out she was fulfilling an item from her “bucket list” (a list of things she wants to do before she moves on to another world). She always wanted to play a piano concert in her church variety show. But she didn’t know how to play the piano. So she learned. She thought it was probably more than she could do but she decided to give it a shot. She started taking piano lessons and learning to read music a little over a year ago. And there she was, a bit unsure of herself, but she played a mini-concert at her church variety show last week and did a great job. She wasn’t sure she could do it, but she did. Yes, you can do more than you think you can.
The reason I even bring all this up is that as I am creating my new exercise program, SeniorFlow(tm), specifically for active seniors, I am finding that I am being a little too conservative in what I think active seniors can do. Even though I have always preached that we seniors can do a lot more than we think we can, I have been reluctant to include anything I thought might be a little too difficult. So I will be adding things like Turkish Get-ups with no weight and some other movements that I have been a little unsure about including, because now I know that seniors can do more than they think they can. That means me. That means you.
Thank you for reading.