Author: Bob McMillan

Like many good Seniors, my wife and I are going through our “stuff” with the intention of de-cluttering and downsizing. We are sending a lot of “stuff” and “things” that we will never use again, or that have outlived their usefulness, to some of the many charities that “pick-up”: AMVETS, Purple Heart, etc.

We found a lot of archived papers and old records wrapped in rubber bands. Papers, old 3.5 inch floppy discs (remember those?), old electronic equipment power cords are examples; a lot of things that haven’t been used or even looked at for ages, all wrapped many moons ago with rubber bands to hold them together.

Guess what? When we pulled on the rubber bands, in most cases, they snapped, broke, or in some cases, were stuck to whatever they were holding together. They had lost their flexibility and elasticity over time.

I thought, “what a perfect metaphor for people who don’t move, who’s bodies aren’t exercised.” When you stretch a rubber band, you are using it like a muscle. You are expanding and contracting it just like a muscle. And when it’s not used or is old, it atrophies like unused muscle, or becomes brittle like bones that haven’t been stressed.

Here’s a similar metaphor.

Airplanes are made to fly. When they fly, they will last forever (as long as they are maintained). They are built to fly even when they get really old. And if they don’t fly, they atrophy just like people. Their parts rust out just like your joints when you don’t move them.

The military has a partial cure for this. You know how retired, older people often move to Arizona when they retire, because of the dry climate? They don’t rust out and atrophy as quickly. Well, when the military retires old airplanes, they send them to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in hot, dry, Tucson, Arizona to keep them from rusting out. If they ever need them again, they are much easier to refurbish to flyable condition, even though they may not have been used for a long, long time. I flew many retiring Marine Corps helicopters from Norfolk, Virginia to the “aircraft boneyard” in Tucson. I also flew a few from Tucson to San Diego for refurbishing and then from San Diego back to Norfolk as those old flying machines were needed back in service. Oh, how I miss those days of flying across our beautiful country at 500 to 1000 feet above the ground. What a way to see the beauty that is America.

People are much the same. If we don’t move, we atrophy. We get weak and brittle. We break down from lack of use.

And, oh yes, rubber bands can snap from overuse, too. Pull too hard, foo far, or too suddenly, and they snap, just like we as humans. Make too many wild maneuvers in an airplane and the wings will buckle if overstressed. But rubber bands are made to stretch, and airplanes are designed and built to be heavily stressed. And the human body will take a lot of overuse and abuse before it gets to the point where it can’t recover.

So like rubber bands and old airplanes, we older humans must continue to “use it or lose it” if we want to avoid the atrophy and brittleness and “rust” that comes with a sedentary lifestyle. Unless we live in Tucson. lol.

At some point even well used rubber bands and airplanes finally wear out. So will we. But as Theodore Roosevelt once said: “I’d rather wear out than rust out.” Well said, Teddy.

Thank you for reading.

 

 

Eugen Sandow (Yes, “Eugen”) was one of the earliest “old school” strongmen to tour Europe, and later the United States in the late 1800s, showing off his immense strength and his bodybuilder’s physique. He is known as the “father of bodybuilding”.

He performed all kinds of strongman stunts throughout Europe and later in the United States and was considered to have the best physical appearance and the most strength of ANYONE during his time.

In his book, Sandow on Physical Training, written in 1894, he says much the same as is said today about the lack of physical training and the poor state of fitness of the general population. He said: “For those even whom we are pleased to call the ‘flower of our population,’ we have systematically and intelligently done next to nothing in the way of physical culture.”

 While much of the book is autobiographical, and much of it is devoted to the heavy duty dumbbell and barbell training for bodybuilding and strength, he writes about fitness for the average person as being necessary, but not as intense in effort, as that needed to develop a strong and muscular body. He suggested that a pair of five pound dumbbells are all the average person needs to stay healthy. He put it this way: “The use of dumbbells of only 5 lbs in weight, for the earnest and systematic manipulation of these, he affirms, is sufficient for the due development for all muscles and groups of muscles apportioning, at least, to the upper part of the body, while by confining the would-be athlete to these medium-sized bells, no risk of injury is run, and the average man can be kept in the perfection of health.” Isn’t the English language great.

He goes on to say: “Yes it is health rather than strength that is the great requirement of modern men at modern occupations; it is not the power to travel great distances, carry great burdens, lift great weights, or overcome great material obstructions, it is simply that condition of body, and that amount of vital capacity, which shall enable each man in his place to pursue his calling, and work on in his working life, with the greatest amount of comfort to himself and usefulness to his fellow-man.” (Whew!)

And again: “Yet it is not strength, so much as health, that is the crying want of our time. It is stamina, and the power, in each of us, to do our daily work with the least friction and the greatest amount of comfort and ease.”

 Enough of the 1894 English.

All said, isn’t that the essence of what we, as 21st Century seniors, want from a regimen of exercise? While overall strength is desirable and even important, don’t we really want our HEALTH first? Most of us want to look lean and trim, but big muscles aren’t the answer most of us seek. We want to be able to live a long time and enjoy the experience of being alive as long as we are alive. Plus, our muscles will develop in size and strength, even using five pound dumbbells.

Many of the American pioneers of health and fitness were disciples of Eugen Sandow. The first real American “health pioneer”, Bernarr Macfadden, was a direct disciple of the teachings of Sandow, and often used him as an example in his publications.  Macfadden was followed by his own disciples: Paul Bragg (first health food store), Charles Atlas (most popular fitness program of all time), and Jack LaLanne (one of the first gyms, designer of exercise equipment, and TV fitness host), all of whom were major influencers of modern thinking in the field of health and fitness.  Much of what we do today was taught by the old timers . . . and the science is only now beginning to catch up with what they were doing and saying.

As for Eugen Sandow, we can be grateful for his approach to Health and Fitness for the common man and woman, even though his renown is for his own powerful strength, and as one of the first true devotees of exercise for bodybuilding in the Western World.

You can pick up Sandow’s book on Kindle for $0.99 (that’s right 99 cents) on Amazon.com.

Thank you for reading.

 

 

 

 

What is that “one thing” that you have always wanted to do but never got around to? Are you getting too far along in age to do it?

What is it? Is it writing that novel? Is it taking up painting? Is it visiting all 50 United States?

Is it something that is within reason. By that I mean, without trying to put limits on it’s possibility, is it something that is feasible during your lifespan.

Here’s why this came to mind as this week’s topic.

Last week, my wife and I were visiting the Northern Shenandoah Valley.  We like to stop in Woodstock, VA and wander around. At the Woodstock Cafe & Shoppes, I talked with the owner about a book he had just published. Because one of my “one thing” items is to publish a non-fiction book for Seniors, I had some questions about the process. His book is titled Full Count (by E.A.Coe) and uses baseball as a metaphor for life. NOTE: There are a number of books by that title on Amazon, so your best bet to find it is on Lulu.com at this link: (http://www.lulu.com/shop/e-a-coe/full-count/paperback/product-23698379.html).

We talked about getting older, so the author/owner pointed out a poem he had written for the preface of the book. I thought it made a good entry into the subject of that “one thing” you still want to do, as you round third base (yes, I know, in many cases only second base) in your life. I’ve quoted it here:

Rounding Third

“I’ve driven too fast, and drunk too much beer

And danced when I should have slept

I’ve earned a good bit in the course of my run

But have spent a lot more than I’ve kept

 

I’ve played some good hands and folded a few

But always enjoyed a good game

I’ve won my fair share but when I did lose

Made sure no one heard me complain

 

I’m comin’ ‘round third now, headed for home

But purposely not running fast

I’ve still go some things that I want to do

And I just want this great game to last.”

— E.A. Coe

Quoted with permission

Wouldn’t that sound great sung by Willie Nelson? Some of us may be rounding second and some may be rounding third. But the highlighted verse is most likely appropriate for all of us.

The point is that as we get older, there are still things that we always wanted to do, but that we never got around to. The desire is still there. So what’s stopping us?

I recently gave a talk where I asked the question, “What is that one thing that you’ve always wanted to do but just haven’t done?” One woman’s answer was that years ago she had bought paints and she always wanted to paint. But she never had. I asked why not. She said she just couldn’t get around to doing it. I suggested that if painting was one of those “one things”, to just get out the paints, start, and see what happens. She did and she emailed a photo of her first effort.

Unless you’re 90 years old and want to be a full time astronaut, your bucket list can become a reality. Even being 90 may not be a deterrent if you have enough money to take one of the first commercial flights into space.

Henry Thoreau wrote that most people “. . . go to the grave with their song still in them”. That means finding that “one thing” and doing it while your still “rounding third”.

Thank you for reading.