Author: Bob McMillan

We often complain about the daily motions and everyday activities that we have to do to function in life. Here’s a secret to make them more enjoyable and get some physical benefit at the same time:

Exaggerate the movement patterns of your normal everyday life.

For example, when you get in and out of a car, examine every move you typically make and exaggerate it. Lift your knee and leg higher. Twist your body farther. Chances are it will be soon become easier for you. And if you add slow motion to the mix, then it might even be more beneficial. I didn’t believe it would work until I tried it many years ago and it’s a technique I learned to use to improve everyday movement over time. I think it’s because normal movement like getting in and out of a car is automatic and programmed into our system, and becomes boring and tiring. But when you consciously focus on doing the movement as a new and exaggerated pattern, the normal pattern actually becomes easier. Plus you get the added benefit of possibly increasing your functional your range of motion.

Another example is climbing stairs. We often climb stairs thinking only about how difficult it is. We find ourselves breathing heavily when we reach the top of the stairs. Try focusing on the individual components of going up and down the stairs and then exaggerate every movement. Raise your knees higher and bring your foot up very slowly to the next stair tread. Exaggerate the “push” with your bottom foot as you climb. Do it slowly. You’ll discover that you will be actually increasing your range of motion each time you do it. I suggest you make sure there is a handrail or something to hold onto as you climb or descend stairs, either normally, or when practicing your exaggerated movement.

Do you have problems getting up and down from the floor. Try slowing down and exaggerating each component of whatever you do to get up and down. You may find that it’s actually easier to do when you are focusing on, and exaggerating the individual movements. Then, when you do it normally, you should find it to be a little bit more comfortable.

Remember Jack LaLanne? He used to make his viewers exaggerate facial expressions and go through a full range of movement with the muscles in your face. It’s better than a facelift.

Here are some more thoughts about this concept of exaggerating movement patterns.

• Actors exaggerate basic movements as part of their training to learn body awareness.
• I taught the technique to aspiring speakers and seminar leaders as part of my original Seminar on Seminars, which I produced in a previous life. The goal was for them to learn to be more animated in their delivery.
• Make it harder, to make it easier. Making basic movement more difficult in practice sessions, makes normal movement much easier and exercises more parts of your body at the same time.
• It can help improve the range of motion of your joints.

Some thoughts for putting it into action:

• Go through the full range of motion with each movement pattern.
• Move really slowly and deliberately.
• Watch yourself in the mirror when you have one available.
• Be fully aware of everything you are doing
• Don’t be embarrassed. You don’t need to be an exhibitionist.
• When alone, make sure you have something to grab onto when you start getting really crazy with the exaggerated movements.

This is something that will help make you more comfortable with your everyday movements. It’s easy to do. Do it a couple of times a day with different moves and you may discover some physical abilities you didn’t know you had. It really works — particularly for seniors.

Thank you for reading.

Have you ever been on a diet or a fitness program and you seem to be making great progress toward your goal? Then, and all of a sudden, for no particular reason, that progress stops — dead in its tracks.

You may expect to make constant progress in whatever it is you may be trying to accomplish, but you will always experience plateaus on the journey to mastery or accomplishment. Plateaus are simply a leveling out of your learning curve for a while as you are learning and making progress. It happens to everyone. It’s not a time to stop in frustration. It’s a time to “rinse and repeat”, to use the current buzz words. You are essentially letting yourself catch up to your own progress and it is an essential but frustrating part of the process.

For example, you may be trying to lose weight. You may have lost 15 pounds on your way to losing 40 pounds. But for some reason, even though you are not cheating on your diet, the scales seem stuck at the 15 pound loss point. The natural response is to get frustrated and angry and say that “it’s no use”. Finally after a few days of stagnant weight, you find yourself ready to give up. Here’s a word of advice: Don’t give up.

The same applies to other aspects of fitness. You may find that after starting an exercise program, your muscles suddenly stop responding, or your running distance is stuck at a certain point, and then no matter how much effort you apply, you are not improving your fitness level. Once again you are ready to give up. Again, don’t!

Plateaus are a very frustrating part of the mastery process, whether it is weight loss, fitness, or just simple learning.

It may seem like the Gods are testing you, but in reality, it’s all a part of nature running its course.  Stay with your program and you will start losing weight again. If you are on a fitness program, keep at it. The improvement curve will start rising again shortly. When? When it’s ready to.

In his best selling book, Mastery, George Leonard says to “learn to love the plateaus.” He says that without them we will never stay the course to its conclusion, or mastery of whatever we are trying to achieve. He’s right. It’s happened to me. It will happen to you. Just keep going.

Forewarned is forearmed, so don’t let the plateaus discourage you. Impatience does not help. Time does.  Work through the plateaus and when your body catches up, you will be on your way again toward that seemingly elusive weight loss, fitness or other goal.

Thank you for reading.

I was speaking to a 58 year old woman the other day who was fairly new to exercise. We were talking about the limitations we place upon ourselves because of age. I published some comments about “limitations” nearly two years ago on August 5th, 2014. It’s a good time to review what we consider to be our physical limits as Seniors and recognize that they don’t have to be limits at all. I have significantly revised and rewritten that article and am reiterating it’s main points below.

“Know your limits.” “You have no limits.” You hear these statements all the time from Motivational Speakers and Self-improvement gurus.  Do you have limits? Are they real limitations? While there may not be any limits in the world of motivational speakers, there are real limits on what your physical body can do.

Let’s explore the topic of limits: What they are. Are real, and . . . Can we ever get back the effortless and unrestricted movement that we seemingly once had?  I’ll bet we can regain a lot more than we think we can. It takes time and work, but we can do it.

What causes some of the limits? Rusty Joints mostly. Atrophied muscles (loss of muscle size and strength). Degenerated bones. Pessimistic attitude.

While all too often our limits are self-created and self-imposed, there are real physical limits to what we can do at any given time or place. As we age, the capacities of our bodies decrease without movement and proper fuel.

Let’s say you have a difficult time getting down onto the floor and getting back up again. This is typically a self-imposed limitation that can be a real problem if not addressed. There may be any number of reasons but the most prevalent are:

• Overweight
• Weak leg and core muscles
• Poor joints
• Negative attitude

All four can be overcome or worked around if you really want to get down and up from the floor. Here’s how: Lose weight, strengthen your legs and core muscles, rejuvenate your joints, and then — do it — a couple of times a day, just for the heck of it. There are a number of trainers and physical therapists who can help you. Go find them, or find an exercise method that addresses strength and mobility and is easy on the joints. Practice.

The same applies to any physical limitation you may think you have. Most limitations are created and perpetuated by your mind. It all starts with the way you’re thinking. We often limit what we can do simply by saying, and often believing, our own excuses:

• I’m too old
• My bones aren’t strong enough to hold a position.
• My doctor told me not to (huh?)
• I’ll never be able to do that.
• There’s no way I could ever do that.
• I just don’t have the energy.

Who was it that said: “Whether you believe you can, or believe you can’t, you’re right.” Too many people look at these excuses as valid and the physical limits as permanent. Correcting your perceived limitations won’t happen overnight but by following a good exercise method, you’ll see a big improvement right at the beginning. Then, of course, a plateau, and then another round of improvement. Your own body will tell you when you have reached your real physical limits.

Don’t expect to get the flexibility, mobility, joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles of a Cirque de Soleil performer or a Chinese Acrobat. This is well beyond the scope of anything I want to suggest. But you can steadily increase your own strength, mobility, flexibility, range of motion and reach what nature intended your body to be able to do.

In the words of Nicolai Amosov, the famous Ukrainian Surgeon, Scientist, Fitness author, and Exercise Physiologist: “So, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the experiment continues! We are pushing pessimism back. Limits for old men [and women] are abolished. Life is a pretty good thing after all.”

Thanks for reading.