The Come Alive Project

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  • Energy Bite 366 – Dick Van Dyke, Age 95 and Still At It

    I just finished re-reading Dick Van Dyke’s second book Keep Moving: and Other Tips and Truths About Aging, published in 2015 when he turned 90.  Dick Van Dyke turned 95 this past December, and is still going strong, almost as active as ever.

    Van Dyke is a classic example of how one can age well and feel young and vital, even at age 95.  His positive and upbeat attitude about life is part of the reason he retains his youth, and he attributes a daily workout to be a major reason why he is able to Keep Moving,

    .His book is filled with one liners, aphorisms, stories and suggestions, all related to aging and living a life filled with youthful thinking and vitality. I’ve included enough so you get the gist of his message, but not enough to run afoul of the copyright laws. Consider this article a review and endorsement of the book (I don’t receive anything if you go and buy it). Here are some quotes and a couple of the truths and tips included in the book.

    Quote: “Good habits matter. Eating light and fresh. Staying away from fast and processed foods. Not smoking. Working out regularly. Even going for a walk every day is extremely beneficial for longevity.” p. 43

    Quote: “In the morning I work out at my local gym. I’ll be honest, every day it gets tougher to get out of bed, put on the sweats, and work out. But it’s important.”   p. 42.

    That was at age 90. At age 93, he said: “I’m always dancing. I work out every day, mostly in the pool. I go to the gym and do a little bit of weight lifting, but at my age, not a lot.”

    Tip: “If a doctor tells you he can make you look twenty years younger, don’t believe him. Everybody will notice. And nobody will think you look twenty years younger.”  p. 143

    Truth: “Yes, you wasted too much time worrying about things that didn’t matter.”  p. 144

    Tip: “New experiences are the only things you can collect in life that end up being worth it.”  p. 144

    By the way, the book is a great read, and I recommend it to anyone who can remember back to the old Dick Van Dyke Show with Mary Tyler Moore, Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam.

    Dick Van Dyke is still singing and dancing at his current age of 95. In his book (age 90), he said that while he still dances, it hurts more and he takes Advil. I would guess that he’ll keep on dancing for another ten years, or even more. What a great lesson in longevity.

    Van Dyke recently played a part in the movie Mary Poppins Returns and he was a Kennedy Center honoree in 2020 at age 94.

    Thank you for reading and KEEP MOVING!

  • Energy Bite 365 – Make Friends With the Floor

    Can you get up and down from the floor? Easily? This is one of the most important things an older person needs to be able to do — get up and down. Most of us don’t particularly like the floor. It’s dirty. It’s hard. It’s got germs. But mostly, it’s difficult to get up and down from.

    So you need to make friends with the floor. Get used to it. Get comfortable with it. Yes, you’ll need to make friends with that hard, flat surface, because, if you are exercising your body in ways that are good for Seniors, you will spend a great deal of time there.

    Yes, I know, I’ve written about this before. A number of times, in fact. But it’s an important skill you need to be able to do — getting up and down from the floor.

    I hear complaints all the time about how “I would do crunches and planks, but once I get down there, I can’t get back up”. If that’s an excuse, then I suggest you learn the easiest way and start doing it. It may be difficult at first, but the more you do it, the better you will be able to do it. That’s called “practice”.

    Getting up and down from the floor is also a survival skill. If you fall and break a bone or have some other serious injury, you’ll need to be able to get up to some sort of “lifeline” to make contact with someone who can help. In these Winter months, even a light rain and a cold day can cause ice to form in ways where you can’t even see it. And after sundown or early morning, getting the mail or the morning paper can be a dangerous event.

    And if you go to the beach in the Summer, how do you get down on your beach towel on the sand? More importantly, how do you get up?

    There are many simple exercises that you do on the floor. I mentioned crunches, planks, and other excellent ground movements for Seniors that are excellent for your leg and hip mobility and flexibility. If you can’t get down and up from the floor, you won’t get the powerful benefits of them — particularly for Seniors.

    Crawling movements are a great class of movement that requires getting down and up from the floor. Crawling movements are great for body awareness, as well as shoulder and arm strengtheners. Crawling on your hands and knees to start with and expanding to crawling with your knees not touching the floor (”bear” crawls or “cat” crawls) make great exercises. Try sitting on your butt, then lifting your butt off the floor and crawling “on your back” for a while (”Crab crawls”). These are bodyweight exercises that most seniors can do. Yes, it takes some time to build the infrastructure in your wrists and shoulders, but they make great exercises for Seniors. Plus, if you do fall, you can crawl to your phone or to the door to get help if you need it.

    “Scrunching” crawls on  your back or “floor crawls” on your stomach can be important in the event of low layer of smoke from a fire, or if you need to get from one point to another after an injury, and you can’t stand or even crawl.

    There are any number of techniques to get up and down from the floor. The simplest way is to find a way to get to one knee and then lift yourself up from there with or without support. You are probably doing this already. It’s been proven that even Seniors in their nineties can increase leg strength (and size) though simple “partial squatting exercises” where you simply sit down and stand up from a basic straight-back chair. Give it a try.

    The important thing is to NOT fear the floor. It’s not your enemy. Instead make the floor your friend and let it help you get the exercise you need.

    Thank you for reading.

  • Energy Bite 364 – Joint Replacement Recovery Made Easy

    How 2 Days a Week in a Fitness Class
     made Recovery from Knee Replacement
    Surgery a Snap

    My wife had knee replacement surgery two weeks ago. After a day or two of feeling miserable, she is recovering like a 14 year old. She feels good, is on her feet, has nearly tossed out her walker and is almost off her cane. She is climbing stairs, and also doing the hard part, coming back down.

    Her post operative Physical Therapist said that she is in better condition than when she had her other knee replaced seven years ago. When my wife mentioned that she is going to a fitness class at her gym two times a week, the Therapist said “that’s why”. When your body is fit, you are generally able to recover from any surgery much faster. While there are exceptions, mostly depending on how extensive the surgery, you will recover much more quickly from a normal surgical condition when you are fit.

    That said, it will still be a while before she is able to return to her fitness classes.

    The point is that when you are in good physical condition, you are likely to recover from the trauma of surgery much more comfortably than if you are out of condition. Good physical condition implies good bodily function both internally and externally for the most part, and can be a predictor of a more rapid recovery.

    In 2014, I had open heart surgery to replace a defective aortic valve with a cow part. I had to spend extra days in the hospital because the surgeon, or one of the members of his team, managed to accidentally puncture one of my lungs during the process. I was in pretty good physical condition going in to the surgery. After 9 days in the hospital, because of the punctured lung, my arm and leg muscles had atrophied down to the size of my wrists. I left the hospital weak and unstable.

    But recovery came fast. I was walking around the neighborhood soon after I got home (with the blessing and encouragement of a Physical Therapist), as well as using resistance bands and light weights to rebuild and strengthen my deteriorated muscles.

    My recovery was quick and easy. By the time I was able to get into the hospital’s Heart Rehabilitation Program, I was already well ahead of where most patients are when they come into that program. Why? Because I was already doing most of the exercises they were doing at the rehabilitation facility and because I had been in good physical condition going in.

    As you get older, body parts, particularly knee and hip joints, become damaged, worn out, or arthritic. In many cases, they need to be replaced. The better physical condition you are in when you go in for the surgery, the better your recovery will normally be.

    Too many times I have seen others, including close family members who don’t exercise, have long term challenges after a hip or knee replacement. That makes a pretty strong case for having some sort of simple, basic and ongoing exercise program.

    Is it true always? Not necessarily, but it is in most cases. So advanced warning: Get fit now. Stay fit. And you are far more likely to recover quickly from body part replacement surgery, without the long term disability that often comes with it.

    Thank you for reading.