The Come Alive Project

Category: Energy Bites

  • Energy Bite 240 – Exercise: Back to Basics

    One of the main goals of exercise for Seniors is to keep yourself active, independent and healthy until it’s time to go. Keep in mind that exercise is only a part of an overall health and fitness program for seniors. You should invest part of every day in doing some form of physical movement.

    Here are the main benefits that you should look for when you start or continue exercising as you get older:

    • Prevent or recover from a fall
    • The strength to push, pull, lift and carry things.
    • The flexibility to bend, twist and reach; the mobility to move your joints through their full range of motion.
    • Comfortably move from point A to point B at whatever pace you choose.
    • Get up and down from the floor.
    • Stand up straight while preventing “forward head posture” and a shuffling gait.
    • Reduce aches and pain
    • Prevent or recover from an injury
    • Look good and Feel good
    • Hold to an acceptable weight for your body type.

    While your body shape and your weight (body compositions) are mostly determined by what you eat as opposed to how much you move, exercise still plays a role.

    There are four modes of exercise that we all should be doing in one form or another to accomplish the items on the above list. These are:

    1. Aerobic exercise. Exercises that increase your heart rate and make you increase your oxygen intake. These include:

    • Walking at a brisk pace
    • Running or jogging
    • Swimming
    • Intervals of high intensity exercise and less intense exercise (HIIT)

    2. Resistance exercise. Exercises that pit your muscles against some sort of resistance to build strength and sometimes size. These include:

    • Free weights. These can be done with dumbbells or barbells at a gym or at home.
    • Exercise bands or tubes usually at home or at a gym.
    • Machines. Found mostly at gyms, they are also available for the home.
    • Bodyweight exercise. These are calisthenics like push ups and pull ups and other movements where your own body provides the resistance. This can include isometric exercises where you pit one muscle against another or against a hard surface like the floor when you do a plank exercise.

    3. Floor, Core & Balance. These can include programs like Yoga, Tai Chi, Mat Pilates and just basic twisting and bending, rolling, and core exercises like leg raises and crunches. These include:

    • Stretching for flexibility
    • Range of motion exercises where you move your joints through their full range of motion
    • Crawling and rolling around on the floor like an infant
    • Bending and twisting exercises
    • Abdominal exercises like leg raises and crunches.
    • Practice getting up and down
    • Off center balance and recovery exercises. Don’t try and just stand on one foot; allow yourself to get off balance and then do what you need to recover.

     Posture. Posture is a critical component of offsetting the effects of aging. Good posture can help you mentally as well as physically. Posture exercises include:

    • Various neck strengthening and stretching exercises, particularly for “forward head posture” prevention and correction
    • Scapular retraction and pulling exercises strengthen particularly the upper and middle back so your shoulders do not pull forward.

    You should include a few of each in each exercise period or do alternate days between strength and the other exercises. I believe you should do the floor, core and balance exercises every day.

    It goes without saying that you should start slowly and ease into any exercise program. You should check with a medical professional before starting any exercise program.

    Those are the basics. There aren’t a lot of books or manuals on exercise for older Seniors but there are plenty for those in their 40’s and 50’s. Check them out online. And I hope to remedy that absence of a good manual for 55 and up in the near future.

    As I said at the beginning, these are simply the basics for exercises for Seniors. You can make it as simple or as complex as you choose. There are a lot of very technical discussions of the mechanics of exercise online. My goal is to Keep it Simple. I’ll be elaborating on much of the above in future articles.

    Thank you for reading.

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  • Energy Bite 201 – What Turns Off the Flow of Energy

    Two weeks ago, in Energy Bite 199, I wrote about what we know as Flow, and how powerful a mental and physical effect it has on the way you live your life, particularly as you get older.

    In his book, In the Flow of Life, author Eric Butterworth cites Emerson, who he said:  “had this consciousness of the flow of life which indwells each person as a Presence and which is forever bubbling forth through each person as a fountain.”

    So, when I talk to groups, I use the term “Fountain of Youth” or “The Flow of Life” or sometimes “Feeling Alive”, interchangeably. It’s a mental and physical state of being  that provides you with an abundance of health and personal energy. It’s that state of mind where you are fully alive . . . and are “bubbling forth as a fountain.”

    But sometimes the flow seems to shut off. Sometimes the energy leaves you. Sometimes you feel low, even depressed. What causes the flow to slow or stop?

    • Negative People, places and things. Whiners and complainers. Other people’s drama. When you are around them, they seem to drain the energy right out of you. Unpleasant surroundings can also sap your energy. The same with clutter and noise.
    • Fears and resentments.
    • Physical deterioration . . . POOR EXERCISE AND EATING HABITS. Even poor posture.
    • You don’t use the tools that keep your Fountain of Energy flowing . . . Movement, Good Food, Deep Breathing, Meditation, Visualization (mental imagery), and even Affirmations.
    • And finally, when you write your own story, you’ve let someone else “hold the pen”.

    And writing your own story? That’s how to turn the flow back on. That’s how to age with energy and to feel alive! And that’s the topic for next week . . .  Stay tuned.

    Thank you for reading.

  • Energy bite 197 – My Wife Caught Me Slumping

    My wife caught me slumping the other day and told me to watch my posture. I’ve always been very aware of my posture. I have always made a conscious effort to maintain good posture. I’ve written and spoken about the importance of good posture for years. I used to get positive comments about my posture. Perhaps a stint in the Marine Corps helped.

    This is a three minute read but is worth it if you are getting older.

    Anyhow, I was noticing my posture in the mirror one morning recently, and discovered that I seemed to be bending slightly forward with my shoulders rounded and my head forward, signs of a deteriorating posture. I made a note in my notebook to watch my posture and to make a deliberate effort to stand up straighter. I didn’t think that it had actually become noticeable to anyone else, but just two days after I had made that note to myself, my wife approached be with a strict admonition about my posture and how it was starting to decline. That makes it a more serious problem. (And no, she doesn’t peek at my notebook).

    Why is my posture beginning to decline? First, I spend a lot of time at the computer — a couple of hours every day. That automatically invites the head forward, slumped over posture that my wife and I were seeing.

    Second, I do a lot of exercises for my abdominal muscles and not enough exercises for my back. If you are not conscious of it, that can result in a “pulling” forward and down of your entire upper body. If you do a lot of pushups or other exercises for your chest, that can add to the pulling forward of the shoulders. Unless you do offsetting exercises that will strengthen the “pulling” muscles of your back, the slumping will get worse. It’s a function of balancing the exercises.

    Ironically, part of the solution is consciously tightening your abdominal muscles as you are standing or sitting — not a forced tightening, just a conscious tensing.

    So what am I doing to correct my posture before it gets worse? First, I posted an index card on the lamp directly in front of my computer where I wrote in large letters: “Posture”. The reason? Simply to remind me and make me mentally and physically aware of my posture as I am writing or otherwise using the computer.

    Second, I started doing exercises for my upper and lower back to offset the emphasis I had been focusing on with exercises for my abdominals and chest. Most involve “scapular retraction” (pulling back my shoulder blades and upper back) and exercises where I am on my stomach while lifting shoulders and legs off the floor. In the fitness arena, the latter exercise is called a “Superman”.

    Finally, I am making sure I am mindful of when I lapse into poor posture by being extraordinary conscious of how I am sitting, standing, or moving at any given time. I am “visualizing” myself enjoying good posture — not only mentally, but physically. In his book Psycho-Cybernetics, author Maxwell Maltz said to picture your end result clearly and vividly and then capture the feeling of the successful result. He said:

    “Then your internal machinery is geared for success to guide you in making the correct muscular motions and adjustments . . . to make the goal an accomplished fact.”

    A little off the wall for you? Hey, visualization worked for Arnold Schwarzenegger, why not me? (NOTE: Arnold turned 70 two days ago on July 30th.)

    In the meantime, while I am making the conscious effort to regain excellent posture, my wife will be reminding me by punching me touching me gently in the middle of my back whenever she catches me letting poor posture get ahead of me.

    Being fully aware of the problem is the first step in resolving it. I’m glad I caught it early and that my wife reinforced it. My recommendation to you? Be aware and make a conscious effort to stand up straight. Your posture is one of the first things people see and use to make judgments about you. It is a vital factor in your health, energy level, and for your physical and emotional well-being.

    The takeaway? Keep an eye on your own posture. It doesn’t take long for it to deteriorate and it may not be noticeable at first. Don’t be in denial. It’s never too late to recover, but it’s best to catch it early and do something about it right away.

    Thank you for reading.