“A human being is the kind of machine that wears out from lack of use. There are limits, of course, and we do need healthful rest and relaxation, but for the most part we gain energy by using energy.
Often the best remedy for physical weariness is thirty minutes of aerobic exercise.”
— George Leonard, Mastery, p.120

The human body wears out from “lack” of movement rather than too much movement. It’s like an airplane. Airplanes are meant to fly. Or like a car. A car is meant to drive. There are airplanes from the 1940s and earlier, that with a bit of restoration, are still flying in their original configuration. There are cars that have hundreds of thousands of miles on them as a result of being consistently driven. Of course airplanes, cars and people need to be not only flown, driven, or physically exercised a lot, but they also need to be taken care of and well maintained.

When airplanes don’t fly, or cars sit without being driven, they start deteriorating and rusting out. While they don’t stay sleek and shiny forever, with good, basic, overall maintenance and parts replaced at times, they will last for much longer than the plane that sits and is rarely flown, or the car that sits out without being driven and accumulating rust.

The same is true of the human body, particularly as it gets older. If we retire to our recliner or to the lounge on a cruise ship, we will atrophy, rust out and slowly deteriorate. Our hinges rust out, our muscles become small and weak (sarcopenia). Our bones get brittle and easy to break. Our lung capacity decreases and our heart muscle loses power.

But with exercise and good fuel, along with rest and relaxation, we can last a long time. Nutritionists and medical professionals tell us that most chronic illness result from inflammation and “clogged tubes”. Inflammation and “clogged tubes” are the result of our physical stagnation and poor food choices. We have to be careful to not let it happen.

As we get older, most of us start looking at what we feed ourselves and either say, “the hell with it” or say, “I’ll start eating better”. It’s pretty much the same with exercise and physical movement. We either make the poor choice or the good one. We don’t need to be told which is which. We just need to choose the right one.

Why do so many of us opt for the wrong choice? That’s the question of a lifetime. You can walk out the front door and keep walking for a half hour or so or you can plop down on your recliner and turn on the box. You can go to the store and buy real food, or you can order from the pizza place. It’s all a function of choices.

So, what do I leave you with today? That there are choices, and they are yours to make. Make them mindfully and carefully. Your choices determine how well you age. Don’t let your body rust out.

Thank you for reading.

A lot of the everyday movements we used to be able to do easily, have become much more difficult as we have gotten older. I was thinking about that over this past weekend and recalled an article I wrote a half-decade ago about exaggerating everyday movements to make difficult movements easier. Below is the article in its entirety, slightly edited to bring it current:

Exaggerate Your Everyday Movements

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 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.