The Come Alive Project

Tag: Senior Wellness

  • Energy Bite 387 – Legs, Lungs & Staying Power

    Legs and Lungs. These can be deal breakers or deal makers as you get older. Your legs and lungs are often the first to go. But they don’t have to be. Your legs and lungs are the main two parts of the body that provide “staying power” for physical activity. When they go, your age catches up with you; when you keep them strong, you feel younger longer.

    Stamina and Endurance. Stamina is the ability to perform at a high level for a given length of time. Endurance is the ability to perform for a long time. Stamina is like sprinting. Endurance is like a marathon. Both terms apply to “staying power” and having both are important as we get older. When you lose either, it’s normally a matter of weakening “legs and lungs”.

    Years ago as I entered my 60s, an old rowing buddy from my High School and college rowing (Crew) days persuaded me to start rowing again. At age 60? You’re kidding? I did it anyway. I was terribly out of condition. The first time we took a two man boat out onto the Occoquan River outside Washington, DC, I had to stop at about every ten strokes to recover my breathing. My leg and lung capacity were virtually non-existent. The first night my legs were so shaky I could barely walk and my breathing was tortured to say the least.

    But I kept at it, and within three to four weeks, I was able to row up to seven miles with only one stop when we turned the boat around to return to the starting point. Rowing can be a very intense sport and combines Stamina and Endurance (Sprints and Marathons), all at the same time.

    Brisk walking can do the same thing for you. There is probably no better way for an older adult to build both Stamina and Endurance. Walking up hills will help with the stamina and walking long distances on relatively level ground will bring you endurance. Both are necessary to maintain your ability to “do things” as you get older. Both will build leg strength and lung capacity. I will point out that my wife has had both knees replaced and still walks. Check with a medical professional if you have a problem with your knees and most important, listen to your body.

    Add to that some deep breathing and some squats (standing up and sitting down in a straight backed chair for a start), and you will help build your Stamina and Endurance quickly.

    Since your legs and lungs are normally the first go go as you get older, it’s best to start doing something to prevent it from happening. As they say, the best time to start was twenty years ago. The second best time to start is NOW. So get out there and start working on building capacity with your legs and lungs. It will help keep you feeling alive.

    Thank you for reading.

  • Energy Bite 385 – Will “Expectations” of Aging, Actually Age You?

    Science is recognizing the interconnections of mind and body more than ever. There is now strong evidence that what you THINK about yourself can affect your genes, and the way you think about life can affect the way it actually turns out. While the actual science is relatively recent, that sort of thinking goes back a long time.

    Right now, whether because of the COVID Pandemic or because of other events going on in the world, depression and feelings of unworthiness have become a near epidemic among Seniors.

    This is nothing new. These feelings have been going on with Seniors since the first person started aging and younger people started observing.

    The words, the thoughts, and particularly the expectations that we express to ourselves and one another about aging, can actually affect the way we age.

    “The expectations of aging will age you” said Maxwell Maltz author of the famous self-help book from the 1960s, Psycho-Cybernetics. He asks the question: “Do we sometimes THINK ourselves into Old Age?”

    The traditional thinking was that a person becomes pretty much useless as he or she passes through their 60s and into their 70s and 80s. The retirement age for many companies has traditionally been 65 or 70 years old. My Father was a “young” 70 when he was forced to retire from being a well respected University Law Professor. Seniors of that age used to be considered well past their functional prime and pretty much useless to business and society. No wonder so many Seniors experience those feelings of depression and unworthiness as they get older. NOTE that I don’t call this practice “AGISM”. It simply represented traditional thinking in the 1960s and earlier.

    Maltz went on to say:

    “In expecting ‘old age’ and fearing its onset, we may unwittingly do those very things necessary to bring it about. We begin to taper off on both physical and mental activity. Cutting out practically all vigorous physical activity, we tend to lose some of the flexibility of our joints. Lack of exercise causes our capillaries to constrict and virtually disappear, and the supply of life-giving blood through our tissues is drastically curtailed. Vigorous exercise is necessary to dilate the capillaries which feed all body tissues and remove waste products.” — Maltz, Psycho-Cybernetics

    Beliefs are a powerful motivator both positive and negative. If our beliefs tell us that we are getting old and there is nothing we can do about it then we will fulfill our expectations and get old and decrepit. If, on the other hand, we believe that we can take positive action in both mind and body to slow the aging process, and EXECUTE on those beliefs, then we will fulfill those expectations and keep our youthful vigor.

    What are those positive actions? Physical exercise, eating well, breathing deeply, getting plenty of rest and sleep, and equally important, to think and believe that we can agelessly move though our 60s, 70, 80s and beyond with vigor and Flow.

    We can choose who we are as we age. As I wrote last week, we can CHOOSE whether to be AGELESS or we can CHOOSE to be OLD. It’s up to us which one we CHOOSE.

    Thank you for reading.

  • Energy Bite 383 – To a Fit and Energy Filled Senior Life

    I’ve been asked a number of times why I don’t demonstrate or recommend exercises that Seniors should be doing to get or stay fit. The answer is that while these articles are about Health, Fitness and Personal Energy for Active Seniors, this is not an exercise site.

    Our bodies take on different characteristics and go through different stages as we age. For some it’s muscular deterioration, for others, maybe bone density precludes some kinds of weight bearing exercise. For still others, weakened joints, tendons or ligaments will dictate some of what we can or can’t do. Our posture deteriorates, our body weakens overall, and often the short term memory lapses can signify future challenges.

    These are not excuses, they are simply what we believe are facts of life and represent challenges that, while they can be overcome, are legitimate reasons why we develop physical problems as we add on the years.

    This is all based on stereotype beliefs of what will happen as we age. Do they necessarily have to happen?

    The real point of Come Alive Project is to reinforce in the minds of Active Seniors that we can break away from what we traditionally think of as the normal aging process: deterioration and decay, weakness and approaching befuddlement.

    Personal fitness, personal energy and good health habits play a major role in longevity and empowering an active, enthusiastic and purpose filled senior lifestyle. Of your mindset and attitude toward aging are what either limit you or set you free to live a life of energy and enthusiastic purpose.

    I recently turned 81 years old and feel more alive and empowered that I have in many years. I keep my body fit but I’m not overly strong, nor do I have huge muscles. I feel great.

    My wife just turned 76, looks much younger and certainly acts and moves like a much younger person. That’s because we both take responsibility for our bodies and our attitudes.

    I would suggest that if you signed up to get this blog, you want, or maybe already have, the same thing. You understand that it is YOU who is responsible for the way you age.

    So, while I may start demonstrating some simple fitness movements that most seniors should be capable of doing, I will continue to focus these articles on how we, as active seniors, can break out of the stereotypical senior rut and instead, choose to move toward an active and productive life filled with good health, fitness and a strong sense of personal energy, vitality and purpose.

    Thank you for reading.