05/18/2013– Seniors Spring Into Shape

Seniors Spring Into Shape
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
The biggest mistake people make when they resume exercising after a winter layoff is doing too much too soon with a body that should have been trained all year long. You shouldn’t take a vacation from exercise. I recommend the 10 Percent Rule: Don’t ramp up your mileage or weightlifting more than 10 percent per week.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure ,the best thing you can do to prevent injury is to seek balance – equal amounts of cardio, strength-building, core, and flexibility exercise. Factor in your weak links, and pick routines that are right for you.
There’s a mismatch between longevity and durability. If you’re lucky and have the right genes and take care of yourself, longevity is not an issue. It’s durability that’s the big problem for many of us in the second half. Life expectancy has doubled, but evolution hasn’t caught up, and we’re outliving the warranty on our frame, wearing out our body parts.
The term boomeritis is shorthand for our weak links and vulnerabilities, the gray hair and wrinkles of the musculoskeletal system.

Patients ask me if doing push-ups and pounding the pavement after age 60 is healthy. It’s a matter of finding and respecting your limits. If you have a torn rotator cuff, you shouldn’t be doing heavy or explosive overhead weight training. If you have arthritis in your knees, you shouldn’t run marathons. I do not endorse “no pain, no gain”?
It’s not a great mantra or second-half strategy. Your body’s reparative capacity dwindles with age; it takes longer to heal and to recover from workouts. Pain is an important warning signal. There’s a difference between hurting and harming.

I am an advocate of “3-D fitness. It means using and moving your body outside of the gym, engaging in activities that are spontaneous, unpredictable, and fun and that involve balance, agility, and hand-eye coordination. Exercises I suggest are core work. A strong, stable core significantly reduces force and stress across the joints. If I were exiled to a desert island, my exercise equipment would be elastic bands, a stability ball, and a variable-weight dumbbell.
Look there is no “fountain of youth” Exercise is as good as gold. Much of what we’ve traditionally thought of as aging has more to do with inactivity and sedentary behavior, such as muscle and agility loss. And much of that is preventable and reversible.
There is misinformation about stretching, the notion that stretching doesn’t help or that it causes injuries. That’s insane. Stretching done properly will never harm anyone. I see so many ailments where tight muscles are a factor

I play tennis a couple of times a week at a high level. I also like hitting with somebody who’s good so that I’m drenched at the end. I go to the gym twice a week for aerobic exercise and strength training, and I avoid taking an elevator and walk as much as possible and do lots of physical stuff.
There is good news in 20 years, instead of being primarily reparative, orthopaedic medicine will be more regenerative. Instead of being Mr. Fixit and patching everything up with duct tape, we’ll be able to regenerate your torn rotator cuff or meniscus, restore and resurface a worn-out knee. The future is bright.
My final words of wisdom, is it’s never too late to change your fate. It’s not so much about the cards you’re dealt as the choices you make and your attitude. The power of the mind to affect healing and recovery is so underestimated.

The Mayo Clinic has a great core exercising program. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/core-strength/SM00047&slide=4