Doesn't exist. Sorry...
But I am pretty sure that there are
other alternatives that may help deal with the growing old process.
One alternative is eating well and the other is staying fit. The eating
well part will not be dealt with in this post, but one perspective on
the staying fit part will. As the oldest member of the NEA blog crew I
will do my best to provide some insight. Feel free to chime in...
I
have never been great at training in a conventional sense. The very
idea of it brings back memories of screaming football coaches, misplaced
testosterone and the smell of mud. Now that I am about to reach the
ripe old age of 46, and I have had a litany of injuries, I feel like it
is time to share some ideas around this topic and investigate what works
for me as well as what doesn’t.
While I was a teenager I spent my
days going to one form of practice or another. Back then it was all
about lifting weights or doing sprints. We ran around a track, threw
long metal spears and heavy metal balls, and slammed into other
pubescent boys while fighting over a pigskin. All of this was done in a
very orderly fashion that did include five minutes at the beginning of
each practice (or game) stretching in unison. But to me this always
seemed to be more about some sort of pregame choreography then really
loosening up.
Thirty years later most of my time is spent trying
to keep my body functioning properly rather then trying to achieve some
sort of Olympic grade, peak performance. At this point what works best
for me is a simple one to four equation - one hour of body friendly
training for every four hours of body draining activities. Body
friendly activities include yoga, Pilates, road riding and high
repetition weight training. Body draining activities include climbing
(especially pulling plastic), hiking, and mountain bike riding.
Another
aspect of training that I think is really important is the idea of
lifestyle training versus non-lifestyle training. In my world lifestyle
training is focusing on activities that the participant enjoys.
Non-lifestyle training is doing activities that the participant only
does in order to get stronger. Now that I have said that I feel like I
need to make a big distinction here - I am not trying to achieve peak
performance, or participate in a competitive sport. I am just trying to
maintain a healthy level of strength, endurance and flexibility so that
I can continue to participate in the activities that I most enjoy.
There are exceptions to this philosophy (to be discussed below), but in
general this seems to work pretty well for me...
- How to beat a floating shoulder...
One
exception in the training regimen is injury recovery Recently I have
been suffering from a shoulder issue. I believe the cause of this issue
has several components. The first being an old collar bone dislocation
that needed surgery. The second and third components have to do with
over and under training. The over training came in the form of an over
use injury caused by pulling overhanging plastic holds at the gym. I
believe this injury could have been avoided if I had not been under
training the opposing muscles in the front of the shoulders and the
pectoral area. In my case the under training was not training the
opposition muscles at all.
Now I am dealing with what I refer to
as the "mysterious floating shoulder". I can push the external flank of
my left shoulder and the socket will move in and out of the joint with a
slight popping sound deep in the cavity of the shoulder. Not very
comforting to say the least. I can still pull hard while climbing and
exercising, but I feel that by doing so I only perpetuate the injury. I
have continued to climb (although with caution) outside and have begun
to do a series of exercises that involve yoga classes, high repetition
weight training and a series of activities involving a large resistance,
exercise band.
I have chosen not to see a doctor about my
shoulder. In the past I have spent a great deal of time and effort
waiting for appointments so a doctor to tell me something I already know
- my shoulder is messed up. After I find out from the doctor what is
wrong with my shoulder then the process of finding a decent physical
therapist begins. This involves lots of phone calls and more time.
After a few visits the physical therapist will then provide me with a
list of exercises that I should do. After that, a few more weeks to a
month, the physical therapist will do another evaluation. This is not a
criticism, it is just the way these things work. Since I am leaving in
a few weeks for the Wind River Range I decided to skip the doctor,
phone calls, and physical therapy appointments and go strait to the
exercise component myself. Time will tell if this decision was a wise
one.
Another
part of the training process that I have recently figured out is that
it is not good to train full throttle all the time. Long blocks of
rest, moderate training stretches and accelerated training phases are
all part of the process. Since Brian and I are leaving in a couple of
weeks I have decided to train a little harder then usual. As of late I
have integrated one more yoga class a week (two a week total), one night
of road work on my bike, two days of squats and lunges and more hiking
over the weekends. I will only train like this for a couple of weeks
prior to my trip. Then, when I get back, I will take a real rest. At
least for a couple of days.
