The Mind Body Connection

Working out at the WG Rec Center this afternoon, we were joined by one of the firehouse crews who arrived in their ladder truck and ambulance, so obviously still on their shift. As I was circling the room waiting for Carolyn, who had been interrupted by a phone call, to finish, I thanked some of them. I jokingly noted to one that on TV, responder houses all have cool tricked out weight rooms. Apparently the WG house has a small one, but not enough for the whole crew to get in a workout. I realized that maintaining physical conditioning is really a job requirement for first responders. 

My mind drifted, as it is wont to do these days, back to a dispute that roiled the high school for a few weeks over the issue of teachers working out (by walking the track) during their conference period. The principal at the time, in what I think was more about power than principle, insisted that teachers needed to be in their rooms or the workroom during their conference hour. Granted, this was before cell phones, but it was also before classroom telephones. I can’t imagine it would have been any more difficult to get a teacher from the track than his/her classroom. That was one of the arguments we made, but this was a fight we were destined to lose; the price of winning would have been too high.

While I would never try to argue that the physical demands of teaching (only those who have never taught can believe that it’s a sedentary profession) are equivalent to those of first responders, I would maintain they are significant enough that physical activity, and its mental by-products, would have been more beneficial than sitting in a classroom, waiting for an unscheduled summons or phone call. I know that when I walk my mind is as busy as my body. And while I wasn’t much (okay, even that’s an exaggeration) into exercise then, I tried serve as an advocate for those who believed they would benefit. It is why forward-thinking companies today recognize the need for the mind-body connections that exercise brings.

Over 60 Workout

Physical fitness is, allegedly, an important component for a productive life. Based on my own experience, I think seniors should get daily life credit for physical fitness simply because staying alive requires most of the activities described below on a daily basis. Feel free to suggest others if I publish this prematurely out of fear that I’ll forget it.

I’ve already noted that I think the time it takes to put on my athletic shoes should count as part of my workout regimen. I’m calling that activity the “Socks Over Feet, Shoes Over Socks” Warm Up. It needs a name because otherwise I might forget the proper order and have to add it to Exercise #3, which carries enough reps on its own.

Let’s see what else is included in the Over 60 Workout. Large print format for obvious reasons.

The Over-60 Workout includes the following, none of which need to be done each and every day, but all of which you can count on repeating with regularity:*

1. Do Overs: 5-10 per day, the number of times you need to start over on something, because you forgot what you were doing, where you were doing it, what you came into the room for, or what you needed to do, wait, what was I working on again?

2. Roll Overs: Usually 3-5 per night, adjusting to the aches, pains, and other bodily functions associated with the Joys of Aging.

3. Start Overs: 1-2 per day, depending on your agenda: You know you did it better before, or you forgot where you started out the first time and now have the same project going simultaneously in more than one location. I’ve come to terms with accepting accomplishing one task has made it a good day.

4. Bend Overs: 5-6 per day, to pick up whatever (frequently keys, in my case) you just dropped.... again. Also used in picking up the pieces of what broke because you dropped it one too many times.

5. Up & Down Overs (Stairs): 3-4 per day, depending on how many things you forgot to get while you were up/down there, or what you forgot to get because you were distracted by something else.

6. Move Overs: Every damn time you try to walk in a straight line next to someone.

7. Trip Overs: Most days offer multiple opportunities to get this one in, even on incredibly flat surfaces.

8. Zip Overs: A small muscle exercise, created by forgetting, well, you know.

9. The ultimate, of course, is the “Keel Over,” but I’d suggest avoiding that one for as long as possible.

* Fortunately, you don’t actually need to count or keep track of exactly how many times you do any of these, which is just as well.

Short, Random Thoughts on Aging, Part II

I addressed this topic indirectly in a previous post: http://bobberndt.blogspot.com/2013/11/growing-older-but-not-up.html but what follows below represents some additional observations as Carolyn and I continue the adventure we call aging. As others have noted, getting old isn’t for sissies!

• It’s a good thing we’re retired. Otherwise I don’t know where we would find the time to squeeze in our appointments for the purpose of getting healthy, staying healthy, or at least trying to look healthy.

• Four days of subbing of elementary PE (another group that gets to go straight to heaven, plus subsidized hearing aids) and I was exhausted. Kind of like chipmunks: cute unless they’re in your yard. You’d think it would be easy: jump into shorts, shirt, shoes, grab your whistle and go. No, it takes me an hour and a half to get up to speed. Anymore, I go from “Zero to 60” in, oh, about three hours and then, by the time I get up to full speed, I’m out of gas. Figuratively, of course. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the last time I’ve been literally out of gas.

• I’ve named my feet: “Ginger” and “Lee” because that’s how I have to walk every time I get out of a chair or bed and start to move.

• Bending over and straightening up looks like a demo for the Fox Sports SlowMotion-StopAction Camera. And heaven forbid I actually have to get down on the floor. Getting back up requires a complex plan with more stages than a NASA rocket launch. Part of that process includes preplanning stable handholds for the return to vertical and time to let my head stop spinning. Again, that is a figurative statement. For me to turn and look at something often requires moving my whole body, kind of like those revolving rooftop restaurants.

• There is an advantage, I guess, to the old thing. Getting even one thing done in a day provides a sense of accomplishment. You know, like going up and down a set of stairs. Celebration time!

So, coming soon – The Over 60 Workout….