Author Topic: So fit, yet so inflexible  (Read 4869 times)

stewart64

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So fit, yet so inflexible
« on: 11:58:32, 06/07/15 »
Ok I'm 51 and walk about eighty miles a week, probably could  play in two back to back football matches and can literary work in the garden all day and not notice.
 
Yet we are told that the best predictor of health is flexibility and on that measure I fail badly. Can't get close to touching my toes with straight legs or do those tricks beloved of yogics like sit up off the floor without the assistance of your hands.
Lower body strength with rippling leg muscles is excellent for stamina but the yogics, swimmers and gymnasts certainly have one over on us in the flexibility department. They may be pot bellied and  get knackered on a thirty mile work, but they've got years on us apparently with all their flexibility.
« Last Edit: 12:09:22, 06/07/15 by stewart64 »

ninthace

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Re: So fit, yet so inflexible
« Reply #1 on: 12:06:27, 06/07/15 »
Yup - I'd bend over backwards to be that flexible  ;)
Solvitur Ambulando

lostme1

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Re: So fit, yet so inflexible
« Reply #2 on: 12:12:57, 06/07/15 »
Yup - I'd bend over backwards to be that flexible  ;)

I would like to see a picture of that :)

On a more serious note, any suggestions on exercises to improve flexibility
These boots are made for walking.... so long as the rest of my body agrees

Calam

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Re: So fit, yet so inflexible
« Reply #3 on: 13:48:49, 06/07/15 »
I can thoroughly recommend taking up Pilates.😀..either join in a local class or search on Google or similar for Pilates exercises for flexibility. After several episodes of slipped discs over a few years and subsequently becoming so stiff that I couldn't tie my shoe laces aged mid thirties , I now do Pilates several times a year and in between that just do some yourself at home.
The advantage of joining a class is that at least someone in the know can say if you're doing the exercises correctly .it really does help stretch, strengthen and improve your muscle and joint flexibility.

werringtonwalker

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Re: So fit, yet so inflexible
« Reply #4 on: 14:08:02, 06/07/15 »
I do a brief 20 minute "stretch" class after a boot camp and spinning session at my local gym.  I'm still unable to touch my toes with straight legs but am closer now than I was.  And the plus point of doing it as part of a class is that the tutor keeps a close eye on things to make sure we're doing it properly and not over-stretching anything.


On another note, I like the idea of literary work in the garden all day - which I enjoy enormously by sitting in a deckchair with a good book whilst my wife thinks I'm painting the fence!   ;)
In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks - John Muir

youradvocate

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Re: So fit, yet so inflexible
« Reply #5 on: 19:50:02, 06/07/15 »
I'm now 70 and what I notice most is trying to turn 360 degrees sitting upright in my one man tent is now a little difficult. In the mornings I find that I have to say to myself "one, two, three" and then make a specific effort to sit upright! I have also noticed that if I am sitting upright in my tent and want to put my shirt on I often now pull a muscle in my back. I can also no longer put on my walking trousers on whilst sitting upright, once my shirt is on I now have to lie on my back again and then raise my legs in the air to do it. On a more positive note, one of the good things about my tent is to get out I just need to do 'a body roll' to exit. Good job I never bought a tent where I would have to come out, or enter, from the end, nowadays I would just get stuck in the grovelling position!

Slogger

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Re: So fit, yet so inflexible
« Reply #6 on: 20:33:06, 06/07/15 »
I'm 69 and quite flexible, but I put that down to the work that I still do full time, lots of squatting, bending, pushing and pulling, twisting, lifting, pushing etc. I remember reading somewhere that a good sign of good health is the pace that you naturally walk at, the faster the better.
http://www.active.com/walking/articles/forget-the-gym-why-a-brisk-walk-is-a-really-great-workout

mananddog

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Re: So fit, yet so inflexible
« Reply #7 on: 07:26:21, 07/07/15 »
Yet we are told that the best predictor of health is flexibility

It isn't directly and is not included an any of the new predictive models of "health", aging or longevity. It was included in a general measure of fitness many years ago and remains in tests often done in gyms and by private health providers. The fact that you walk 80 miles per year is a better predictor of your likely longevity - couple that with not smoking, not drinking to excess, not having diabetes or cardiac disease, not being clinically obese and not being on benefits.

Like most research it is the blindingly obvious that is important.

youradvocate

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Re: So fit, yet so inflexible
« Reply #8 on: 11:09:58, 07/07/15 »
There is an article in the papers today which suggests that people do not age in the same way, some age three times faster than others. To support the idea that its all in the genes? I would like to think that my general 'good health' life, until recently that is, is down to me not smoking, not being overweight, not eating meat, having an optomistic personality (hopefully) I like getting up in the morning and am always interested (nosey?) in the world and the people around me.

Hiking for me is great, it makes physical and mental demands on me, it can test me to the limit, it 'forces' me to make contact with complete strangers and it makes me belive I am not dead yet. My mother always believed that a lot of people who are alive physically yes, but in reality are just cruising through life and have been so, even from childhood, are just waiting to die. A bit crude I know but she always judged that people who look forward to the coming day will always enjoy a better quality of life than those who hate getting up in the morning. She believed this small measure was what distingushed one person from another.

Sorry, I cannot see what benefits are to do with it. Over my life I have met some people who have enjoyed a fantastic quality of life on the least amount of money. Is life only about being a worker drone? Its an attitude to life thing I think, work for me has always been just a means to an end, not something I woulkd judge my life against.

mananddog

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Re: So fit, yet so inflexible
« Reply #9 on: 07:20:57, 08/07/15 »
There is always and article in the paper, often misunderstanding or misrepresenting science or simply putting it in a way so it gets readership.

It is true people age physiologically at different rates (to their chronology) and even minor illnesses such as low intensity chronic pain or low grade inflammation from common conditions influence this. People with diabetes and prediabetic syndrome also age more quickly, chronic lack of sleep, shift work, social stress all lead to a deterioration associated with aging. The latter is why being on benefits is a predictor of future ill health, those on benefits usually live in the worst neighbourhoods, have poorer diet, often have ill health conditions and have experienced and will experience more social stress.

Work, according to all the research, that is good work, is associated with better physical and mental health. Uncertain work in lousy conditions is associated with ill health.

Genetics do play a part in aging and in fitness but not so much as people's behaviour - that it why I said to the OP that his behaviour - walking 80 miles per week is likely to be a major determinant in his future health - provided he does not get hit by a bus when he is out walking. It ain't just the genes you have but what you do with them that counts. I have passed the age by which all male members on my fathers side of the family had a stroke or heart attack - so far without either. They all smoked like chimneys and never exercised except as part of their work. I had the genes for a heart attack but I did, and continue to do, something about it.

youradvocate

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Re: So fit, yet so inflexible
« Reply #10 on: 15:58:45, 08/07/15 »
My mother came from a large family, 5 male, 4 female. All of the men died before they were 60, they all smoked and all died of cancer. One sister died of a brain tumour when young but the others all lived between 91 to 99 years.

midweekmountain

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Re: So fit, yet so inflexible
« Reply #11 on: 10:06:56, 09/07/15 »
All this talk of aging differently and genetics is a bit irrelevant cos the best any of us can do is make the most of the machine fate dealt us!!!!!


I was always taught that fitness is specific, ie if you walk 80 miles per week it makes you fit enough to walk 80 miles per week and if you sit at a desk all week or cycle to work- yes you got it!!!!


Don't do gyms or fitness classes, think that the best, only way for me, is to regularly practice the things I love, hill walking, climbing, bouldering, mountaineering, cycling and provided I eat sensibly I take fitness for granted.


Varying your excercise is the key, working on upper and lower body parts prevents repetitive injuries and helps extend the life of joints.


Technically I get power training from bouldering, strength endurance from climbing walls and stamina from big days in the hills.
Climbing also develops things not mentioned here like balance, footwork, posture , ease of movement and most of all CONFIDENCE.


PS-Never been to a Pilates class BUT a chiropractor once recommended one cos (his words) 'loads of fit totty go'.

Innominate Man

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Re: So fit, yet so inflexible
« Reply #12 on: 01:08:44, 18/07/15 »
I am fascinated by this discussion as it is something close to my heart. It seems common for people that are reasonably fit or at least interested in fitness to presume others are fitter than they are themselves (grass being greener type of thing).
Easy example based on some comments earlier being that I presume those who run often are fitter than me. I accept that I am no where near as fit as I could be. But, I can touch my toes without bending my knees/legs - so the runners could assume I have a degree of flexibility/fitness greater than they have. 
I used to do a lot of stretching exercises to keep everything loose as I believed it helped my manoeuvrability for climbing. As successive years go by I do less and always regret that I should be more disciplined to keep at it.
One stupid social aspect to this being at my previous house we all relied more on baths as the shower was rubbish. Bear with me on this - being in the bath I found it easy to keep my legs flat on the bottom of the bath and extend my arms to touch my toes. Nothing special - but frequently done without even thinking about it. Now you know what I got up to in the bath !
Nowadays at a different house the shower is great and poor taps on the bath means it's an obvious choice (as well as quicker) to shower. Consequently, if I repeat the exercise now, I find I'm unable to get my fingers anywhere near my feet. I blame the shower of course.
As others have noted I realise that, even at a reduced level, the amount of exercise I do is far more than what my parents did and being a non-smoker I count my blessings that with some degree of luck and more effort on my part I hope to keep agile & reasonably fit - to do what I enjoy the most, oh and climb of course  ;D    
Only a hill but all of life to me, up there between the sunset and the sea. 
Geoffrey Winthrop Young

FrontFoot

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Re: So fit, yet so inflexible
« Reply #13 on: 14:38:20, 07/08/15 »
Ok I'm 51 and walk about eighty miles a week, probably could  play in two back to back football matches and can literary work in the garden all day and not notice.
 
Yet we are told that the best predictor of health is flexibility and on that measure I fail badly. Can't get close to touching my toes with straight legs or do those tricks beloved of yogics like sit up off the floor without the assistance of your hands.
Lower body strength with rippling leg muscles is excellent for stamina but the yogics, swimmers and gymnasts certainly have one over on us in the flexibility department. They may be pot bellied and  get knackered on a thirty mile work, but they've got years on us apparently with all their flexibility.


Don't worry too much, it can be due to a number of reasons. I has the same problem for years and there is one simple solution.....stretch....a lot .


My physio me that the issue as because I had a long back and short hamstrings (didn't even talk about tight muscles). it want this at all, it was simply due to the fact that I did the same stretch after the same walk for years, my body had not reason to adapt/change.


After 3 months of progressive stretching, I can now touch my heel (was stuck at lower shin before). try enhancing your stretch every day for 1 month, I bet you see a difference.

Innominate Man

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Re: So fit, yet so inflexible
« Reply #14 on: 00:13:15, 08/08/15 »
After 3 months of progressive stretching, I can now touch my heel (was stuck at lower shin before)
When you say touch your heel (as opposed to touching your toes) - I assume you are bending over backwards and managing to get your fingers down the back of your legs to the heel  ;D
Blimey that's flexibility taken to a whole new level.



Now, who is this physio of yours ?
Only a hill but all of life to me, up there between the sunset and the sea. 
Geoffrey Winthrop Young

 

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