Younger Longer--A Stronger Core

Modified planks. These do not hurt
 my wrist or shoulders. Be sure to 
tighten the core belly button to bra line
first then lift with the core, not back. 

Will Rogers often remarked, "Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there," or as I prefer to think, "Even if you are sitting on the right track, the longer you sit the sooner you age." Some weeks I steam along like a train engine, then one day I am slammed with a hitch in my get-a-long and look like an engine chugging till the gas runs out. Thinking the heating pad is all I need I sit and ache in comfort, until at last I stand up go to the gym or call the doctor and arrange for a Physical Therapy prescription.  These are the gray days when  I argue with myself about exercising versus sitting and napping. (Confession. I let the naps win, but not the sitting.) A stronger core is my new mantra for life.

Many of us who prefer to be called "Perennial" adults excuse our weak core muscles because of our lack of knowledge when we were younger.  I didn't know about sit ups until 9th grade PE. I didn't like them then, but now I know how to do them properly. For all I did right in the last 50 years by lifting weights, walking miles to seek fresh air, and playing golf, I rarely strengthened my jelly belly tummy muscles enough to keep my back in shape.

While I lived in Hutchinson, Kansas I joined a Pilate's program that serves as my ONE reminder that I can be strong again or stronger.  Like using technology, change comes our way and we can discover in any decade how to think with a clearer mind, walk with better posture, eat healthy meals, or to play a sport all with the help of a strong core because a strong core binds us like a bullet proof jacket stabilizing the spine, the lower back, and our vital organs. Sadly, we don't all have a bullet proof jacket stabilizing us internally so that balance and core go hand in hand. Younger Longer--Finding Balance

Research has shown that regular exercise can slow down the physiological aging clock and keep us young longer, what is the core?

Essentially, the core consists of everything within a person's center of gravity, all areas of the abdominal, the back, the glutes, and beyond. Exercising these muscles means to exercise an area that is part of the core musculature.   Core defined for conversation  

Notice that my hands are pointing to the area that I need to be conscious of tightening. I pretend my belly button and tailbone squeeze to meet each other. Then with the glutes tight and the lower back flat on the floor I lift my legs up and I hold them in a 90 degree angel for 30 seconds, three times. (leg curl)

Now with a little more knowledge (from Physical Therapy) and a conscious mind set that draws daily attention to my core, posture, and gait I am moving with more ease. After three weeks of exercising thirty to sixty minutes a day three to five days a week, and stretching my old tight muscles or using a foam roller on them I feel physical and nervous relief. Attention to my mind set helps me create tension in my core, and I stand confidently taller. 

Why is it important to develop and maintain a strong core after age fifty? Through the working years of thirty to 70 sedentary adults may experience as much as 30-40% loss of muscular strength as a result of reduced levels of muscle mass making us prone to injury and illness. Strength Training Moves for Women over 50 

Bridges. 

 How do we create a stronger core at our age? My suggestion is to talk with a doctor or physical therapist first if pain is the issue. Otherwise, consider exercises such as, bridges, leg curls, and planks, every other day. My basic pictures show these exercises. 

  

As parents and grandparents we find ourselves needing a strong back (core) so we can enjoy lifting and hugging our grandchildren. For those of us who enjoy sports at all levels, gardening, walking, or running we do not need to be highly trained and fit athletes, but we do need a strong core to lift, twist, bend, walk, run, swing, or get down on the floor and back up gracefully.  The Mayor Clinic website offers the best options on core exercises beginning with the basic (easiest). Click on this link for pictures: Mayo Clinic Core Exercises 

The icy brown tones of winter. 

Winter is the deepest darkest time for me, and I tend to slip into anxiety over my aging body, asking questions of myself and my abilities to walk purposefully instead of hunkered over, will I be able to compete on the golf course, will the weeds win in my garden or will I be able to bend and pull them.  These are such minor worrisome issues, but they suck away my confidence.

Last summer I set a calendar reminder on my phone for 7:30 pm every night. It reads, "30 minutes of exercise or 10,000 steps." If I achieve my goal that day I delete the reminder and smile to myself.  At the end of each week or month I look back and count all the times I deleted the reminder.  It has become the best self-confidence and smile booster for me in the last decade.  

I believe self-confidence shows in how we walk and greet others and strong core strength doubles the confidence to help us stay Younger Longer. Good Luck. 

One Hundred and Three

Simply stated, my goal is to live to 103 years of age and still be healthy.  I chose that number several decades ago when my health was stressed and my mother's words rattled my soul, "You are burning the candle at both ends.  If you don't slow down, Letty, you'll never live to see fifty."  Mother liked her idioms.  

I knew she was right, but I didn't know how to slow down.  So I exercised as a way to sustain me through the difficult years of raising teenagers, working full-time, and preserving my marriage.  The YMCA opened up the street from us in Norman offering all five of us a chance to work off some daily frustrations, and the Duck Pond at OU became our Saturday home as we ran the jogging course together.  We often treated our family to the greasy hamburgers and fries at O'Connell's Irish Pub after a good hard run. We weren't perfect!

A few years ago my daughter added to the 103 year old goal when she sent me a newspaper clipping, not a "link" (It's a family tradition to send newspaper clippings, helping to keep my mother's memory alive.) about a woman who didn't shoot her first hole in one until she was 103!  That hurt, especially since I haven't enjoyed watching my ball fly into a hole in one, yet.

My husband explains that decades passed, I prefer to say years,  then suddenly on December 1 of 2012 my medicare card went into effect, but I refused to use it.  Instead I attached the workout schedule for the month and set a goal of working out at least five hours every week until I turned 65 on Dec. 26.  Goal accomplished, and now it is months later, not decades.

In the last few years since retirement, my overall health turned a life sustaining curve when a trainer guided me to Pilates and other core strengthening exercises.  My body and soul felt alive and healthy after only a few weeks of Pilates, and my back grew stronger every week.  After two years of Pilates, I added Yoga and then light weights.  With three years of consistent training, plus long leisurely morning and evening walks with the dog, I can now play golf three to four days in a row; I can play competitively and not ice myself down the following week in a state of collapse.  Pilates and yoga will be my friends till the end, I hope.  The old idiom "A body at rest stays at rest; a body in motion stays in motion" is true, and I would add a body in motion stays healthier (Ok, maybe I need to attribute some of my ability to exercise and play golf to Advil or Aleve.)

Core Pilates with Abby Hurst.

Maybe it's the wine, the beer, the cheese and crackers, or the delicious large servings of healthy foods,but something is causing me to gain weight, right in the middle of my body.  So I decided I would take care of that problem by joining a "Couch to 5K" group three times a week.  For one thing, I wouldn't be drinking alcohol on those evenings, nor would I be eating large meals.  My line of thinking was simple--after eleven weeks of training I'd be a thinner me.  My brain forgot that my feet, knees, legs muscles, and hips were 65 years old!  I thought I was going to die that night after jogging only a minute and walking two minutes, over and over and over.   Sadly, my body ached enough that I admitted "defeet".  Jogging will not be in my future, but I am remaining dedicated to walking briskly,  two times a week with the dog, during the time of evening when I might toast a drink or eat a snack.  Who knows, but it is a constant battle to stay on the healthy side.

Recently, my dentist told me that my teeth and gums looked healthy and complimented me on taking care of them.  (Doc Jackson was convinced I'd loose my teeth by 25 because of cavities! Fear of false teeth at an early age pushed me to brush, floss, and care for my teeth.)  I asked Dr. Loudenback, "Will they last till I'm 103?"

He laughed, "They could."

Explaining my comment, I said, "I plan to live that long, if exercise, healthy eating, a positive mental attitude, and faith make a difference."

He smiled, "I just hope I'm alive when your 103."

Getting Better all the Time

My first thirty years were spent living as if I were invincible.  Only my heart seemed to be broken in those years, and broken over and over until the tears began to dry.  My scars showed openly from childhood falls and stitches, while the inward scars slowly healed, and were eventually soothed with a deep abiding love and a houseful of growing children.

Tuck the tummy!

The next thirty some years were spent raising children, sharing my love of literature with the world, becoming a writer, an LPGA teaching pro, and adjusting to those "Senior years".  All the while my back ached until one day I saw myself in a mirror hunched over like an old woman.  That couldn't be me, I thought, because I had worked out by lifting weights, walking, swimming, keeping my weight at a minimum, but there I was bent and constantly fighting pain.  Besides doing my best to keep myself in shape over the years, I swallowed many Excedrin's, muscle relaxers, Advil, and now Tylenol; visited the chiropractor frequently;  learned to apply ice to pain or biofreeze to warm up the muscles.  Massages and hot tub relaxing and stretching allowed me relief for hours at a time.  Then it became so painful I spent three summers visiting rehab, and when at last the neurosurgeon said, "Stay active as long as you can, because surgery will immobilize you."  I took a serious look at my future.

I was fortunate to have a physical therapist who recommended Pilates.  I had discovered through rehab that one simple strength training pose "the Plank" awarded me with a stronger core, but I needed more. At the tender age of sixty-two I began Stott's Pilates using the "reformer" and "cadillac" equipment of a trained Pilates instructor, Karen Larimore.  Within months my back pain was fading and a smile rose from within as I walked my dog, and swung a golf club. Two trips that spring to the desert helped to build my confidence that 'maybe' just maybe my back might be strong enough to play one more year of golf!

Stretch and Tuck.

Then one day Karen announced that she was selling her equipment, and I would have to find another place, another path!  Luckily, Abby Hurst opened "Core Connections" within the month, and I followed right along with a new personal trainer.  It's only been a year and a half, and my strength from head to toe has increased, I stand tall with shoulders back, my belly fat is shrinking (yeah), and my confidence in my backswing and "follow through" has increased.  Even though I'm 64, thanks to Pilates, I'm getting better all the time.

Excessive Moderation

Meet the queen of "excessive moderation."  This is not a new term for me nor a new idea; I've done it for years and most generally paid for it with my health as in this last two weeks.  I thought it best to define my term and then my mind wondered as I jumped from definition to thesaurus to new word then back again. Somewhere there's bound to be a little humor in this story.

Excessive is defined as an amount by which one quality exceeds another, when my eyes and hand wrote down "quality" instead of quantity I knew the joke was still on me or Freud.  Now moderation is a word and act I really respect and would like to model more in my life.  In essence it means to lessen the intensity or to avoid extremes.  It is so much easier to define the words than to live them. 

Chicken soup for the soul.

So here I sit coughing, sniffling, and hobbled with a foot issue called "plantar fasciitis" all because of "excessive moderation."  It began when I was a child, but then so did all of my good and bad habits.  On January 1st  this year I decided that my body now needed yoga to help me relax and stretch this foot.  I began with "hot yoga" for 90 minutes at Genesis and loved it.  The next day I went to another yoga class, then next day two yoga classes and my body was happy, albeit slightly sore.  Then I went to my favorite workout--Pilates, at Core Connections.  Thursday was warm and sunny in the heart of Kansas so I took the dog for a walk.  However, I walked too far south (it may have been a yearning for a warmer climate) and had to turn around and walk back the distance home.  That's when the hobble began.  My body began to break down and argue with me all of the way home, how dare it do that when I was so enjoying the weather.  Three days later I had read another book, sat with ice on my foot, soaked it in Epsom salts, caught this passing cold,  and let my aching body heal.  Hump!  Excessive moderation won.

This time I may have been humbled or hobbled enough to teach my excessive spirit that moderation is the key.  We'll see.