(The following was initially intended for active readers, like folks doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, or any high-intensity activity. But I now believe it’s instructive for everyone, because the active folks can be the canaries in the coal mine for the rest of us. Pain and injury problems that you encounter when you’re active and “younger” can give you an early glimpse into what can happen when you’re older, with enough lead time to do something about it— pbk)
Full disclosure: I’m still working my way through the math on this matter. But I’m about 95% sure of my working hypothesis.
Short version: the answer is yoga.
Slightly longer version: it may involve cutting back on extreme activities.
Which would kind of suck.
It’s a problem if you’re feeling pain, stiffness, and muscle cramps
Some of you know that I’ve been using myself as a test subject for the past 7 years, pushing the envelope of physical activity in my 50s by restarting a grappling-based martial art (Gracie jiu-jitsu). It took 3 years, much experimentation, and input from amazing coaches to get to the current point of stability: at age 60, being able to go to class 3 days a week, roll around and spar moderately, and not break off any bits.
The final steady state regimen (not how it started) looks like this:
- classes every other day
- walking puppies 30-50 minutes most days
- stationary biking at low intensity 2 to 3 times a week
- 3 lifts one day a week, 3 other lifts another day each week
And life was good.
Until I added a 4th jiu-jitsu class each week.
Then:
- abdominal—abdominal!—muscle cramps
- charley horse hamstring cramps
- a current hamstring strain (strain = micro tears of muscle fibers)
- stiffness and feeling like a tight medicine ball, not in a good way
And the cramps, wow. Writhing waves of hard contractions for minutes, like the muscles were trying to pry themselves loose from my bones and fly north to Oakland.
The hamstring strain is puzzling: I’ve never had hamstring problems before, and had better than average flexibility for most of my life.
Harbinger of things to come?
The athletes among you recognize these symptoms.
Cramping, stiffness, and strains? Welcome to our world, doc.
But they’re also seen in aging. Cramping, maybe not so much, since cramping implies muscles, and age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia) is a major problem of aging.
But stiffness with decreased range of motion? Absolutely.
And injuries? I see patients every week with shoulder, hip, and knee malfunctions, as well as fall damage.
Putting yourself out there with athletic activity offers an early glimpse into what can happen when the body exceeds its limits. And when we’re older, those limits are easier to exceed with just the activities of daily living.
Or maybe the lack thereof.
What’s missing is a bit of everything
Looking critically at the regimen, there’s one glaring omission.
No dedicated mobility work.
Any strength coach will tell you that lifting weights develops full range of motion for the given exercise.
But lifting weights is basically done robotically, with the weights moving towards or away from the body in a straight line.
Competitive sports demand scrambling in all sorts of oddball positions.
But not with control and regularity. Extreme positions are held momentarily, under duress, and often while contracting muscles maximally.
What’s missing is controlled, non-linear movement.
Developing familiarity and relaxed comfort while doing a variety of real-life bending, crouching, squatting, and twisting movements.
In other words, yoga
Complex systems of bodywork movement have been around for hundreds of years. Thousands, if we include ancient dance and martial arts forms.
The most accessible modern incarnation is yoga. If conventional life and gym workouts involve walking and moving in straight, limited lines, yoga is basically everything else: head up and down, twisting, squatting, laying, arching, lunging, pushing, and pulling.
Yoga, tai chi, Pilates, Feldenkrais, Ginástica natural, and the Méthode Naturelle of the French bodywork enthusiast Georges Hebért are just a few examples of systems to reacquaint the body with the full vocabulary of movement possibilities. And they all defy the current bodywork emphasis on strength and muscle mass; they all develop balance, coordination, flexibility, and strength throughout the range of motion.
I’m not going to stop recommending strength training. It’s too important to maintain active muscle mass for metabolic, brain, and overall health and longevity.
But I strongly suspect that for an active lifestyle, strength training and strength/power-dependent sports are not nearly enough. More on this next time.
Action item
Examine your activity regimen; does it already include an element of dedicated multiplanar mobility work? Have you experienced strains, sprains, cramps, or reduced range of motion that surprised you?
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