(note - I'm not a doctor, just an experienced athlete, and this is mostly anecdata and experience, but people keep asking me for health advice, so... here it is!)
Are you a nerd? Are you middle-aged? Maybe, like me, you're both. Well, you need to get some exercise! But if you were the sort of person who wanted to do exercise, you'd be reading a different post. You hate exercise. Let's face it, we all hate exercise - it takes time, it's hard, and it makes you smelly.
I'm not saying you should start pumping iron. I mean, you should, but you're probably not going to. You don't want to be MORE strong and fit than you currently are - you're just fine right now. But it would really suck to be LESS mobile than you are, right? If you couldn't walk or type or you had neck pain or back pain. The way you are is just fine, so why exercise?
Sadly, you need to do something to maintain your current level, whatever it is, or it will drop. Especially as you get older. Most of us can coast through our thirties or forties and for the most part our body will magically keep itself good. Mostly. But increasingly, you need to give it some help.
Let me give you the conclusion first, and then I will explain some of the reasoning behind it. Ideally you should do this while holding some sort of weight in each hand, but I'll get to that later.
TL;DR
- Stand up straight, arms down by your sides.
- Bend your legs and back, get your rear as close to your heels as comfortable, and touch the ground with any part of your hands.
- Stand back up to position 1, arms by your sides, palms facing forwards.
- Bend your arms at the elbow so your hands nearly (usually not quite) touch your shoulders. Try not to move your elbows or shoulders when you do this, and keep a straight wrist.
- Reach up as high as you can.
- Return to position 4, elbows kept low.
- Return to position 1.
Repeat five times.
Do this once a day.
Do not try to do this fast - slow is better - what is important is doing the full range of motion. Try to keep the stages separate, without flowing into each other. For bonus points, do this while holding something in each hands, e.g. a half-full water bottle.
Hopefully you find this no stress at all, and quite quick. Doesn't need any special clothes, doesn't make you feel out of breath or sweaty. Find some time in the day when you can just do this. First thing in the morning or last thing at night or while waiting for the kettle to boil or waiting for food to cook. Make it a habit.
If you have trouble crouching and touching the ground, only go down as far as you can maintain good control. You may also need to put your hands out sideways or forwards for balance, rather than reaching down to touch the ground - this is totally fine, and over time you will get better at it. It is better to do as much of the motion as you can while under good control, rather than trying too hard and wobbling around. Similarly, the ideal position is heels off the ground, ass touching heels, with your head looking up and forwards (like the girl in the picture - but remember she is ANNOYINGLY YOUNG AND FLEXIBLE and much better at it than either of us - I couldn't find a picture of an old person doing the pose). However, if you need to keep your heels on the floor, bend your knees less, and look towards the floor more, this is still good exercise.
When crouching some people keep their knees together and the hands outside. Others prefer knees apart, legs pointing at 45 degrees, and hands between them. Either is fine.
But... why?
"But Tom, if it doesn't hurt and isn't tiring, what good is it doing me? I keep hearing about cardio and how you have to do it for 20 minutes to work."
That is somewhat true, but that's for "cardio" - exercising your heart and lungs. Don't get me wrong - you absolutely should do this! But if you were the type to do it, you'd already be doing it, and reading someone else's post.
The focus here is something quick and simple that doesn't need a change of clothes or a shower, and just does a few key things:
- Moving joints through their range. This keeps them flexible.
- Putting weight on your bones. This keeps them strong.
- Putting stress on your tendons. This reduces inflammation.
- Gentle strength training of the muscles. This preserves their function.
Note the ordering! This will not make you into The Hulk. Not unless you start doing it with BIG weights. It's just designed to keep you the way you are. The common principle is "use it or lose it" and as we get older, the latter happens more. The body is a brilliantly self-regulating mechanism, but that self-regulation relies on input from us on what it should be ready for. These exercises will give it that input, without spending too much time or making you sweaty, which hopefully means you'll actually do them and keep doing them for the rest of your life.
That's enough sermon for now. In a later post, I'll go into the details of "why".