To get the most out of life’s available experiences, you need to be physically capable or you’ll miss out on so much.
When my son was younger, I would be able to play with him at soft play, even though a sit down with a coffee and book sounded nice! I could climb, shimmy, wriggle, hit my head repeatedly, throw, chase and squeeze my way around the saliva-covered obstacles. I’d leave feeling tired but elated, and not completely wiped out. It was something that I could do which a lot of other dads sadly can’t, which I am immensely grateful for – but, I did earn it.
This person is living my best life.
Being weak, overweight, and inflexible means there are experiences in life that you’re saying no to, and you may not even realise it. I can imagine if I was invited out for a birthday at The Crystal Maze in London or Laser Tag, I may say no and make some excuses, when the truth is I might not want to put myself in that uncomfortable situation where I might be embarrassed. By the way, I’m staying home if I’m nominated for any of the “thinking” Crystal Maze games. A lot of our decisions happen subconsciously but what might be available to us if we were more physically able?
As we get older, working on building strength, fitness and flexibility is key. They’re all important, but below I’ve listed them in order of importance.
Okay mate, you’ve taken this flexibility business too far.
Strength:
Lifting heavy things 1-2x per week is going to have a profound effect. Read more here.
Fitness:
Run or find some other way of sweating from hard work. Playing Mario under a blanket doesn’t count – even if you’re up against Bowser.
Flexibility:
When it comes to flexibility, a lot of people, including myself, find it difficult to add it into our routine, but we’re just getting stiffer and stiffer as the years go on. Believe it or not, strength work does improve flexibility – when I’ve worked with clients who have poor hip range of motion, I don’t get them to stretch, I get them to squat, and it works every time. After we’ve achieved that though, we can get stiff in other areas so it’s important to do some specific flexibility work.
We Lose (The Problems):
- Upper Body Rotation – I was in a beach café and I was told to look behind me to see a boat in the water. I couldn’t turn around to see it!
- Hunchback – Our upper back rounds and we look at our feet rather than up ahead.
- Reaching Overhead – That giant spider on the ceiling is just going to have to stay there.
- Tight ankles – You’re late for the train, but it’s okay, there’s a replacement bus, but oh wait, it’s about to leave, I need to run! This is where your Achilles might become your…Achilles heel.
Quick! Look behind you, there’s a lady who’s about to hit you with a twig!
Get Loose (The Solutions):
- Rotate – Lock your hips and just try and turn your upper body left/right and look behind you
- Get tall – Remind yourself to be tall by puffing your chest out and look ahead to counter your hunched over work position
- Reach – Lay down flat and let your arms reach to the floor over your head, or do the same thing but standing up in a doorway and use the upper door frame to help increase the stretch
- Tip toe – As Brits, we tend to be waiting in a queue, so we might as well tip toe (calf raises) whilst complaining about said queue.
I want you to get the most out of life, so if you need any help getting started, just send me a message.