"I am too old to do that"
Nearly every day as a Physical Therapist assistant I get this response from somebody when I ask them to perform some exercise or when they are telling me about their aches and pains. Somewhere we got the idea that old age equals inability and incapacity, and it has to stop. You are not too old to do anything, you are just out of practice.
Probably the most common movement I get complaints about, maybe because almost everybody does them, is squats. Nearly every patient I see for thier back or legs will do squats, it is the basis for nearly all functional movement and is performed by nearly all of us nearly everyday. Yet almost every time I ask someone over 35 to perform squats for the first time I get "I can't do that, I am too old". Yet with the right coaching all of them are able to perform some level of squat that day, and by the time the 3 or 4 weeks of treating them is done nearly have the capacity to perform a full squat.
Take a look at some 3 year olds around you and watch them play, you will almost invariably see them squatting up and down without thought, hesitation or difficulty. How do we go from that to huffing and puffing just to get our self out of a chair? The answer is that we are sitting in the chair. We get to school age, maybe sooner, and we are forced to sit and be still for hours a day to learn. Then as we get older we are told to sit still because "big people" don't run around like that. Now don't get me wrong there does have to be an understanding that there is a time and place to be still and quiet, but there also has to be at least equal amount of time devoted to getting up and moving. When was the last time you took your kids to the park and played on the equipment with them. How often do we take them out and sit to watch them play? Get up and go move, test yourself, strain yourself. You will breath hard, break a sweat, get tired, and feel great.
Probably the most common movement I get complaints about, maybe because almost everybody does them, is squats. Nearly every patient I see for thier back or legs will do squats, it is the basis for nearly all functional movement and is performed by nearly all of us nearly everyday. Yet almost every time I ask someone over 35 to perform squats for the first time I get "I can't do that, I am too old". Yet with the right coaching all of them are able to perform some level of squat that day, and by the time the 3 or 4 weeks of treating them is done nearly have the capacity to perform a full squat.
Take a look at some 3 year olds around you and watch them play, you will almost invariably see them squatting up and down without thought, hesitation or difficulty. How do we go from that to huffing and puffing just to get our self out of a chair? The answer is that we are sitting in the chair. We get to school age, maybe sooner, and we are forced to sit and be still for hours a day to learn. Then as we get older we are told to sit still because "big people" don't run around like that. Now don't get me wrong there does have to be an understanding that there is a time and place to be still and quiet, but there also has to be at least equal amount of time devoted to getting up and moving. When was the last time you took your kids to the park and played on the equipment with them. How often do we take them out and sit to watch them play? Get up and go move, test yourself, strain yourself. You will breath hard, break a sweat, get tired, and feel great.
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