The Rest Of The (Exercise) Story

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The Rest Of The (Exercise) Story

By Brooks A. Mick, M.D.
July 22, 2006

I outlined my exercise program, the aerobic part, on this site a few months ago. Now for the rest.

AFTER exercising, you should do a bit of stretching, as that is when the muscles will tighten up on you. Unless you are performing in an athletic event which requires flexibility, you should NOT stretch before your exercise. That is when your muscles are cold and will be strained and torn most easily. But if you are doing high hurdles, gymnastics, or other similar sport, you should warm up a minute or two with fast walking or slow jogging and THEN stretch. Then perform your exercise and then stretch again afterward.

I lean my head forward, then rotate to the right and upward simultaneously to look over right shoulder, then back down forward, then up and to the left. This avoids injury to the discs and vertebrae.

I rotate the arms at the shoulder slowly in a couple wide circles one way and then the other. Avoid jerky or violent movements.

I clasp my hands behind my back and very gradually lean forward as in a toe-touching motion, but without the attempt to touch my toes. Exhale as you tighten your abdominal muscles to bend forward, inhale while maintaining your level, and then exhale as you try to go a bit more downward, and repeat until you reach maximum tolerable tension on the backs of your legs, and then hold it a few seconds.

Put one foot backward and lean hands on a convenient wall or post, and keeping your back heel firmly on the ground, stretch your calf muscles/achilles tendon as far as you can, but gently. Then do the other leg, and repeat once more each side.

Standing with feet apart about shoulder width, arms out sideways, rotate trunk right and then left, slowly and gently, but as far as you can, several times.

And that's about all you really need to do unless you are into a flexibility sport, yoga, ballet, or other such.

For strength training, you don’t need a lot of equipment. Do a few pushups. Do a few situps for hip-flexor strength. Do a few crunches for abdominal strength. Pick up something that feels fairly heavy to you once a day. If you want to go in for more, then go ahead. Doing more repetitions of a lighter weight is easier on the muscles than trying to lift huge weights. And much less likely to strain your back. And it’s just as good for you. Maybe better. That’s what Arnold Schwarzenegger said his secret was—lifting lots of LIGHT weights. (Never mind the rumors about steroids, and ignore the genetic aspect!)

I've been following my own program for many years. I just turned 65 years old, and can still run a couple miles in a bit over 20 minutes, have had only minor weight gain since I left college, and other than some minor knee aches and pains on occasion, have never had any significant health problem or sports injury. I've been a skier, a scuba diver, a sailor, a hiker, and passed the Army Physical Fitness Test every year for nearly 30 years. I can't tow a motor home as Jack LaLanne does, but am otherwise fairly fit.

I practice what I preach. And it seems to work.

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About the author Brooks A. Mick: Physician, still practicing medicine but retired from the US Army. Write just for the fun of it, but working on novel in the vein of Tom Clancy's politico-military genre.

Email: brooks15@cox.net

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