Come to think of it, there are many who suffer from shoulder and other muscular pains. I, too, suffer from lower back and neck pain. I like to think that this was brought on by my job which required me to spend hours poring over documents and drawings. It could also have been from the over-brashness of youth- overdoing the bench presses, striking the wall bags, stuff like that. Ah..the benefit of hindsight!
I remember a fellow patient at the acupuncture clinic who had such a bad case of frozen shoulder that he was unable to lift his arm let alone carry anything. Poor fellow.
Experts agree that regular and correct exercise help to keep our body lithe, supple and strong. But also we have to bear in mind that it is so easy to injure ourself, especially for those of us who are not that junior anymore.
Hopefully, these few simple observations can be of some help in avoiding injuries.
Warming up warming down and stretching
I read that it is so easy to injure the rotator cuff muscles, those muscles that hold our arms to our body. Injuries to any of our muscles can happen when we start off cold. Remember those stomach stitches when we played games as a child. They are muscles knotting up because we did not warm up.
So the advise is to warm up. Gentle rotating motions are best and I find that the more effort I spend on this the better.
Stretching is so important. There are so many kinds of stretching but I prefer the Tai Chi stretches. If you have ever seen Tai Chi, you would know what I mean. They incorporate lunges, gentle movements and wide circles. Holding a stretch for something like 20 seconds seems right although yoga people tend to hold them longer which I believe is what contributes to their flexibility.
There are many stretching routines but I opt for a free and easy approach, leaving it to my imagination. Let loose and experiment! I am sure yo will find one that best suits you.
Heart rate
Getting the heart pumping strong and going well is the best way to fight cholesterol besides keeping it healthy. It also is a great fat burner. When circulation is good, you will feel alive and bright.
The conventional wisdom say we should work our heart rate up and a percentage of the heart rate is used. Some say 30 percent. That means that if your heart rate at rest is 70 beats per minute, you should work your heart to 90 or so. I, however find that a good gauge is when I start to go into a gentle pant. Of course, if you are in your twenties or thirties, you might like to push yourself a little harder.
For a good cardiovascular workout, I find the three cycle workout makes me more alive. What I do is jog, march on the spot, shadow box or skip until I feel a good sweat, then I slow down and then start again, doing this three times. Experts say this is right and I agree. I suppose each one of us is built differently but the free rule applies. Do what is comfortable.
Go in increments and Go slow
Always, always structure your workout in increments. This is to say that we should know our limits. You can’t become a Mr. Fit or Ms Fit in one week. They say, “Listen to your body” and I find that so true. When I was young, I played racket games. There was this nagging pain in my right triceps (those muscles at the back of my upper arms) but I chose to ignore it. Eventually I could not move that arm and it took months to heal.
Drink lots of water
The rule seems to be eight glasses of water a day. How big is that glass? 500 ml would be a good guide which brings a person’s daily average intake to be four liters a day. The emphasis here is “average”. Much depends on a person’s activity, climate, diet and body size and composition.
Be warned though that too much water can be harmful to your kidney. If something is not right, consult your doctor!
Eat well Live well
We seem to live in the age of vitamins and supplements. I used to binge heavily on vitamin C but not so much nowadays. Being constantly exposed to fumes and air-borne pollutants at work, I figured that some antioxidants is better than nothing. In fact, whenever I find a sore throat developing, I would pop in like 2000mg of Vit C along with lots of water. I do not know whether it is the water or the vits but nice to say that it has always helped me.
Good healthy toxin free food seems to be the way to go. For one, I believe that we are what we ingest. A healthy balanced diet is the way to go. There cannot be any better advice than this.
Quit smoking
Everyone knows this but how? I was a smoker and I found the drink and drink method worked. It called for drinking heaps of water before retiring for the night. The logic is that this flushes out the nicotine from our bloodstream.
You see, nicotine craving is what makes a person continue to smoke. The craving starts when nicotine level in the blood drops. The method works on the fact that this craving is minimized when we are sleeping. It is easier to deal with it in the morning when the initial craving has passed. As the day progresses, nicotine level drops further. When there is no more nicotine left, the craving ceases. It then becomes a matter of conquering a habitual reflex.
Do this for a week and you are cured.
The Sunblock
Of course never forget the sunscreen lotion if you are exercising outdoors, especially if you exercise out in full sunshine. Surely the women among us would appreciate wrinkle-free skin. Needless to say, the UV in sunlight can cause skin cancer.
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Warming down is just as important as warming up too to prevent injuries. Btw, I love how Pocoyo is exercising!