Bodybuilding Seniors

I’m pretty sure that if most of us had to run around our local park we would at the very least warm up the calves and hamstrings before setting off. Now, how many of us could put our hand up and say we regularly warm up before the hardest distance event we all face…Daily Life!

We should be taking the physical effort required to do Life seriously and start to prepare the body for the day head. There are a number of approaches we can take to do this and give ourselves a competitive edge on life. Over time I hope to show you the benefits and strategies we can take to get more out of life.

Every process must have a beginning and ours will be stretching – in particular Dynamic and Static stretches. We stretch to maintain and improve our range of movement (ROM) and this improvement will in turn enable us to be more able to adapt to what life throws at us.

Dynamic stretching is where you take a joint and its related muscle group through its ROM. That is, you warm up the area by moving the joint normally in a controlled way. An example would be arm circles.  These activate the shoulder joint and related shoulder, back and chest muscles. For those of us who are about to spend the day attached to a computer this is a great exercise to help prevent your shoulders and back from hunching forward.

Here are some dynamic stretches for some high performance parts of the Body: Neck: Head rolls Shoulder/Pectorals: Big arm circles Hip joint/Hip flexors: Leg swing throughs Ankle/Calf: Calf risers

By targeting one or two of these areas every morning you will start to see an increase in the ROM for that particular joint. In tackling one or two areas a day and mixing them up throughout the week you will start to see all round improvement.

Static stretching goes hand in hand with dynamic stretching. Static stretches should only be preformed after the joints and muscles have been warmed-up through dynamic stretches or physical active, i.e. a brisk walk or jog.

It is through static stretches that we can start to lengthen the muscle and improve the ROM. It important to make sure the static stretch is controlled (ie. don’t bounce) and that you start to feel some tension in the muscle. With a static stretch you need to hold the stretch for 10 to 15 seconds and repeat it 2 to 5 times.

This stretch should not be painful, if it is it could a number of reasons behind it. Firstly are you over stretching, in which case calm down, be patient we’ll get you there in time. Have you warmed up the joint and muscle up enough before beginning the static stretch. Or there is some underlying issue within the joint and or muscle which is causing the discomfort, in this case you should see doctor to get a solution before you inflame the problem.

Examples of static stretches that can be used in conjunction with dynamic stretches and physical activity are: Neck: Neck/Upper Trapeziums Stretch Shoulder/Pectorals: Chest/Pectorals Major Stretch Hip joint/Hip flexors: Standing Hamstring stretch, Kneeling Hip Flexor & seated hip adductor stretch Ankle/Calf: Standing calf stretch

Well start by gradually identify one or two areas of the body at are either sore after a days’ work, a bit stiff when you wake up in the morning, or don’t quite have the same range of movement and flexibility that they once did. Then initially with a combination of dynamic and static stretches before the day starts, stretches those muscle on the targeted joints, eg. do calf raises while the self-important hipster makes your coffee and follow that with a standing calf stretch against the bus shelter while you wait for your lift to work. Or maybe arms circle in the lobby while you way for the lift followed by a Pectoral major stretch on the office door before the battle begins.

While you may not have time in the day to do a complete body stretch I’m sure that you can find time over a week to get all the important joints moving in the right direction.

All good things take time so don’t get worried if your arm doesn’t swing like you remember it or for some reason your toes seem a little further away than they used to be, in time all things can come back into balance.