KABOOMER: Movement as Good Medicine!

“Be proud of your KABOOMER kit, whatever it
may be. Then get strong.”

KABOOMER: Thriving and Striving into your Nineties

Strength Matters Mightily!

Those of us born between the years 1946 and 1964 are special. And, some of us can STAY special for longer with more work than luck. Let’s dwell on our special little mice and do the work.

You may recall from your readings of KABOOMER that a word we often chat about, or, lust after and                                  pursue  – M U S C L E – is a derivation of the Latin word meaning “little mice.” You read that correctly. Creative minds at play in Roman times, I suppose, because size can matter!

Some of our muscle fibers are almost a foot-long (sorry, SUBWAY).

Credit: Haggard Hawks

How? By moving stuff. Pushing, pulling, or twisting with heavy-enough stuff to “wear out rather than rust out” as Jack LaLanne asserted.  No arguments here that it sounds simple – Just Move Stuff, says Koach. When? Twice weekly in tailored regimens for most KABOOMERS.

It is and becomes harder as we age to wear out later rather than wither or rust out earlier. In your and my recipe for living longer and better, strength moves [not marketed potions or steroidal supplements], plus sleep, sustenance, and stamina are major ingredients to stir-up and avoid “wither” regularly. Recall that Popeye, now a comical centenarian, chose Spinach to be strong to his finish.

Credit: Giphy

We must appreciate the efforts to lengthen and thicken our skeletal muscle fibers to avoid that nasty outcome of “normal” aging – SARCOPENIA– or loss of flesh[muscle].

KABOOMERs can and should strive to slow their loss of flesh by moving stuff at “right” tempo, volume, and intensity – until their mid-80s.  Yes, that is correct.  You CAN defer sarcopenia and develop thicker and longer muscle fibers with tailored movements into the middle of your ninth decade on this crazy planet! KABOOM.

Stoics like Seneca and Epictetus admired brawny shoulders as they wrote about brandishing weights for brief periods in gyms, before getting back to heavy mind-work. That goes for our ladies too; our Equal Rights Act came many centuries after they chronicled men’s strength.  Even then – heavy thought and heavy lifting were honorably linked as they should be for us today! Think and act on Mind and Body alignment through exercise.  Back to our Little Mice and why strength matters mightily…

Recall that one of the tried and true measures of probable longevity is grip strength. Our radial nerve system and kinetic chains from our mid-backs to our fingers generate the dynamic strength to register decent, good, or great Grips!  How is yours now?  As our forearms, wrists, and fingers are key to that Grip strength, working those little mice in all three body planes is key, and results of that work indirectly measure one’s likely longevity (barring a traffic accident or pandemic that is). Improvement in grip strength even if a boomer has some degree of arthritis can be expedient; certainly quicker than we can dramatically increase Deadweight Lifts! In about 8 weeks – many of us can pump and bump our Grip Strength to a higher level.

Or, if you are already blacksmith-blessed with a gnarly grip strength – you should maintain that grip intensity and duration for as long as possible. Female or male, sixty-something or eighty-something. You can check Dr. Google (or trust me) for the location, relation, and importance and impact of little mice in your hands and forearms.  Some of us have experienced repetitive stress inflammations like carpal tunnel syndrome or a tennis elbow  – which adversely impacts our grips and qualities of life.

Physical therapy regimens to counter CTS nicely intersects with what your Koach advocates for GREAT Gripping.

What do martial art practitioners do?  They thrust their hands into big sacks of rice, and open/close their fist / rotate their wrists. What was a great old-time Strongman move?  Hold a broomstick out at arms-length and rotate it.

Add fingertip pushups or shrugs to your horizontal repertoire. My W I F M point(s)?

“There is no skill we call
upon more in life than strength and the need for muscle.”36
Skills to grow muscle…reduce bodily storage of toxins…
Increase metabolism…function better by day and night!”

KABOOMER: Thriving and Striving into your Nineties

You do NOT need fancy equipment to measurably improve your grip strength in a fairly brief timespan.  Weights don’t wait. Get a grip of your little mice – starting today.  KABOOM.

Credit: Giphy

Be well past forty and stay strong,

Koach Dave

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