
A guest post by our web manager, George Beinhorn.
I’ll be 83 in seven days. I was very active until 15 years ago, when lower back pain forced me to give up running and weightlifting altogether. At 70, I was able to deadlift 270 lbs nine times, divided into three sets with five minutes rest in between.
My very high fitness level, I thought, would surely give me an advantage over the unfortunate oldsters I saw when out shopping –, shuffling along on legs that were long past their sell-by date.
Alas, the effects of thirteen years of sedentary living in my seventies were alarming! Just standing up from a chair after hours at the computer was not pretty. It was painful!
A woman who was famous in the running community, Ruth Rothfarb, was still walking and jogging through marathons in her nineties. She famously quipped, “You lose a lot of speed between 80 and 90!”
When I stood or walked, I felt pain everywhere below the waist.
When I told my doctor in great detail about all the aches in my sacral, iliac, piriformis, and gluteal regions, he was quiet for a moment, then he said, a little exasperated, “You’ve got old-guy butt!”
I didn’t mind terribly that I might never be able to walk far. The pain would stop me after no more than a block. But I missed the indomitable strength in my legs that had formerly made it easy-peasy to lug heavy grocery bags up flights of stairs. I could still ride a bike for mild exercise while shopping – but walking was a misery.
It was then that I found Shrey Vazir’s channel on YouTube. Shrey is an advanced physiotherapist who specializes in helping people over 50.
One video in particular looked intriguing: “3 Exercises that fix 90% of Problems for Ages 60+.”
In fairness to Shrey, I won’t reveal the details. If you want to learn how you can quickly, and relatively easily restore a youthful spring to your legs, do watch the video.
Here, I’ll simply tell you about the one exercise that very quickly and radically transformed my ability to get around pain-free.
It was simple, unweighted squats (“deep knee bends”).
Shrey knows his audience, and he recommends that we start at a level of exercise that is comfortable, even if it seems ridiculously light. He urges us not to do any exercises that cause unusual or sharp pain, and that we never exercise beyond a point of mild, acceptable discomfort. (If there’s sharp pain, don’t be silly – see your doctor before starting any exercise program.)
For most seniors, it might mean doing “squats” that hardly deserve the name. We can simply stand with our legs shoulder-width apart, reach out our hands to touch a wall or other vertical surface to keep our balance, and then slowly bend our knees no farther than is acceptably comfortable without sharp pain, and then stand back up.
Please do watch the video to learn the details of how many reps Shrey recommends, and how often to do this simple exercise.
For now, let me just tell you about the results I’ve experienced.
The simple squats quickly changed my life. After only a week of doing 10 squats daily, my legs felt 40 years younger.
Getting up from a chair was no longer a struggle. There was no longer a creaky “warm-up” period of shuffling until my legs were able to carry my body with relative ease.
Physiologists tell us that our legs, particularly the large muscles in the thighs – are the body’s “second lungs,” and that keeping them fit can not only help our mobility, but contribute to our overall health and well-being.
I’m very grateful to Shrey Vazir. I now simply do 10 or 12 full squats once a day, and my legs feel wonderful. The sacral pain still limits my mobility, but my legs are pain-free, even when I get up after several hours of sitting.
DrsHernandez.com
650-602-8972 (voice and text)
240 Monroe Dr. #305
Mountain View, CA 94040