Why do we stretch? Because it feels good.

Old guys sitting around Micky D's like to stretch. The truth be told... few can do it better. The only folk known to stretch the truth more are politicians running for something.
Guys who once swapped tall tales at the corner saloon now do it with a cup of coffee at a diner. Cheaper than a bottle of beer and we don't have to dodge police on the drive home. Besides, the light is better. We can see what we're smiling at.

Prepositionally speaking, life at the end...can be just as carefree and rewarding as in any other life stage. But we have to work at it. If stretching the aging mind is healthy, then so is stretching the aging bod.

Stretching the truth in tales that can leap tall buildings, comes natural to outdoors men, athletes and Don Juans. It can be healthy, relaxing and enjoyable. Women are not bad at it either.

Loss of flexibility, like gray hair and a thickening middle, is part of aging. Like gray, our tummy, hips and back of the arm...loss of flexibility is a negative that can be corrected.
Aging gets blamed unfairly for lots of things associated with a decline in physical fitness but inactivity is also to blame. Exercise including stretching, has been shown to maintain and improve physical fitness. Think cardio, strength, flexibility, balance, coordination. All can be improved through moderate exercise.

Consider Ed, 63, a new client who is starting out on a new  adventure. He is recently retired. Over weight pretty much all his life, he probably does not give a hoot about working out in a gym. What Ed cares about is walking his dog, working in his flower garden and assisting his mother.
Health issues, his weight for example, has slowed him to the point that he has considered, with doctor approval, a physical fitness program. Just so that he can do what he enjoys, walking the dog, his flowers and caring for mom. Each activity involves an element of strength, flexibility, balance and coordination.

Another benefit to being all we can, is staying on our feet. Strengthening the aging bod is protection against the leading cause of injury to adults over 65...falling. The ability to recover from a misstep. "I'm down on the floor and I can get up," brags Bill Walls.
A friend, Walls, 74, is a retired furnace repairman who occasionally gets busy with someones furnace. This means he is stretching, bending and crawling around on a cold basement floor. To say that Walls is as agile as a teenager is streeeeetching the truth. But Walls is over 70 and he's one of the guys mouthing off at Micky D's.

Notice how, in wild life documentaries, a prey animal, when threatened, will do anything and everything to stay on it's feet, even when attacked by predators. Falling is not good. As aging adults, we must do everything we can to avoid it.

In the United States, 20 to 30% of older people who fall suffer moderate to severe injuries such as bruises, hip fractures, or head traumas.

With age, tissue making up muscle tend to become less elastic. Muscle loses range of motion and becomes less flexible. The lost effects posture, a drag on our youthful appearance. It also effects balance and agility, we become vulnerable to falls.

Stretching lengthens muscles which helps us to zip a dress or reach an item on a top shelf, or craw around on the floor with grandchildren. It helps us maintain mobility and balance which can help us get to the bathroom in time. Just ask Ms. Jay. At 86, she is still quite active. She is independent, lives alone in the home she has owned for over 60 years, though she concedes that she has moved closer to the door leading to the rest room at church..."Just in case."

Bob, 80 plus, slowly drags himself into the gym each Sunday morning about 9.
"Been out late again," I say. "Yep," he smiles. Bob dates back to Gas Light Square. He is a long time Saturday night swing dance enthusiast.
Bob, Ms. Jay and Walker, whether they exercise at a gym or not have been life long physically active people. Slowed by age but not yielding to it, they remain active and independent.

Some names have been changed to protect the guilty.
Some information obtained from the American Senior Fitness Association, About.Com, and the American College of Sports Medicine
More on stretching.

Slip-sliding down a muddy hill can be hard on the bottom but good for the spirit

Why spend hard earned money on medication for an ailment that can be cured, let alone prevented, by going for a walk?
At three dollars and some odd cents per gallon, I'm starting to walk to Micky D's.
Experts, those academic types who have lots of time to think, study and research stuff, now feel that good old walking is as healthy an exercise as jogging, swimming or dancing.

What took them so long to figure that? Walking is extremely popular. Among the nearly seven billion folk making themselves at home on Earth, nearly everyone of them has tried it.

Walking is inexpensive. All you need are comfortable clothes and shoes, said Harold Rainwater of Asbury College, Wilmore, Ky. Rainwater is one of those thinkers.
For most of us, walking is easy to do and hard to get hurt.
Good shape are lousy, walking is great exercise, Rainwater said. "Virtually every cardiac rehabilitation program in America bases it's exercise regimen on walking."

So walking we will go.

Nature trails, advanced walking, are an extension of regular exercise but for serious hikers, the outings are not always routine.
Recreation areas like Forest Park in St. Louis are great for beginners but if challenge is why you eat Wheaties, try the 14 mile Chubb Trail linking West Tyson County Park with Lone Elk Park. Out I-44, from the Lou towards Six Flags, just the other side of 141. On the north side amongst those big old hills.

The trail is demanding but not overwhelming. Faint of heart need not try.
Switchbacks, drop offs, rocky, long descents and steep climbs. Playing tag with the Meramec for a mile or so, the Chubb, near the river's bank, is sometimes muddy and worst... flooded.  From the parking lot, the trail meanders invitingly and then with out mercy... the hills... one after the other. Going and returning. Don't remember walking down hill. Must have...just don't remember it.

Once on a cold rainy, muddy day, I stopped at a site over looking a small creek trickling towards the river. Good judgment and common sense said call it a day and turn back but Nooooo not me. Down the slope I went, crossed the creek and up the other side where I slopped on for another few miles.
As I said, it was raining and muddy and upon my return to the creek, and it's overlooking slopes, things were worst.
About the height of a one story building, I figured if I lowered my center of gravity and with good foot placement, I just might...swoosh, I went. Sliding, twisting, reaching, grabbing for a twig, a root, a rock, anything. Boing, boing to the bottom and splat short of the creek.
I arrived in one piece but was covered head to toe in mud. Gee! It felt good to be a kid again.

Never to old to learn something new

Once, at a dressy affair at a downtown St. Louis hotel, I escorted my frail, then 84 year old father to the rest room. Ready to leave, he stopped before a mirror, used his palm to brush back his hair, centered his tie, reset his pocket square and when satisfied all was well, grabbed his walker and we left. If he could, he'd have added a glide to his stride. A cut to his strut. In trying to remain physically, emotionally and spiritually fit, vanity counts.

As the care giver for my mom and later my dad, like so many, they were divorced, I learned a few things about aging. I'm trying to apply that knowledge to my skills as a physical fitness instructor.
I'm hitting the books again for additional training in working with older adults.

By year 2030, the number of folk 65 and older in the United States will be 70 million. Those 85 and older will be the fastest growing segment.

You'd think studying for this exam would be easy since I am one.  A senior. But it's not. It's the details.

It's a lot like driving someplace new. We men, stereotypically speaking, want to wing it 'till we're lost... and then we read the directions.
The course centers on designing exercise programs for older adults.
What exactly is an older adult? Depends on who is talking but since I paid the American Senior Fitness Association to teach me, let's stick with their rules.

Middle-Age, 45 to 64. Young- Old, 65 to 74. Old, 75-84. Old-Old, 85-99 and Oldest-Old, 100 and over. We are living longer and exercise, like everything else, must adjust to a growing...older population.

At 66, I'm in the young-old group which is better than being old, young.
Lots of folks get old, young. Some, for reasons beyond their control but for others...aging prematurely is clearly within their control.
That's what health and wellness programs for aging adults are all about...avoiding becoming old, young. Exercise is part of the plan.

Goo-gobs of evidence show that exercise can reduce or prevent some of the decline associated with aging. Physical activity, both aerobic and strength, is good for the heart and promotes fat loss. It controls blood pressure and reduces blood sugar. Lowers stress and increases energy levels. It improves joint stability, balance and coordination.
Effective exercise helps us get to the rest room in time.
Functional exercise, that which we practice in the gym so that we remain independent at home, is the nail upon which I hang my sweat shirt of exercise.

For dad, physically active for much of his life but in his final years, sitting and standing while working on his wood carvings, bathing and personal grooming was close to all he could do independently and that... he took seriously and did well.
Then there was the time, scooting along on his walker at church one Sunday morning, he challenged another old- timer to race...but that's another story.

The World Health Organization recommends that older adults, with poor mobility, practice the skills needed to enhance balance and to prevent falls on 3 or more days a week. World Health also suggest that muscle-strengthening activities be done on two or more days a week.
When health keeps seniors from doing the recommended, then they should do as much as they can.-WHO

For a younger aging adult, not accustomed to exercise, skills such as hygiene, grooming and makeup, are enough to build an effective exercise program. Admit it or not. The intent of a well groomed, well dressed individual is to look good. To be physically fit is to complete the look. Exercise is an extension of makeup.
Persons motivated by a health issue, high blood pressure, also exercise to achieve a goal. Lower pressure.

On the other hand, exercise for an active older athlete, is an activity that they have always engaged. It is... who they are.
A friend, an avid hiker, once routinely walked a mile in thirteen minutes and some odd seconds, said he is now doing good to walk it in 20.
"But I can still hike 10," he said upbeat. "Just takes me longer," sighed he.

Thanks to a former president of the United States, shuffleboard, the image often used to illustrate old folk at play, is being replaced by the senior George Bush, who celebrates birthdays by jumping out of airplanes.
Lead by the likes of George the 41st, Boomers, who have never been quite about anything, are not likely to be quite about getting old-old.