Thursday, February 9, 2017

Its 2017

Well whadaya know, its already February of another brand new year.  Time is flying so fast its leaving me speechless.

Lamenting over the past and my failure to keep this blog updated would really be a waste of precious time.  I'd probably just keep doing the same thing despite my good intentions... of putting together and sharing life experiences, in the hope that it would be of some use to other people.

Since thats the case lets just live for the moment and lemme write whatever comes to mind or catches my fancy.

Speaking of which, something happened at the park this morning that somehow prodded me into sharing some thoughts.  While i was pretending to be Lara Croft & trying some kickass moves (me being dramatic lol) i saw this guy sluggishly coming out  of his car, walk a couple of steps and went straight into stretching!! He seemed a little halfhearted about it but he still went thru the usual routine that most of us are rather familiar with.

I am an active person, a cardio freak.  In some ways i can also be considered a little hyper.  My son who has ADHD jokingly blames me for his condition.  "Ni mama la ni, mane reti duduk diam".... thats when  i come back all sweaty from zumba yet still keep pestering him to come cycle with me round the neighbourhood.

We all know the benefits of warming up.  Our muscles need to be nice & warm before we start torturing them lol.  And of course most of us turn to stretching to achieve that purpose.  Those mornings when we drag ourselves from the comfort of our beds and reluctantly prepare for some action, we vaguely remember that we have to warm up and automatically start stretching, pushing & pulling our limbs this way & that.

But its actually pretty dangerous to do so.  Especially when u've piled on the years like me and have bodies that are just not that responsive or flexible anymore.

Forget about the younger people, they somehow get away with murder lol.  Their young bodies can take whatever punishment they dish out.  But for me personally, i strongly believe that dynamic stretching is a better option for warming up as compared to static stretching. We can't just shock the muscles into action and expect them to perform.  Like an old used rubberband, more often than not it'll just snap.  The movements in a dynamic stretch would slowly bring the body into stretching mode.  Static stetching on the other hand is perfect for cooling down.  I can feel my sore muscles thanking me for it lol.

Theres a hell of a lot of debate over the benefits and effectiveness of static & dynamic stretching.  I don't want to go into that.  You can check that out with Mr. Google.  I can only say about stuff that is directly related to me and how best my body feels.

The fitness community is chockful of dedicated people but they are mostly young and are not really exposed to the specific needs & requirement of the older generation.  This puts the responsibility of  determining whats best for our bodies onto our own shoulders.  Be knowledgeable, advice cannot be swallowed whole.

So please, a little more care and awareness will go a long way. Our bodies need not be abused in the name of health & fitness.  Oh and on the subject of abuse,  please understand that NOT doing anything is also detrimental to our bodies.

Peace y'all 🤘

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