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Wednesday, January 31, 2024 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
I was out on a long ramble through the woods west of Sisters a few weeks ago when it hit me that I’D BEEN DOING
Not today, Father Time!
THIS PARTICULAR HIKE FOR 30 YEARS. Against
my will, that led to taking an inventory of the difference between 28 and 58.
By Jim Cornelius Editor in Chief
THE GOOD NEWS IS, I’M STILL GETTING OUT THERE, AND I CAN STILL COVER THE MILES. The less good
news is, I’m wearing sleeves on barking knees, and it takes a couple of days to recover from those miles. Sometimes going hard at it leaves me sore and feeling like the Tin Man in need of a whole can of oil. PHOTO BY JAROD GATLEY
I don’t really think of myself as an athlete — other than tennis, I’m not really into sports. But I have always been very active, and my physical capabilities — the ability to put in the miles on the trail, lift heavy things, strike a ball well, and shoot straight — are fundamental to my sense of who I am. While I can’t pretend that time has no effect on me, I’m not ready to retreat before its inexorable advance. I’m still standing on the edge of the chasm shouting “You shall not pass!” Fortunately, there’s a whole bunch of folks in Sisters who can help us keep Father Time at bay. Intelligently, so we don’t get stove up trying to act like we’re still 28. I asked a couple of them for advice. Matt Kirchoff of Therapeutic Associates Physical Therapy in Sisters works with a lot of folks that match the profile of the fit, active — but aging — person. He told me that the two areas that need more focus as we age are warmup and recovery. And they’re things active folks often don’t like to pay attention to, especially the warm-up when we’re eager to get into the activity itself. “I think that’s the toughest thing — dedicating the time before the activity,” Kirchoff said. Kirchoff advises that we engage in five minutes or so of dynamic warm-up before any physical activity — not just sports, but yard work, snow shoveling — anything that is putting a demand on the body. Dynamic warm-ups get the body ready to move. Dynamic warm-ups include up-tempo movements like leg swings, arm circles, lunges and the like — not just static stretching. “It should be something to get your heart rate up,” Kirchoff said. You can find sports-specific dynamic warmup protocols online.
A few minutes of dynamic warm-up can improve performance — and reduce injuries. “If people were really mindful of that, I might not have a job!” Kirchoff said. Having a sport or activity specific training program is beneficial — one that includes rotation and lateral movements. Consulting with a professional can help you identify what types of movement best serve your needs. Andrew Loscutoff, a personal trainer at Sisters Athletic Club, says, “You need to recognize where you’re at now — and that takes some assessment. Having an eye toward individualistic programming is going to be the first place to start.” There’s a key question that aging athletes and active folks need to answer: “We ask them, what does your recovery look like?” Kirchoff said. Recovery has multiple elements: rest/sleep, hydration, nutrition, and active measures like foam rolling. “A lot of those recovery principles are neglected in a lot of cases,” Kirchoff cautions. “Sleep is important,” Loscutoff said. “Sleep is really important. It’s when you’re recovering from the exercises you’re doing.” Good sleep hygiene is a habit that offers dividends — better rest means better mood, better performance, and better recovery from activity. “Are you going to bed when you’re tired, or are you going to bed when you’re done watching TV?” Loscutoff asks. Create a routine that lets you wind down, and gets you to bed when your body is telling you it’s tired. Nutrition is also critical. “Having lean protein in adequate amounts” is especially important for older athletes, according to Loscutoff. Protein as a proportion of overall
diet should be prioritized. It can be difficult to keep the grams of protein up when we’re busy. Protein shakes can help with that. “A protein shake is great, because it can fill a snack slot while giving you optimal nutrition,” Loscutoff said. A shake is way better than a bag of chips. “It’s going to replace something that’s not nutritionally sound,” the trainer said. Both Kirchoff and Loscutoff are advocates of strength training. It’s especially valuable as we age to keep up our muscle and bone mass and to improve our metabolism. But we have to be mindful not to do a good thing to excess. Those of us who enjoy lifting weights, and rely on the mental and psychological benefits of the activity, want to lift every day — and that’s probably not optimal, especially as we get older and require more recovery time. “I’m generally not an advocate of strength training more than three times a week,” Kirchoff said. Loscutoff says “There’s merit to doing something every day, but you don’t have to go hard every day. In fact, it’s best if you don’t.” He recommends two or three sessions in a week when you’re pushing your limitations, with the rest of the days devoted to working on balance and movement. We can’t stop time and entropy — but we can slow its advance. Assessment from a pro, along with a little programming advice can help us adapt what we do so we can keep doing it. And focusing not just on the activity itself, but on the warm-up and recovery, can help us avoid injury and keep doing the things that make us who we are. So, hopefully, I’ve got another 30 years of rambling the woods of Sisters in me. That’s what I keep telling myself, anyway.