If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging healthily?

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Re: If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging health

Postby JOJO1947 » Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:57 pm

A great side benefit of pushups for us older ladies is a lessening of the 'goodbye wave flap' of the triceps. Another quick way to improve pushup ability is to start off on the floor on hands and toes, straight as a board. The lower down v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y until the chest is on the floor. Get up any way you can and lower down again. We are stronger on the eccentric part of an exercise than the concentric. That concept becomes clear when you think of a dumbbell curl. Grabbing a dumbbell with your hand hanging down at your side, then raising it (without moving your elbow) is the curl (concentric). Lowering the dumbbell to your side is the eccentric portion of the curl. Same muscle used and worked, but you can lower slowly a heavier weight that is impossible to curl up. My DIL used that technique to increase he pushup repetitions rather successfully. And I used it for biceps by lowering a 20# weight slowly, then using both hands to get the dumbbell back up. Now I can actually get out some 20# dumbbell curls!

There are so many different exercises to work the same muscle group. It's whatever rocks your boat so it's the most fun. I can't figure out the logic in making a blanket statement about healthy aging based on one exercise. :)
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Re: If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging health

Postby geo » Mon Apr 21, 2014 1:35 pm

JoJo is correct! A very good way to gain some strength to actually do an exercise that you cant currently do any of is to focus on the negative (aka eccentric/lowering) part of the exercise for awhile. Strength training basically has 3 levels of strength - Positive (or the lifting phase), static (or the holding of an exercise in a specific postion), and negative/eccentric (the lowering of an exercise). If your positive/lifting strength is 100%, your static/holding strength is about 120% and your negative/eccentric/lowering strength is about 140%.

The reason to focus on the negative to begin with is becauase you are generally about 40 % stronger lowering a weight than lifting it. So simply doing the lowering portion will quickly enhance your strength levels to allow you to eventually due the positive portion as well.

The key though is to lower yourself s-l-o-w-l-y and smoothly....take 5-10 seconds or more. Do as many as you can and then rest for a day or 2. 3 times a week is good enough to start with.

For pushups just get into the top position and lower yourself to the ground slowly. Then get back into the top position and repeat.
For pull-ups its the same. Stand on a box or a step or stool to get into the top position with your head above the bar. Then simply bend your legs off the stool and lower your self slowly and repeat.

You can do the same with dips between 2 chairs and so on.

In fact there's been alot of studies on negative/eccentric exercise in the last 50 years and its becoming more clear that the negative/lowering portion of the exercise is probably more important, in terms of strength gains, than the positive/raising portion. There was a major overview study done in 2009 on eccentric exercise and its advantages. If I can find that I'll post it. I could probably talk about this stuff for hours as its a keen interest of mine, but time is short now...
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Re: If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging health

Postby geo » Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:52 am

Here's the meta-analysis I had mentioned on eccentric vs concentric exercise. Unfortunately it doesn't appear to be fully available for free anymore:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18981046
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Re: If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging health

Postby HealthFreak » Tue Apr 22, 2014 7:27 am

My coworker and I do push ups at work. It's a good friendly competition to keep each other motivated. We track them on a white board. We use the Perfect Pushup exercise handles. I do sets of 15 at a time. I do between 45 and 100 a day about 2-3 times per week. I also work out at home with kettle bells and dumbbells. I use a 75 lb bell to do squats, sets of 12-15. I also bike ride, go to the gym and walk 10,000 steps per day. I'm 53 and I feel in as good or better shape than I did when I was 18. None of my recreational bike rider friends can keep up with me on the bike. I'm always waiting at the top of the hills for them.

I stopped riding about 10 years ago because I was getting pain in my knee from the repetitive motion. I decided to buy a bike last year and start riding again because I knew that my plant based diet would solve the knee pain problem. I was right, I've ridden 1000 miles with no pain.
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Re: If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging health

Postby eXtremE » Tue Apr 22, 2014 8:16 am

Sounds like you have discovered the fountain the fountain of youth. Keep up the good work!


I am still searching for it! :D
On 7/8/2013, I decided to change my diet to a "mostly" WFPB diet. I have always been somewhat lean and muscular due to being a lifelong exerciser. Change in diet due to feeling crummy all the time despite a healthy outward appearance. Image
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Re: If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging health

Postby JOJO1947 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 8:31 am

HealthFreak, I think you HAVE discovered the Fountain of Youth. The food we eat is of primary importance, but the daily exercise is the icing on the cake. I've been a gymrat for 10 years, and if I go just a few days without exercise, even though my diet is totally WFPB no SOS, I definitely FEEL it and it's not good. Keep up the good work! JoAnn
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Re: If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging health

Postby waingapu » Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:24 pm

Though some have questioned my use of push-ups as a "marker" for sarcopneia, the over all issue of inadequate muscle in those 50+ is huge. As vital as diet as the nation ages. I don't buy into the commonly held idea that women can't do X or Y.
They may not be able to do it as easily as a man, but they can make huge improvements.
The need to greatly improve muscle strength need not be taken as threat to one's overall sense of being healthy. Muscle strength as we age is a integral part of being healthy. Strong muscles are as important and vital as a low cholesterol score.

Here is a article that spells out this under-reported story that is creeping up on our nation.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-0 ... loss-aging

I believe that every 80 year old, who doesn't have a disability, should be able to get up off the floor without using a chair or other furniture for support. Because some day there won't be a chair nearby.
Muscle strength, flexibility, and agility, equal independence.
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Re: If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging health

Postby geo » Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:05 pm

I was just reading last night that the average person loses 0.5 lbs of muscle per year between the ages of 20 and 50. Thats 15 lbs of muscle loss over 30 yrs...much loss due to simply lowered activity levels as we age. The worse part is we never see it as we gain even more in fat over those same 30 years....and it only gets worse after 50... :(
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Re: If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging health

Postby eXtremE » Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:30 pm

ImageYou are right about after age 50. Everything really starts going to hell without adequate self-care. :crybaby:
On 7/8/2013, I decided to change my diet to a "mostly" WFPB diet. I have always been somewhat lean and muscular due to being a lifelong exerciser. Change in diet due to feeling crummy all the time despite a healthy outward appearance. Image
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Re: If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging health

Postby Gershon » Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:51 pm

They say the mind is the second thing to go.
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Re: If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging health

Postby waingapu » Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:01 pm

eXtremE wrote:ImageYou are right about after age 50. Everything really starts going to hell without adequate self-care. :crybaby:


On the other hand, if you keep doing daily push-ups or other exercise past 85, 90, and 95, well, who knows...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKVFcN7TeGg (91)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnHD9O_4WRs (85)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUdj0kjUHqA ( 95 + cute dog included)
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Re: If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging health

Postby momof4 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:38 pm

How about this lady?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgAdBr-3opU

She was born in 1925 and is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest gymnast.
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Re: If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging health

Postby HealthFreak » Tue Apr 22, 2014 7:44 pm

JOJO1947 wrote:HealthFreak, I think you HAVE discovered the Fountain of Youth. The food we eat is of primary importance, but the daily exercise is the icing on the cake. I've been a gymrat for 10 years, and if I go just a few days without exercise, even though my diet is totally WFPB no SOS, I definitely FEEL it and it's not good. Keep up the good work! JoAnn


I agree. If I go more than 2 or 3 days without some strenuous exercise I feel like a complete blob. I do think diet is the most important thing, but exercise is critical for mental and physical well being. Exercise is the ultimate stress reliever.
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Re: If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging health

Postby waingapu » Tue Apr 22, 2014 8:12 pm

momof4 wrote:How about this lady?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgAdBr-3opU

She was born in 1925 and is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest gymnast.


Yes I am familiar with Johanna Quaas. I thought about putting one of her videos in a post, however, she is such a outlier in terms of the normal population that I thought it would give a distorted view of what is possible for the average person.
She is so exceptional as to be considered a sort of statistical freak of nature.

Not only was she a world class athlete from a early age, but she is one the rare ones who continued to stay in competition shape.
Truly one in a million.

The examples in those other videos are real people, doing acts that a average person could strive for.
I doubt most of us even at 49 or 59, could do what Johanna Quaas is doing at 89. Even if we trained.
Still, I love to watch her ability to move with such grace and strength.
She makes it look so simple and effortless.

I'll stick to urging those in their 70's, 80's, and beyond, to just be able to get themselves off the ground without assistance.
Especially doing so without the use of a chair or other furniture to lean on.
That ability can keep a senior independent for many extra years and is achievable by most seniors with steady training.
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Re: If you can't do 10 push ups, are you really aging health

Postby eXtremE » Tue Apr 22, 2014 8:20 pm

Whenever I think about fitness, Jack Lalanne always comes to mind. He exercised right up until the day he died.
On 7/8/2013, I decided to change my diet to a "mostly" WFPB diet. I have always been somewhat lean and muscular due to being a lifelong exerciser. Change in diet due to feeling crummy all the time despite a healthy outward appearance. Image
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