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

[waingapu]

I know that most of the emphasis here is on diet. As a minor sidelight, I've been a proponent here of the "Push-ups Club" thread. It seems to have faded and it makes me wonder what is the real condition of the multitude who post here?

Obviously many do other forms of exercise, and still others are precluded from doing push-ups due to disabilities and excess weight. But as we age, no matter how good our diet is, can you really be healthy if you can't do even 10 push ups into your 60's and 70's?
Push ups are a basic marker for upper body strength as well as core fitness. For some, that may be knee push ups and for others full push ups, but each requires a minimum amount of arm and core strength. We are all heading into sarcopenia (loss of muscle) and frailty as we age. Could it be that many of us will get their much sooner than our physical limitations and age would dictate, despite the fact that we eat well?

So the question is, aside from those who have disabilities or current excess weight, can a person really be considered healthy if they can't do 10 push-ups?
How about your thoughts on this.
I bring it up because I suspect that a good percentage of the people posting here fall into the category... <10

BTW, just as a poor diet can shorten one's life, loss of muscle can also lead to a early decline in health, and a increase in life threatening injuries.

[f1jim]

" It seems to have faded and it makes me wonder what is the real condition of the multitude who post here?"

"I bring it up because I suspect that a good percentage of the people posting here fall into the category... <10"

I am not sure what makes you take a dim view of the fitness of a majority of people that post on the forum. I think it's a preconceived notion without substance. Like any health forum people come here to REGAIN health so I am sure there are those that need to improve this aspect of their life. But I think the above statements come off as rather arrogant. I imagine the particular thread just wasn't all that interesting to most of us. We have no official or unofficial stats on the capability of our members.
f1jim

[waingapu]

" Like any health forum people come here to REGAIN health so I am sure there are those that need to improve this aspect of their life. But I think the above statements come off as rather arrogant. I imagine the particular thread just wasn't all that interesting to most of us.

As I indicated twice, there are obviously a fair number of people here who have disabilities (from illness and other reasons) as well a good percentage who are overweight to the extent that such a exercise would be unusually difficult.
Again, I mentioned that two times. I hardly would expect those individuals to easily, or even at all, perform push ups.

Also, I was well aware that the "Push-ups Club" thread was rather repetitive and yes, uninteresting, as it went on. I continued it so as to provide comradery and encouragement for some of the other participants who saw the usefulness in their own striving for health and improvement.

My question here was really to raise the overall issue of the maintenance of our muscle mass as we age. Something similar to weight, which is easy to ignore for years at a time. Personally I allowed my arm and chest muscles to deteriorate for years as I mostly did bike riding and such.
Its too bad your reading of the post was taken as "arrogant"...

I was mostly curious about what might be the current condition of individuals and how they perceive that as a essential part of their healthy aging. Those that were never part of that previous ongoing thread. As a person who is in his mid 60's this is a issue that I find concerns many I talk to, but like diet, we often postpone doing anything about it from year to year. I did so for over 10 years

Well, it may bring some interest. Hopefully it won't all be as negative as your interpretation unfortunately was.

[olindaspider]

Excellent article here A Golf Great Works to Stay Fit, Well Over 50 on Gary Player (the golfer) and his routine for staying fit at 75.

[nayasmom]

I can't even do one push-up, and I'm aging healthily. I'm not obsessing over what I can or can't do, or what I should be able to do but can't do, or any other thing designed to encourage a sense of worthlessness. So sue me.
Robyn

[waingapu]

I can't even do one push-up, and I'm aging healthily. I'm not obsessing over what I can or can't do, or what I should be able to do but can't do, or any other thing designed to encourage a sense of worthlessness. So sue me.
Robyn

Interestingly, when I was in my early 50's I felt the same way. I was out-bicycling anyone within 10 years of my age. Climbed Mt Diablo, a 3,500 ft climb, twice in one day at a fast pace. I had just finished a months long house renovation that included lots of hard physical labor including lifting and repetitious muscle work.
But despite my feeling of invincibility, the next 10 years of aging brought about a significant change in my body. Without specific directed attention to my muscles, they began fade away far more rapidly than ever before.
Less than 2 years ago, I realized how diminished they had become. The pace of muscle decline picks up rapidly as you pass through your mid fifties and into your sixties. They give it a name, Sarcopenia, and it is real. Without deliberate actions to counteract it, it catches up with all of us ever more rapidly.
When I was in my 30's or 40's I could stop exercising for months and hardly notice a dip in muscle strength. Give me a few weeks and I'd be back in fairly good shape.
Now, in my 60's, after about 10 years off from upper body conditioning, I was shocked when I went to do some basic exercises and lifting. Trying to do 10 push ups made me feel like my body was made of lead. BTW, I was in great cardiovascular shape all during that time, cycling and hiking.

If you can't even do one push up now, what do you expect your ability will be in 10 or 20 years?
Even runners have to get themselves up off the floor at times when in their 70's and 80's.

There is something about aging that allows us to make believe we'll just be a slightly less agile version of our current self as we pass through the decades.
The reality is that many seniors suddenly find themselves unable to do the basic tasks of life.
Many of us who have cared for aging parents have seen these sudden drop offs in muscle strength in those we love.
My father took care of everything around the house and then, in what seemed like a very short period of time, he couldn't do almost anything that required strength.


The pace of muscle decline picks up rapidly unless it is offset by deliberate exercise and muscle strengthening.

" After forty years of age, muscle loss proceeds at a rate of 0.5 - 2% per year or about 8% per decade on average. This rate accelerates noticeably after age 60 and is highest in physically inactive persons along with a parallel decline in dynamic, static, and isokinetic muscle strength. The result of such age-related LBM loss is a decline in function such that up to 65% of older men and women report that they are unable to lift ten pounds with their arms. From age 60 and for each decade thereafter, the rate of muscle loss doubles."
http://www.dovepress.com/dove-press-blog-2-blog-post

[dteresa]

I never followed the push ups post because the last thing I am able to do is a push up. When I was young we were told that girls really can't do push ups except for the kind where you kind of roll the chest up off the floor. But I never even did them. Not something they ever made us do in gym class. But I think waingapu is onto something here. His statements are not the first I read with similar comments from various news articles. I myself have what I think is an unattainable goal of getting up off the floor without turning over onto my hands and knees and using my hands to push myself up. Can't do it from a sitting position like I could when I was young and I thought it was because I was so fat for so many years. Am thin and a normal weight now (age 70) but still can't do it. Also have a hip replacement so don't want to put too much strain on the hip.

I haphazardly lift very light weights at the gym and only do one or two leg exercises, again rarely now, because I am afraid of loosening the darn replacement. But I think it is something I would like to work on although I don't exactly know how. Not to enter any grandma america contests but to be more healthy. Pritikin always talked about diet and exercise as though it was one word.

If maintaining muscle strength will make my daily life easier then I am all for it. Although I would rather sit at home reading and eating bon bons and drinking mint juleps. But you do what you have to do. And for people interested in health and aging so that we are not burdens on others and can still be active we would all most likely be interested.

There is a book called Strong Women Stay Young by Miriam Nelson (or Nielson or something like that) which has weight lifting exercises. In a study she did she improved the strength of women in their nineties. Apparently it is never too late. I do not know if weight lifting is as good as push ups. Or if it would help to lift weights at the gym to make push ups easier or if you should just get right to the push ups.

didi

[VeggieSue]

There is a book called Strong Women Stay Young by Miriam Nelson (or Nielson or something like that) which has weight lifting exercises. In a study she did she improved the strength of women in their nineties. Apparently it is never too late. I do not know if weight lifting is as good as push ups. Or if it would help to lift weights at the gym to make push ups easier or if you should just get right to the push ups.

She does show a few variations in how to do push-ups in the advanced strength routine on page 189 of that book. She does warn that if you have knee, back, shoulder problems or have trouble getting off the floor not to do any of them, though.

[shell-belle]

As we age we need to stay strong and flexible & maintain good posture and balance. People over 65 often fall down because their balance reflexes are shot. And their core muscles are weak.

I've been recording "Classical Stretch" on my dvr. Here it is on KPBS at 4:30 a.m. It's 23 minutes of stretching and strengthening. I try to do at least 15 minutes of it each day.
There is always a warm up. Check out the website - they have DVDs for sale. I love the instructor - Miranda Esmonde-White.
I feel more limber, more flexible and stronger and my posture is better. The less you move around, the less you'll be able to move around.

http://classicalstretch.com/
Miranda Esmonde-White has spent most of her life dancing and sharing the artistry of dance with others. A former ballerina, Miranda has used her understanding of movement to create a stretch and strengthening fitness program, which targets the needs of everyone from women and men of all ages to elite athletes.

What I like best, is the fluidity of movement with no abrupt anchoring or angling of limbs.

Classical Stretch - her technique focuses on re-balancing the muscles in the entire upper and lower back region with a comprehensive series of gentle stretch and strengthening exercises.
She says back pain is generally the result of normal wear and tear on our body, which becomes unbalanced. It is often impossible to pin point the exact cause of the back pain attack. We like to say that it was from carrying a heavy load or a fall, but most likely it is just ordinary wear and tear. As we age the vertebrae in the spine go through a shrinking phase which is often the cause of the imbalance.


short peek at a few stretches:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHTCDinWb2k

4 min for hip pain relief:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcBnjYv9gUY

mini waist slenderizer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41sDkBr4jLw

[Katydid]

Back fifty years ago, when I was in grade school, children were inflicted with the President's Council on Fitness. I couldn't do push-ups, climb a rope, or do pull-ups then, and I can't do them now. Yet I'm fit enough to run a 5k, hike through a forest, pilot a kayak down a river and walk 6 miles and climb 25 flights of stairs everyday (thank you FitBit ). And don't get me started about the weird positions I can manage to stretch myself into during yoga practice. So, yes, I consider myself fit. Just don't ask me to climb a rock wall.

Kate

[dteresa]

I also have lani muelrath's Fit Quickies, which bye the way aren't so quick. Like any exercise program you have to put all those five minute exercises together to get fit so I was a bit fooled by the title. Do these exercises do the same thing as pushups and the esmonde white tapes?

And I will have to look up fitbit.

didi

[eXtremE]

I just checked myself. I got on the floor and tried. I can easily do 10 full body pushups.

I use to be able to do 50 tricep dips at once but not anymore....LOL

[nayasmom]

I'm with Kate. I do patient transfer (from any position to any position), lift my dog into and out of the car, move furniture, and so on. The mark of my strength and agility isn't in the ability to do push-ups. There is no activity that utilizes the body mechanics of a push-up, so to me the measure of health and physical fitness has nothing to do with whether or not I can perform a push-up.
Why go there?
Again, it's essentially a beat-up tool, and as such invalid.
Robyn

[eXtremE]

For total overall body fitness, you need both aerobic and strength training. All too often, ppl do one and forget the other. They go hand in hand and both will help you to remain independent as long as possible along with a healthy diet ofc as you age.

[Lacey]

It has been my experience that many women simply can not do a pushup. I have never been able to do one. In grade school the boys did regular pushups and the girls did a modified one. I don't recall any of the girls being able to do regular ones. Even the strong girls who did farm work. Years ago when I did serious weight lifting I was only a few pounds short of being able to bench press my body weight which was considered excellent for an average woman but, try as I might, I was never able to do a pushup. And I tried. Repeatedly, I tried.

In the course of my normal daily activities I do a fair amount of lifting, some of it fairly heavy, without difficulty. I have no problem at all getting up and down from the floor, and can do either without using my hands. I exercise regularly. I am active. I am not going to worry about not being able to do a pushup. Couldn't do them as an active, fit kid. Couldn't do them as a weightlifting younger adult. Can't do them as a fit, active middle aged woman.