Are you doing too much or not enough?

“Euuuurrghhh, I’m getting too old for exercise."

This is something I hear a solid 10 times a week, and NOT from the 70-something athletes who still play golf, tennis, and even run on a regular basis!

Too many times in life our bodies will take the easy option and do what feels comfortable. Which, let's face it, is sitting down in awkward positions doing nothing at all or continuing with our normal busy daily routines as usual.

Here is a game that we all love to play: What Would You Rather? Put your body through five minutes of mild discomfort every day and do the activities you love pain-free OR spend 20 something years of doing what we perceive as “comfortable” and easy to then have months of nagging pain that won't disappear completely no matter how many packets of pills you pop? Realistically, pain has nothing to do with age. It is linked to activity. And in reality, our lack of it!

"Pain has nothing to do with age"

When you hit 1st January and your new years fitness resolutions come into play, do you expect to see your strength/fitness gains in the first week?  So, later on, when you find yourself admiring the results of your last 8 weeks hard graft, maybe flexing your new found muscles in the mirror and taking “after” selfies feeling proud about how much you have lifted or how far you just ran, but  somewhere in the background you have a niggling pain thats come on gradually over the last few weeks and doesn't seem to be making any signs of going away. Before you open your mouth to blame your age and give up doing what you’ve enjoyed and worked hard for, STOP!!! Sit down and have a think about how many times in the last 8 weeks you have stretched your body? Ok maybe you do a quick stretch before and after a training session (sometimes combined with a shower), but realistically let’s compare how many minutes you have spent stretching that week vs how many minutes you have spent strengthening?

"The shorter a muscle gets the more tension gets placed on the tendon which is usually the culprit for that long term aching pain and it’s so easily fixed by stretching."

You recognise that expecting strength gains in the early days is unrealistic but in reality it’s exactly the same for flexibility. As your muscles strengthen they shorten. So any time a muscle is put against resistance, it’s strengthening and therefore becoming shorter. Even leisure activities like gardening, walking your new puppy, riding your new bike, or wearing in your new running shoes can do it. The shorter a muscle gets the more tension gets placed on the tendon which is usually the culprit for that long term aching pain and it’s so easily fixed by stretching.

"The key is building some simple stretches into your daily routine."

You don’t need long, extensive, painfully boring programs, that for every hour you spend training you need another hour for stretching and more importantly you don’t always need to just STOP doing what you enjoy (usually the first thing you get told because it’s the EASY option). The key is building some simple stretches into your daily routine and building associations that remind you to do them rather than waiting to feel the pain or muscle tightness to prompt you. For example… boiling the kettle means calf stretches… drinking your cup of tea means glute stretch… running the bath/shower means quad stretch… you get the idea.

Ask yourself now, “Am I too old and doing too much? Or am I not doing enough?”.