I've Fallen and I ...

You know the rest of that. I've fallen and I can't get up.

I'd bet that most of us know of someone older who fell, broke a hip and soon died. It happens all too often. The New York Times this past weekend looked at the issue and described how doctors are treating falls as serious issues.

I thought of one thing when I read that article -- if they'd maintained their muscle tone, the chance they would've fallen would have to have decreased significantly. It just makes sense.

I never want to fall and not be able to get up so I'm going to do everything I can to maintain my muscle tone as I age.

The Bad Form Hall of Fame

That was my gym today, the Bad Form Hall of Fame. It seemed that everywhere I looked people were using bad form.

There was one guy who did every exercise he tried incorrectly, which had to be some sort of record. When he did tricep pushdowns, for instance, his elbows were flared out instead of pulled tightly against his body (and I'm not even getting into the discussion about why he was doing them in the first place).

I saw a woman try the same exercise. She leaned into it too much, making her entire upper body do the work, not her triceps.

And another guy did tricep kickbacks (again, why waste so much time on these isolation moves?) and he didn't even extend his arm fully.

There's an easy way to avoid this -- do a little reading or ask an expert. I may not always do everything right, but I do work hard to understand the correct form and then try to get it right.

A Better Warm-up, Part 3

I've touched on the benefits of using dynamic stretching to warm-up a couple of times before (here and here).

Today in its Play magazine, the New York Times trumpets this better way to stretch before a workout.

Of course I still see people come into the gym and perform static stretches before they work out, that is if they do anything at all. I'm certainly the only person I've ever seen at my gym who runs through the sort of warm-up that I follow.