Gino Romanelli BS Ex Sci, FMS2, FCS, Elite Trainer
Introduction:
At The Bar and Plate, a majority of our members are middle-aged or older. With our member’s programs, we place a big emphasis on spending time on the floor and working them from the ground up. This is a lost skill in our current society since we spend tons of time sitting. Nobody crawls, rolls, or kneels past the age of 3 anymore. Now this makes playing with your kids nearly impossible and painful, and getting that remote from underneath your couch isn’t as easy as it used to be.
Developmental Process:
The first important point to visit here is the developmental process. The developmental process is the same process you went through as a baby that led you to walking. You started by being on your back (supported posture), to be able to roll onto your stomach, to crawling (suspended posture), kneeling (stacked posture), and then eventually standing. These are known as the four postures. Each posture requires more motor control (stability) than the last. This is because there is more load/demand on your spine.
As stated above, we strongly emphasize this concept in our corrective exercises and warm-up programming. This is important because they regain the skill and motor control of being on the floor, improving their standing posture and walking. For example, if we have an individual who is very unstable and falls often, they will find rolling from back to stomach, being on all fours (quadruped), and kneeling to all be difficult. Therefore, all of those postures should be trained to reduce the risk of falls. Another benefit of training these postures is the individual regains the confidence to get to the floor and up. It’s no longer a daunting task when it’s needed in their everyday life.
On top of improving your movement quality, doing weight-bearing activities, such as resistance training, is necessary. Resistance training will help improve bone density and increase muscle mass, regardless of age. So in the case of a fall, having a higher bone density means you have a decreased chance of fracturing a bone. We can also slow down the aging process, mainly slowed metabolism by increasing your muscle mass. This is because muscle is the most metabolically active tissue in your body. These qualities will also allow you to be more independent as you age. So getting to and off the floor, couch, toilet, and moving up and down the stairs will remain easy. Lastly, your psychological well-being will be impacted indirectly and positively.
So What’s Next:
There is an increased mortality rate of elderly people when they fall compared to the ones that don’t. On top of that, statistically 78% of 100,000 adults over 65 have fatal falls. By relearning basic stability, motor control, and balance you reset that clock. It was not the fall that killed them it was the lack of prevention by having the process listed above in place. Don’t use your age as an excuse, the best time to start is now. Let’s get ahead of this and live a healthy independent life! Click the link below to start your journey to an independent life:
Thebarandplate.fit/contact