petercharalambos.com

Flexibility - See it's Easy

Probably not of much interest for you youngsters.

Yesterday, when I was young, while in the drivers seat, I could turn my body and see all around me.

Sitting in a normal chair I could cross my legs and hook my toe around my ankle. I could bend at the knees and look at the bottom most shelf in the kitchen and stay in that position for as long as I needed to. I didn’t groan as I stood up and I could walk off without a trace of difficulty.

I could reach all parts of my back to scrub it while in the shower and dry myself properly to boot. I could jump off the bus and climb stairs without a single puff or wince. I could go down on my knees and place my butt on the floor and stay there playing with the kids.

I could play aggressive tennis for hours, take a shower and get to the office by ten. I could work all day and drive in the crush and still feel good when I got home. OK….I know many of you girls can still do that but you are built a bit differently,….thankfully.

Why could we do all that when we were young and, in most cases, we can’t do it anymore? See the title?….Flexibility.  From here I must generalise.

Where at one time we would (not could)  turn our body either side let us say, 45 degrees. We would bend at the knees to pick something up, as the years progress that incrementally reduced by a degree or more so that by the time we are fifty or sixty we almost immobile.

Watch many elderly persons walk. They walk with short strides or slow strides. They cannot turn to look behind them, they cannot bend at the knees and they cannot get up even from a high….ish chair without difficulty.

I took one such old man and over a period of a few months he………Read the full article