The operative word on the Geronto-Flex front is NOT.
We sprinted into the New Year at a full bore, gymwise, sneering (ever so subtly) at the crowd of resolvees who jam into gyms between January and March 1st.
Alas at the end of January I got my chuck-it elbow, and that was immediately followed by:
FLU-A
Two weeks later, i resumed my elliptical aerobics, with very little set-back. Alas a fortnight later,
FLU-B
About ten days after that, i again resumed my aerobics (avoiding anything that would re-chuck the elbow) with someone greater set-back than before. Okay. Now for real, let's get this year started.
FLU-C
Usually i get sick after taxes; but with this years flu season from hell i felt it would be most very unfair if all my pre-tax flues didn't count for something. So I made a point of going back to the gym on April 13th.
And so... we are back at it again and, all things considered, my aerocap is surprisingly up to snuff although i am being extra special gentle on the ligament front. In fact, as a precaution i am still bal-chucking with my left.
Working out is like dieting: it never does to do it with a goal in mind. Just as eating spinach has to become a way of life, sweating, gasping and grunting for the sheer joy of it has to be a modus vivendi. Just as people who diet in order to loose weight always gain their weight back; so too, people who exercise in order to get those bulging biceps always end up with a bulging stomach in the end. Ontos not Telos!
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| Today's Canine Ontology |
In this Nicki is a perfect example. I am assured that he never thinks of getting muskly arms and rippling haunchies. But he has them; and he has them because he loves romping for its own sake. Whether on grass, in water or on snow bounding and bounding and bounding is doggie joy. Alas, men always have purposes in mind; but we try not to.
I am also trying to focus more diligently on the fourth component of exercise: balance & coordination, or as i call it Geronto-Chi.
As a younger man, in olden times, i used to pass geronto Chinese, in their padded Mao jackets, doing early morning Tai Chi on Chinatown's small public square. When the light was red, i had time to take in their slow and careful leg-liftings, arm-movings and torso-twistings. I could see nothing absurd in these studied gesticulations but, being of a more kinetic age, i was more impressed by the geronto Germans who met every Sunday morning on Mill Valley's Lytton Square before charging up Summit Avenue to the crest of Mount Tam. They inspired me to take the same hike, only i did so with a back pack full of sand.
The idea of charging up a mountain with a back pack full of sand is nothing i would want to ontos these days and God only knows what the telos of such foolishness would be. And so, i am consigned mimicking tai-chi.
I say mimicking because i am not at all interested in taking a course or learning tai chi per se. My purpose (that word again!) is to do something that my body seems to need in a way that is both challenging and enjoyable (in the masochistic way that all exercise is enjoyable).
No doubt someone like Galen would say that my ligaments and tendons need "hydration" to make them "supple" ... like Nicki's. By hydration, Galen would not mean lots of tub-soaking, but rather something in the vein (ahem) of extending the pneuma that conduce essential fluids into the tissues. Galen would not be far from the truth; and the way to this truth would be to stress and agitate the tendons in such a way that the push-pull of their iso-tension worked to pull at the walls of the pneuma and make them wider.
Well enough of ancient physiology. To make a long story short, i am working on balance and isometrics in combination with joint flexing. This is something i have fun experimenting with, adding new twists and turns as the fancy pops into my head. But i do so, soberly, slowly, advisedly remembering that an idea is good only in so far as it feels good.
I started this on the advice of two gym attendants who recommended some simple ankle and knee strengthening "balances" on account of a recurring soreness. Basically they wanted me to stand on a cylindrical rail or half sphere.
As i watched several younguns all but tumble and break their noses, i did not feel bad at my own shaky, trembling wobbling. I combined or followed up this basic exercise with slow versions of warm ups and static katas i recalled from martial arts. This includes things like finger stretching and wrist rotations, weightless exercises and holding a position; as for example raising one thigh parallel to the ground, extending the foreleg 45 degrees and rotating the foot, while holding arms extended and rotating my wrists. It all stacks up to a combination of balance, isometrics, slow flexing and memories of bootcamp.
I do it on aerobics day, so that it serves as a kind of 15 minute calisthenic between weight lifting days. And, needless to say, I end with stretching or as i prefer to call it, puffing out from the inside.
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