Senior fitness compliments

When we praise fitness for the elderly, we have never done it to pursue the few inspirational miracles of "building abs at the age of 70" or "running a half-marathon at the age of 80". In essence, we praise the steaming tenacity of ordinary elderly people who actively fight against the powerlessness of aging and reconstruct the daily order.

I went downstairs to buy iced soy milk this morning and saw Uncle Zhang, who lives in Building 3, swinging his legs slowly on the simple horizontal bar in the fitness area. The old man next to him patted his knees with a cattail leaf fan: "Last week, I held my waist and yelled about herniated disc. How dare you show off this week?" ”Uncle Zhang chuckled and shook the horizontal bar loudly: "Didn't I learn this from the community coach? The doctor said that I have this old problem. The longer I lie down, the worse I get. Look, I can carry two buckets of water to the fifth floor without breathing. ”

Speaking of which, when Uncle Zhang was discharged from the hospital due to a cerebral infarction the year before, half of his body was so numb that he couldn't even hold chopsticks. His children were afraid that he would fall and wouldn't even let him out of the door. So he secretly went to the fitness area by himself and started practicing by walking on the railing for ten minutes. Now he can team up with his old friend to ride to the suburbs to pick peaches, and even the antihypertensive medication he took three times a day has been reduced by half.

Last time I chatted with Dr. Li from the community hospital, he said that there are indeed a lot of controversies about fitness for the elderly: one group is the "deified party", who think that as long as they practice, they can be immune to all diseases and can stop taking any medicine.； The other group is those who "persuade people to quit the party" and believe that the elderly's bones are brittle and can be injured if they move, so it is safest to sit at home every day. In fact, it is not so absolute. He has been following up on the health of the elderly for almost ten years, and here is the data: the incidence of sarcopenia syndrome is 42% lower for the elderly who insist on regular exercise every week than those who sit for a long time, and the risk of falling fractures is actually 30% lower. After all, they have enough muscle mass to have a buffer if they fall.

My previous impression of senior fitness was still based on the stereotype that square dancing was noisy. It wasn’t until my grandma fell down last year that I came to my senses. She used to always say that "people should rest at home when they are old." Apart from cooking, she would sit on the sofa and watch TV every day. She slipped on a pair of slippers and fractured her femoral neck. She lay there for three months and had to be helped even when she turned over. During that time, she secretly wiped away her tears and said that she had become a burden to her children. Later, the doctor during the recovery period asked her to practice with the Baduanjin team in the community. At first, she was tired even after standing for five minutes. Now, after practicing for almost a year, she can go to the vegetable market three stops away with a vegetable basket. Last week, she even made me shepherd's purse dumplings. She said that the vegetables were picked by herself from the vegetable fields in the suburbs and were fresh.

Some people always make excuses, saying that Tai Chi is more advanced than square dancing, and walking is more useful than wandering around. In fact, there is not so much emphasis on it among the elderly. Look at Aunt Li, who danced in the square. She cried every day at home after her wife left two years ago. Her eyes were almost broken from crying. She was dragged by her old sisters to dance for three months. Now she is not only the lead dancer, but also in charge of the costumes and props of the team. After each dance, she organizes everyone to pick up mineral water bottles from the venue. She saves the money from sales to donate stationery to children in mountainous areas. She told me, "I used to feel that my life was over, but now every day at the end of the day I think about going to dance and bringing my pickled radishes to the little sisters. I am so busy that I don't even have time to think." There are also the old men playing croquet downstairs. Those who lose have to buy popsicles for the whole team. They fight for a ball and get red in the face. They turn around and go to play chess with their shoulders crossed. This is not competitive training. They just find a reason to have fun together.

Of course, I have seen people step into the trap. There was an aunt who followed a video online and injured her meniscus by pressing her leg hard for two months. There was also an uncle who walked 20 kilometers a day in order to improve his step count, and his knees were so swollen that he couldn't wear pants. In the past two years, the community has held public fitness instruction classes every Wednesday. The instructors are all young people who study physical fitness for the elderly at the physical education institute. They will test the joint conditions of the elderly one by one and teach them how to choose exercises according to their own problems: if the knees are bad, practice squatting quietly, if the blood pressure is high, don’t do strenuous jumping, and if the waist is bad, bend less.

When I came back from get off work just now, I saw a circle of old people gathered around the stone table in the fitness area, learning Wu Qin Xi from the coach. Their movements were crooked, and some people were laughing while doing it. The setting sun fell on their white hair, shining brightly.

What do you think this fitness training is? It’s not a myth of rejuvenation, it’s the confidence to be able to carry vegetables by oneself, to be able to fool around with old friends, and not to bother the children with everything. It’s the energy to live a prosperous life even when one is older. I can't praise you enough for this energy.