So I need to do yoga or something for flexibility

[Roxanne Appleby]

I run 4 times a week and do a little stretching before but not enough, especially since I'm getting older. My leg muscles are really tight, and like on the verge of charleyhorse at all times, which can easily go into a strain that has me limping for a few days. This has happened twice in the last five years, including tonight playing frisbee with friends.

So obviously, I need to seriously get into a routine that can take me into my later years flexible and not so vulnerable to injury. Maybe tai chi (is that the thing you see those elderly Chinese doing in parks in Peking in slow motion? It looks cool). Or yoga (has the possible advantage of learning the meditation thing, which I know would be good but requires patience that does not come easy to me.)

I dunno - maybe I just need a real serious stretching routine, because I'm not enamoured of having to change a lot of things that are extraneous to increasing and preserving flexibility. Oh, and there's a pretty sophisticated yoga and physical therapy studio I could go to.

I don't wanna hafta "eat my vegetables!" I wish I could just take a pill. (I wish that on the regular cardio exercise too, but know better and make myself do it.)

Comments? Input?

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I run 4 times a week and do a little stretching before but not enough, especially since I'm getting older. My leg muscles are really tight, and like on the verge of charleyhorse at all times, which can easily go into a strain that has me limping for a few days. This has happened twice in the last five years, including tonight playing frisbee with friends.

So obviously, I need to seriously get into a routine that can take me into my later years flexible and not so vulnerable to injury. Maybe tai chi (is that the thing you see those elderly Chinese doing in parks in Peking in slow motion? It looks cool). Or yoga (has the possible advantage of learning the meditation thing, which I know would be good but requires patience that does not come easy to me.)

I dunno - maybe I just need a real serious stretching routine, because I'm not enamoured of having to change a lot of things that are extraneous to increasing and preserving flexibility. Oh, and there's a pretty sophisticated yoga and physical therapy studio I could go to.

I don't wanna hafta "eat my vegetables!" I wish I could just take a pill. (I wish that on the regular cardio exercise too, but know better and make myself do it.)

Comments? Input?

You may also have a calcium deficiency or potassium. I too thought I was tight in the calves all the time and woke during the night with severe charliehorses on several occasions. I spoke with my cardiologist and he said it was a calcium deficiency. He suggested 600 mg of calcium with 200 mg of vitamin D. Within two days my calves relaxed and I haven't had a charliehorse since. Give it a try. See what happens.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

You may also have a calcium deficiency or potassium. I too thought I was tight in the calves all the time and woke during the night with severe charliehorses on several occasions. I spoke with my cardiologist and he said it was a calcium deficiency. He suggested 600 mg of calcium with 200 mg of vitamin D. Within two days my calves relaxed and I haven't had a charliehorse since. Give it a try. See what happens.

You mean I could just take a pill? That would be wonderful!

It would, and I will run right out and buy some, but I still should get serious about the flexibility thing, and perhaps some of the other "extraneous" parts, notwithstanding my whining about it.

Thanks -

 

[Weird Harold]

You mean I could just take a pill? That would be wonderful!

It would, and I will run right out and buy some...

A banana milkshake does the same thing, but it tastes better.

Seriously, milk and fruits as part of your diet are the best way to deal with mineral deficiencies -- you don' run the risk of vitamin overdose.

 

[amicus]

Sighs....at the risk of being totally run out of town....

When you find yourself needing reading glasses at or about a certain age, you need to get glasses, you can't take a pill.

Staying young and being able to do all the things one could do when young has become a 'mantra' in modern society...so it seems to me.

Staving off aging has been taken to many lengths and perhaps some find it worth it, in one way or another.

There is a message in here somewhere...we all age. Should there not be a mindset that allows us to do so without yearning for continuing youth?

If there is a nutritional deficiency, then by all means deal with it.

But to spend one's later years with jogging and yogurt milkshakes and a plethora of vitamins and health aids, when one could drink and smoke and party like hell and enjoy life...seems a choice I would never make.

Live hard, love hard, die young and leave a beautiful memory...

Go for it, kid!

Amicus...

 

[impressive]

Stretch, Rox. Just stretch. Doesn't have to have a fancy name or an expensive location. Plop your butt down in the middle of your living room floor, spread your legs, and lay your chest on the floor. It feels fan-fucking-tastic.

Lie (lay? whatever) supine and throw your feet over your head, ass pointing at the ceiling. Feel your body sing!

I've never been able to clear my mind enough to meditate. I have to forget I'm trying, and meditation just... happens when I lose myself to stretching, and my mind works better afterward.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I can't do either of those stretches...

 

[jomar]

What Imp said. Also, tai chi is supposed to be great for a number of things.

 

[cantdog]

"Supposed to be" means unfamiliarity. Imp is right. Start first thing in the morning, cat stretch, still in bed. You likely do this anyway. Sometime in the day, especially before frisbee or something, do imp's stretches. the chest-to floor one, followed by grabbing both feet, straightening the legs (now together) and pulling so the back of the leg stretches. relax down, draping yourself over your kness and legs, cheek down on 'em too. Then you need one that bends the back the other way. Blood supply to the back happens best curled back, not around in a ball. Just lie on one side, for instance, concentrate on one vertebra at a time, and see how much curl back you can get, working all the way up, or even down, I guess. My such curl is a yoga posture called cobra (nagasana), done slow and deliberate, bone by bone, but any such curl will do. Then imp's ass-to ceiling one. Soon you will have both knees beside your ears and your shins laid along the floor, still being relaxed. I'd add a twist (slow!), once each way. I also do a stretch of both legs, aimed toward yoga mudra, the one you see Buddha in. one leg straight, seated. Pull the other foot onto the top of the thigh and moosh the knee down. When you can lay the knee on the floor like that, both sides, which will be surprisingly soon, you can actually get into the lotus thing, but the hip stretch is good in any case. Less than six weeks-- a month-- and you'll actually feel limber. Whole thing takes ten minutes or less to do.


Meanwhile, as always, Weird is right. Charlie horses result from electrolyte problems in the blood, not musculoskeletal problems. Too much of one and not enough of the other, whatever. I got them when I was chugging soda all the time, in high school. Phosphoric acid. Drove out the calcium with phosphorus. Some damn thing. Anyway, electrolytes. Fruits do it much better than the pills, because the body is set up to eat food, not 'nutrients.'

Nutrients are really not the point. It's a long story, but basically scientific research on nutrients has to take 'em one at a time, because that's the only way to get a meaningful result. Naturally, a piece of honest-to-god food is an incredibly complex mix of chemicals, not all of which are nutrients, and only a fraction of which have been studied, and then not very effectively if you are asking questions about long term effects. All rigor passes from an experiment with a baseline of ten years, using thousands of people, that only is concerned with one thing, say carbs of a certain kind, or fats, while thousands of variables exist.

Eat food, not nutrients. Just sayin.

 

[R. Richard]

If you have been a regular runner for some time, you might have a problem specific to that situation. Your leg muscles operate within a sheath. If you overdevelop the leg muscles due to long term running, you will feel pain as the leg muscles are constricted. You might want to talk to a sports doctor [a regular doctor will tell you to just stop running.]

There are two forms of Tac Chi. The one you want is a soft form, used by Chinese of all ages to gently exercise. There is also a hard form Tai Chi [with several variants, the best of which is Yang.] The hard form Tai Chi is a martial art.

 

[S-Des]

I'd say try the Yoga. You can pick up a video cheap, or there are programs on cable & sattelight all the time now. The important thing is that you need an overall stretching program, not just to stretch the muscles that hurt (because the others need it as well). You need to keep a balance, or you increase your chances for injury. Having a structured regime of stretching and exercise is your best bet to stay healthy.

 

[scheherazade_79]

But to spend one's later years with jogging and yogurt milkshakes and a plethora of vitamins and health aids, when one could drink and smoke and party like hell and enjoy life...seems a choice I would never make.

Live hard, love hard, die young and leave a beautiful memory...

I'm with Ami

Although isn't yoga supposed to be good for flexibility and stuff like that? Vana will probably know.

And by the way, what are "charleyhorses"?

 

[FatDino]

And by the way, what are "charleyhorses"?

The bruises on your quadriceps, um...the muscles on the back of your thighs.

 

[S-Des]

And by the way, what are "charleyhorses"?

Cramps. Really, really bad leg cramps. I get them so bad that screaming is an option.

I'm with Ami

Is that really wise?

 

[damppanties]

The bruises on your quadriceps, um...the muscles on the back of your thighs.

You sound really sexy when you say things like that.

 

[FatDino]

You sound really sexy when you say things like that.

Then go ahead and poke the bio geek in me.

 

[damppanties]

Then go ahead and poke the bio geek in me.

I could. But it's better when I find it in random threads when I'm following you around.

 

[scheherazade_79]

The bruises on your quadriceps, um...the muscles on the back of your thighs.

Dampy's got a good point... it is kind of hot when you use words like that

 

[FatDino]

I could. But it's better when I find it in random threads when I'm following you around.

You're hijacking Rox's thread.

Dampy's got a good point... it is kind of hot when you use words like that

Shut up and top me, both of you.

Just try to avoid smashing my ankle. *worried look*

 

[scheherazade_79]

Cramps. Really, really bad leg cramps. I get them so bad that screaming is an option.


Is that really wise?

I only get them after flying... but they're severe. You have my sympathy, Des

 

[scheherazade_79]

You're hijacking Rox's thread.


Shut up and top me, both of you.

Just try to avoid smashing my ankle. *worried look*

Smashing your what? I'm sure it has a more technical term than that, Dino

 

[S-Des]

I only get them after flying... but they're severe. You have my sympathy, Des

I don't deserve it. I have a lousy diet and don't stretch regularly. Motivation has never been my strong suit.

 

[FatDino]

Smashing your what? I'm sure it has a more technical term than that, Dino

My talocrural joint, you know, the synovial hinge joint that connects the tibia, the fibula, and the talus.

 

[damppanties]

My talocrural joint, you know, the synovial hinge joint that connects the tibia, the fibula, and the talus.

*swoons*

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Then go ahead and poke the bio geek in me.

oke:

Ya know, I'm always glad when I ask stuff here. AH is a place where all the children really are above average, and the amount of dispersed knowledge that gets concentrated in a discussion like this is wonderful to behold, and extremely valuable.

Ami (and Zade) - The issue is not how long you live, but what the quality of that life is. If I get hit by a truck tomorrow so be it, but if I live to 85 I want to do so with reasonable health and mobility. Besides, who says I'm not doing the "drink and smoke and party like hell and enjoy life" thing also? These are not either/or choices. (I don't do the smoke, but used to [weed, that is], and may again at some point. Or other fun drugs. In moderation, of course.)

Imp and Cant - thanks so much. A routine described as “imp's ass-to ceiling one," “moosh the knee down” and especially, “whole thing takes ten minutes or less,” is one that sounds just my style.

Regarding "food" vs. "nutrients" - Food is good ( ), but nutrients are OK too, notwithstanding all the valid considerations Cant cites. I bought the calcium/vita D pills, and ate the first one as the "first course" of my lunch. So it will all digest and be absorbed together. (A chewable C is desert. )

It's my calves mostly that give trouble, but I'm sure S-Des is right, "You need to keep a balanced (stretch routine), or you increase your chances for injury."


Thanks, folks. I (selfishly) hope more people weigh in. Including maybe a yoga goddess.