Transcription
If you honestly walk your 10,000 steps a day and think that old age will not threaten you now, then you are making the most popular mistake of recent years. Unfortunately, walking creates a dangerous illusion. I regularly see patients who walk for hours, but at the same time cannot get up from a chair without pain or lift their grandchild. My name is Dr. Lbashov. In this video, I will explain why walking does not protect against aging, and I will show four exercises that completely replace walking and help your body after 40 years. Let's first understand where this figure of 10,000 steps came from at all. After all, many perceive it as the gold standard in medicine. But the truth is that this number was born not at all in the medical field. It all started in Japan in the 1960s. For the Tokyo Olympics, the first mass pedometer was released, which was called Manpokey. In translation, it literally means a 10,000-step meter. This figure was chosen by marketers simply because the hieroglyph meaning 10,000 resembles a walking person. And it sounded like a beautiful round goal. Of course, any activity is better than the couch. But when this marketing figure turned into the sole health goal, we lost sight of the main problem. Age. The fact is that after 40 years, our body begins to lose muscle mass. This process is called sarcopenia. And it happens to everyone, even those who walk a lot. And walking cannot stop this process, because it is an endurance training, a monotonous inertial load. You push off with your foot and take a step by inertia. The muscles do not experience the proper tension that would make them grow or maintain their previous volume. Imagine that your body is a car. Walking is like driving on a flat highway. It's useful to circulate oil, keep the engine running, but it doesn't increase the power of the engine or the car. And strength and power are exactly what we need in everyday life. It is needed to get up from a low sofa, to climb a circular staircase without shortness of breath, to maintain balance if you slip on ice. Well, before, it was required to catch prey. Walking practically does not train these skills. I often see people who easily walk 5 km, but cannot do 10 squats without holding onto the back of a chair. This indicates that endurance is present, but the muscular corset that holds the joints is no longer there. And to restore the former strength of the legs and protect your joints, we need to change the type of load. And for this, we don't need to go to the gym. It is enough to add just a couple of correct movements at home. The first exercise I recommend to everyone who wants to maintain independence is correct sit-to-stands. Many people think that it is too simple, but in fact, it is a basic movement that mimics a squat. The only difference is that the chair version is safe for both knees and back, even if you haven't exercised for a long time. Pay attention to the fact that the feet should be slightly closer than the chair legs. Knees should not be brought together, they should be parallel. You can place your hands on your shoulders, you can take a weight, a bottle, or dumbbells. If your legs do not bend more than 90°, you can use special soft cushions under your buttocks so that your legs are in a straighter position. Now stand up sharply, keep your back straight, look up at the ceiling so that your posture does not collapse. In no case do not do this constant movement. That is, if you stand up this way, your back will hurt. That is, your posture should be straight. Squat down slowly, stand up quickly. Squat down slowly, stand up quickly. This precisely increases the work and tension of the quadriceps muscles of the thigh. You should feel a slight tension in the gluteal area and the lower back. If you are doing this correctly, it is best to do the exercises on an inhale. Do 15-25 repetitions in three to four sets, one to two times a day. If this exercise becomes easy for you, first, remove the cushions from under your buttocks, use inexpensive fitness bands. You can slightly widen your shoulders and do it with them. Ideally, place a mirror in front of you to watch how you stand up. Without unnecessary movements. Stand up, squat down, stand up, squat down, stand up. The elastic band also strengthens, precisely, the muscle trains that include the tensor fasciae latae and the outer group of hip flexors. The second problem that walking solves very weakly is bone density. There is a myth that if you walk a lot, osteoporosis will not threaten you. Unfortunately, this is not true. Walking slows down bone loss, but hardly strengthens it. For the body to start strengthening bones, it needs an impact load. Of course, I'm not urging you to jump off a pedestal, especially if you are over 50. There is a safe and very comfortable exercise called heel drops. There are no strong shock absorbers in the heel, so if you fall on your heels incorrectly or too hard, you will have an exacerbation of pain in this exercise. But if you soften the impact to a comfortable state and a soft landing, then this will create it for your future. Start by rising on your toes and smoothly squatting down. Up, down, up, down. When you have already done this, or, for example, it is very difficult for you to get up, try to lift one leg slightly and land on the other leg. Help yourself with your hands, crossing them. And in accordance with the increase in load, your exercise will look like this. Rise up, down, rise up, down. You hear that there is no impact, as a rule, with your foot. I control it through the work of engaging the toes. That is, the toes on the foot tense, the calf muscles tense, the hip joint and knee joint slightly bend. That is, the whole leg works as one mechanism and shock absorber. Thus, when you then walk, you can do this as a movement, and thus, you increase your biomechanics, distribute the load evenly, because the movement of the arms, a slight turn of the shoulders, initiates the rotation of the pelvis. And lifting the front leg helps to stand on your toes better. If you have a large weight or balance problems, do these sets, do these exercises near a wall or with a chair. This will give you more stabilization, more body control. And here I want to add another important point. Muscle strengthening begins not only with movement, but also with your nutrition. I have a separate video on what your diet should be like and what you can do to restore your body even without exercise. Be sure to watch this video. The third problem that often occurs in people who rely only on walking is stooping. Pay attention to how many people walk in the industry: gaze at the ground, shoulders turned forward, back rounded. Unfortunately, ordinary walking does not strengthen the muscles that should hold us upright. On the contrary, the longer you walk, the more your back tires. To avoid this, we need to open the chest, engage the muscles between the shoulder blades. For this, an exercise with an elastic band is ideal. If you don't have a band, even a regular scarf or belt will do for starters. Extend your arms upwards above you, holding the band taut. Now, with effort, bring your arms to your head. The most important thing is not just to bring your arms, but to bring your shoulder blades together. Imagine you want to pinch a pencil between them so that it doesn't fall. Hold this position for 1-2 seconds and smoothly return your arms back. Do 10-15 repetitions. After this exercise, you will definitely feel relief in breathing and feel how the tension in your neck muscles has disappeared. That is, take a fitness band, you can buy it in online stores, previously Decathlon was there. Now I don't know the names of these companies. Sportmaster and so on. That is, we extend our arms upwards and bring our shoulder blades down. Carefully up and down. Carefully up and down. And remember how your muscles tense during the squeezing of the shoulder blades. And during walking, also try to squeeze one shoulder blade and then the other, because the pendulum starts from the upper parts of the body and then unwinds to the automatic work of the lower extremities. That is, by artificially engaging the upper body, you will walk better with your leg. And don't forget to engage the toe muscles with every step. And finally, the fourth area is the arms. Almost everyone forgets about them, and then gets upset when they see flabbiness or sagging skin in the mirror. However, in everyday life, arms are also a guarantee of your safety. The safest way to strengthen your arms and chest muscles is to use crutches while walking. And don't be afraid of them. Because if you use crutches correctly, then, firstly, they strengthen your arms, reduce the load on arthritic joints, without pills, without negative effects on your internal organs, and stabilize your body when walking in slippery weather. That is, you reduce the risk of falling and distribute the load evenly on your body. Fourth, the next exercise. I recommend using crutches instead of wall push-ups. Because this exercise really strengthens your muscles, helps you walk longer distances, if you have back, knee, hip, or foot pain. And it also helps to improve balance during icy weather. First, posture. We should have a straight back. Second, the crutches do not rest under the armpits. The brachial plexus is compressed here. They should rest on the ribs. With the elbow, we bring the elbow. The elbow fixes the upper part of the crutch, preventing it from swinging. And for walking, we use a cross-over technique. 1 2 3 4. Turn around. 1 2 3 4. We also engage the upper shoulder girdle. Triceps, brachioradialis muscle are very well pumped, biceps also tense a little, so walking with crutches using this technique is even easier and more effective than with Nordic walking poles, because here you use your hands as legs. That is, you become four-legged again, well, or three-legged, depending on whether you can step on your leg or not. And now let's summarize. I am in no way discouraging you from walking. Walking is a great base for the heart and mood. But there is one critically important condition. You should not have pain. Walking and exercising through sharp pain is definitely not about benefit and not about health. Heroism towards your own body almost always ends with the opposite effect. If you feel that your knees ache or your back doesn't let you straighten up comfortably, then this is not a reason to constantly blame everything on age. In most cases, this can be corrected even without surgery. At the Keto clinic, we work with this level of problems. We look at where the body has stopped moving as it should, and help it regain its natural lightness and control. Therefore, if it is important for you to move calmly again, without constant tension and without the need to endure pain, this can and should be addressed. All details about where we are located and how to make an appointment are in the description under the video. Move consciously, take care of your joints, and don't forget that your strength is part of your health. This was Dr. Lbashov. See you. M.