Subtle Physical Withdrawal and Gradually Declining Fitness and Strength

Now that’s a cheery blog post title!

What I read: The Vicious Cycle of Subtle Physical Withdrawal | Psychology Today

Why I’m interested: I’ve always been fascinated by the question of declining fitness with age and how much of it is in our control. I wrote Is Aging a Lifestyle Choice? way back in 2012. Yes, older people tend to be slower but older people also train less. Lots of research says older people get the same fitness gains from training as younger people. The problem is they/we don’t do it. We train less. We don’t push ourselves. My question: how much of this decline is psychological? Further question,  even if the decline is our heads not the rest of our body,  does that mean it’s any easier to change?

What the article is about:  The role of the brain and novelty in physical decline.  It’s not about speed,  strength or training.  Instead the focus is on the way we gradually limit our range of motion and stop doing novel physical things. As a result, we have less confidence and narrow the range of things we’ll try. It’s a vicious cycle. The idea is that subtle behavioural changes can lead to a loss of physical confidence and even greater physical withdrawal.

Quote from the article: “Physical Novelty Is Part of How You Stay Resilient

“Everyone reaches a point of physical limitations, but we reach it sooner if we shy away from physical tasks and don’t challenge our brain to regularly encounter unfamiliar motor patterns. If we stick to only a restricted set of movement patterns, our brain gets accustomed to firing our muscles only in a narrow range of ways. When we give ourselves new challenges, within reason, we adapt to them on a variety of mental and physical levels.”

This can be simple things like not climbing on ladders to get things off high shelves, or not putting on socks and shoes while standing up.

What are some examples from my life? I think of things like getting in the canoe without getting my feet wet. Since I’m in the bow, that means stepping through the boat with balance,  and then sitting down.  These days I tend to wear flip-flops and say, whatever, and step through the water instead.

Maybe I should challenge myself more often to do it the hard way.

Sarah does it the hard way but she also does the portages in hiking boots.

Or the different ways of getting off my bike.

See Getting on and off your road bike with grace!.

I’m trying not to get too much in the habit of dropping the frame to the ground and stepping over it.

How about you?

And how is this for new and unfamiliar movements?

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