By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Stretching is an important part of conditioning, but it should come at the end of a workout - not to warm up, Dowagiac Rotary Club heard Thursday noon from Greg Otto at Elks Lodge 889.
Otto, who directs rehabilitation services at Borgess-Lee Memorial Hospital, recalled a patient brought to the Dowagiac hospital.
A family member securely clutched "Bob," 92. He struggled to fill out the pain sheet that accompanied his medical chart.
Bob came in regularly for about two months. To start, he could tolerate 10 minutes of exercise. "The transformation he made was inspirational," Otto recalled. Other patients and therapists soon wondered if he could really be 92.
Bob proves Otto's point that "if we exclude disease and other things we really can't do a lot about, each and every one of us in here can improve our physical condition through exercise. It doesn't matter how old we are. It doesn't matter if we've just started or have been doing this a long time. We all want to look and feel better. The number-one New Year's resolution every year is for people to start exercising. We can't help but see our society's fascination with youth and fitness. Every time you go to a grocery store aisle, we see these ripped young men and incredibly thin, good-looking young women on fashion magazine covers.
Another widely-believed myth about adult exercise, based on a show of Rotarian hands, is that as a person gets older, metabolism slows and packs on extra pounds.
Aerobic exercise was regarded as the answer for years, he said.
Newsweek magazine reported on super slow exercise. "It's just the opposite of running around the block," Otto said. "Pick a weight you can handle fairly well" and devote 30 seconds to picking it up and 30 seconds to setting it down - and feel the burn.
Otto said adults lose eight to 10 centimeters - about five inches - of sit-and-reach flexibility over a working life from 25 to 65 without some intervention.
Middle-age activity patterns "are one of the strongest predictors of fitness in people 75 and older," Otto said. "In other words, you've got to do it now if you expect to be able to keep doing things.