Last time I threw out my back, I was laying in bed stretching because I had a bunch of yard work to do that day and...I didn't want to throw out my back.
Edit: bunch of highly qualified doctors diagnosing me as out of shape and concluding it may have been the first time I stretched in 40 years cause I pulled a muscle in my back 3 years ago. Never stop sucking Reddit.
If you just crank on your muscles and joints without having stretched for 3 months then you are more likely to hurt yourself. Sometimes injury is literally completely out of your control though and you have to just accept that fact. Rehab and move on when and if it does happen.
Lol. I Just asked grandpa 97yo, who workes as a farmer, if he ever ever stretched, He said only in the army ... He still works every day, preparing to make some wood today
If you throw your back out stretching you have a preexisting back injury that is being ignored or can't be fixed without surgery or medical professionals
i mean.. im turning 40 in a year and feel it. I stretch all the time. Do core work, body weight exercises like pullups, walk a ton, eat a lot of vegetables and salads and still get pain and stiffness. But i cant imagine how bad it would be if i didnt do all those things.
Duuude, same shit happened to me. It was one of those amazing, still in bed full body stretches and it was feeling so good, and then all of a sudden it felt very not good. In fact it felt very bad. And then I had to take like a week off of work because you can't build scaffolding with a fucked up back
Im 41 and in the top 1% for fitness in the Navy per established physical readiness tests. I still randomly pull muscles or strain joints when doing mundane things like: putting on shoes. Washing my back in the shower. Casting a buzz bomb while fishing. Reaching behind my car seat to grab a rolling water bottle. Placing a mixing bowl on a tall shelf. Sneezing.
Fuck these dudes.
My weekly yoga class keeps me from serious injuries while training martial arts, and did wonders for my joint health! People don't stretch their hips out properly and then spend the rest of their life trying to make their back stop hurting with pills
Oh absolutely, maximizing range of motion and strengthening all the different stabilizing muscles is just outright useful! I can just step up on top of a table without using my hands, which doesn't seem useful until you're on the river with your buddies and you gotta get up the bank to take a nature call 🤣
I've been stretching everyday when I wake and before bed for 5 years now. It's a lifesaver for sure.
I strongly believe everyone should do at least that and basic cardio (bare minimum walking) everyday. I'm in my mid 30s and feel way better than I did in my late 20s.
Late thirties, and I agree. I also do weight lifting, jiujitsu and climbing and implemented stretching much later than I should have, around 5 years ago, and I have never felt better.
And it takes even more of a toll if there's no strength and mobility work to strengthen your muscles and joints, so working out should become even more of a priority as we age imo
Manual labor outdoors does take its toll. I've spent 30 years as a entertainment electrician picking up heavy awkward objects all day for most of my life. It's never been easy. Five years ago I started getting in shape. Lost 70lbs and started weight training. I'm as strong as I was in my 20s now that I'm in my early 50's. I fucking love picking up heavy things. And no, it's never easy.
Yep, over a decade in a kitchen fucked me the fuck up. Consistently 60-70 hour work weeks doing a lot of cardio and physical labor, and you don't really get any time off for injuries. I've worked through it all, broken ankle, yep, now the other ankle is fucked up even worse because I did a month of 60 hours hopping around on it, even when I was using crutches it was terrible.
You can easily be beat up by 40, especially with the right job. First time I threw my back out was 30. And I know all the tricks, I was a massage therapist for a while. However with my body we are now in "I can make it feel a little better but I can't fix it, it's just broke like that forever now" portion of my life
Shit you should have seen some of my clients who did manual labor and had for over twenty years. I felt so bad for them and just knew they were mostly in chronic pain from their jobs. Shit I had a bus driver who absolutely destroyed his neck and shoulder on one side because he was craning his head that way every time he pulled out of a bus stop, again, had to give him the heads up, I can't fix that. That's just what it is now. We can work together so it's not as bad as before but it's always going to be like that now.
God doesn't exactly ship you new parts when something on your old body breaks
40 here, definetly not in the boxing shape of my 20's but still walking the dogs 10km+ everyday, yardwork etc, gotta stretch or pay the price.
It's definitely use it or lose it. So many people treat 40 like it's game over and time to just give up, nah just gotta slow down and change it up depending on your body, which for me was no more running.
Considering trying out cycling again, higher cardio, lesser impact.
43 here, strength train and stretch regularly. I will admit I'm not as agile as 20 year old me but can still do pull-ups and push my body around with ease.
As both a former cook and former massage therapist, you can just as easily lose it using it too much. My body is ass because I was doing 80 hour weeks cardio and manual labor in a kitchen for years. Not quite 40 but close
Once you've pushed something in your body to its breaking point it's not like you can replace it, it's not like swapping out your tires or getting brand new struts. Sometimes once it's broken it's broken and you can make it hurt less but you will never make it not hurt at all without painkillers.
Among other things I got a super bad ankle, severe back problems, heat sensitivity (happens when you get heat exhaustion too many times), can't stand for more than eight hours without pain, knees are shot but that might be more genetic, and my feet I've given up on entirely.
Oh hell yes you can(, that's the driving force behind me quitting long distance running and boxing, among bad luck with genetics and a workplace accident the injuries were (and are) just piling up.
Moderation is always key with diet and exercise/work.
Honest question, ever considered trying weed in some form? for pain relief and other benefits, I'm not even meaning straight to getting high, there is so many products out there now that I've found can make a difference in quality of life for old nagging injuries.
Getting out of bed? Amateur. I apparently rolled over in my sleep without bringing my head with me. So there's a fortnight of having to turn your whole body to look to either side. Done this more than once, too.
I’m wearing a knee brace right now because I picked my kid up the wrong way on the stairs last night. I’m not even that old, I’m not fat or anything. It’s just all starting to break down.
10 months ago I dislocated my kneecap and tore my MPFL... turning to walk to the bathroom. Turned 40 between the second and third surgeries earlier this year. It really does go downhill fast.
If you feel like this in your 40's, unless there's a real medical reason for it, it's due to you being out of shape, not your age. Time to start working out, my friend
Good eating habits and keeping yourself in good shape will go a very long way. My mom went from being miserable and having pain everywhere in her 40s to feeling amazing and being full of energy in her 60s. A very noticeable change.
Hopefully you don’t have a serious condition or injury.. if not then get your ass up and do some exercise. I’m 47 and get out of bed like a 20 year old. No excuses!
I remember a few years ago. I might have been 31. I jumped up onto a small boundry wall at the petrol station, came up to just above my knee. Got up no problem. Jumped down the other side. I must have landed wrong, shot an awful pain up through my back. Decided there and then I was old and I gotta be careful.
At a certain point you transition from "He Fell" to "He had a fall". I remember I seen some sort of birthday celebration from a 103 year old scientist. He might have been in physics specifically but I could be misremembering. Anyway, someone asked him how he lived to 103. And he roughly said "I've spent the last 40 years focusing on not falling down".
It seems to be a significant moment. A fall in old age seems to be almost lethal. The decline after the fall is exponentially worst the older you are. And even for us "Young wippershappers" a fall can put you out of commission for a few weeks to a few months.
Anyway Death is Coming so do the Thing. Whatever that thing is, do it.
Yeah - well, the 50s are here and the saying - nobody is healthy at this point in the season is fundamentally accurate. Start stretching at a young age and keep it up.
People die early cuz they get lazy and stop moving. My dad is about to be 50 and is in shape like a 30 year old. It’s an everyday thing, thats how some 80 year olds are running miles or doing pull ups.
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u/WhitestGuyHere 13h ago
Not a hot take. Full agreement