Most of us have a go-to situation in our life where this totally applies. Maybe it’s that vacation time you’re so careful to let accrue, but at the end of the year you’re forced to use it or lose it. Maybe it’s those bulk-sized boxes of blueberry muffins you picked up at Costco and even after the whole family ate their fill there’s still so many left and the expiration date has come and gone. There’s probably a dozen more examples we could find in every day life, but the one prime example the majority of us overlook is our bodies. If we don’t use it (or better yet, put it to use) we will lose it.
It’s called atrophy and sadly, for the majority of us, atrophy, or the loss of muscle, begins in our mid-twenties. High School sports and collegiate intramural sports are becoming a distant memory and the call to provide for a family and be present in the day-to-day running of a household consumes our waking hours. If we’re not conscious and aware of this fact, many, if not most, will have chosen to lose it.
The simple solution is to use it. At the very minimum, one should walk 20 minutes three times a week, do some air squats, a few pushups and a thirty second plank, but even that might not be enough. My doctor at my last physical therapy appointment told me that anything without resistance (i.e. weights) is borderline not helping. Muscular strength and functionality must be maintained or it will be lost. Use it or lose it.
Combo #1 x3 sets: wide grip lat pull downs, close grip seated cable rows, standing cable curls, crunches/oblique reachers.
Combo #2 x3 sets: bent over barbell rows, single arm dumbbell rows, close grip easy bar curls, sit-ups.
Combo #3 x3 sets: dumbbell deadlifts, dumbbell hammer curls, 4×4 concentration curls, Russian twists w/ medicine ball.
