Horizontal to the Ground I Knew I’d Be Okay

I was full on “superman” in the air, arms stretched out front, totally horizontal body through the air.

My thought as I flew over the ground was “this is going to hurt” and “do I tell anyone”?

I wasn’t concerned with breaking anything. My confidence is high that my bones are strong and all the push-ups I do I knew I could land this well. But the marble like rocks I was going to land on…nothing I could do about that.

Truly I landed it well with minor scrapes on the knees, and heals of each hand. The sweat on my body mixed with the blood made things look bad. I wanted to escape being seen as I wasn’t up for conversation about this.

Onto my bike and back to the club to clean up before my strength and mobility class. I did escape conversation.

Thankfully I follow the research on how to remain hearty enough to avoid that life altering fall women my age can experience. This kind of fall can result in a broken hip, or femur, or collar bone that women don’t heal from. A downhill slide begins with no return.

More women fall than men, and 25% of falls result in not recovering and even death within the year. And 90% of hip fractures occur because of a fall.

Well, this scenario can change. It is changing. Word is getting out. I am an example. I am sharing this with more and more women who are stepping up.

They are stepping up to strength training-lifting weights on a weekly basis. Challenging themselves, tearing down the old story that menopause means decline, fragility, fear of falling, and the long slow march to limited physical activity.

The word is also spreading that we need high impact work as well. That type of jump then landing that creates the jarring effect the bones need to remodel stronger. Jump, Jump rest. Not plyometric jumps that require soft landings that “absorb” that impact. These are two different types of jumps with two different effects on the body-and both needed.

How are you practicing on a daily basis to remain hearty as you age? That fall, trip, may be inevitable but the outcome doesn’t have to be the beginning of the end.