After paddling the Mahoning River with the Simpkins family earlier this summer, Travis Simpkins said he was inspired to see old people like him still out on the river, paddling canoes, brush paddling and hauling boats.
Now at age 72, I have to admit that I’m in the best shape I’ve been in for years, and I owe it all to my addiction.
In a column last year, I revealed that I had come to terms with a lifelong addiction to alcohol. I quit drinking in September. After four months of sobriety, I realized I was still addicted. Not to alcohol, but to my smartphone. And to social media in general.
So I went online and found a self-help book called, ironically, “How to Break Up with Your Cell Phone” by Catherine Price.
In the first half of the book, Price details cell phone, social media and screen addiction – how they get you hooked and turn your brain and body into mush. In the second half, he presents a 30-day program to help you take control of your addiction.
It also includes a section on how to regain control of your body.
“Most of us weren’t very good at mind-body integration even before the smartphone, and it’s getting worse with each new screen in our lives,” Price writes. “So today, take some time to reconnect with your body by doing something physical and enjoyable. It’s a chance to remember that you are more than just a brain on top of a body.”
He managed to throw out the crackling, crackling and popping sounds.
So I started walking more and eventually added a morning exercise routine to flex and strengthen my core muscles.
My new exercise program evolved from what I did in the past, primarily as rehab for lower back and knee and ankle injuries. (Let’s face it, life is rehab after a certain age.) My program includes sit-ups and other abdominal exercises, yoga poses, leg raises, and a variety of stretches to keep my joints flexible. Now, when I move around, I don’t sound like a bowl of Rice Krispies filled with milk.
I’m not ashamed to say that I learned many of these exercises from the original “Buns of Steel” video. I often joke that I did these exercises to crack walnuts with my butt to entertain my campers around the campfire. In fact, Greg Smithee’s glute-focused exercise program is incredibly effective at strengthening the muscles that support your lower back.
After all, the little bit of money I spent on the “Buns of Steel” video was way cheaper than back surgery (no pun intended).
He feels that exercise is helping
To learn more about Smithee, check out Heather Radke’s article in Slate magazine, “The Strange Genius Behind the Steel Bun.” Reading her article, one gets the impression that Smithee, a talented pole vaulter, was as adept at exaggerating the truth as he was at exaggerating body parts. But what can you expect from a man who calls himself Dr. Buns, a professor of bun studies?
He has a right to be cocky.
So far, the new exercise regimen has been effective, as has abstaining from alcohol. The occasional numbness in my feet, hands, and brain has almost completely disappeared. I have more energy and hardly ever feel fatigued again.
Not bad for my age, but I have some big canoe trips coming up, including one to the Boundary Waters with the Simpkins, which involves some hauling. I’ll have to work harder to keep up with them. Time to add some endurance training.
My training plan will probably involve lifting a canoe over my head and sprinting around the yard a few times a week.
Don’t be surprised if in the near future you see a guy trotting around the backside of Pleasant Hill Dam with a canoe slung over his shoulders. Tell me who it is, I promise it’s not me.
