The size of the wave matters. The bigger the wave, the bigger the fun, right? While that’s obvious with the literal wave for surfers and whitewater boaters, the metaphorical wave matters all the more for everyone. So, what is this metaphorical wave? The stronger you are, the bigger your wave is. And this bigger wave creates more momentum to carry you into your next decade so that you can keep doing the fun adventures and activities that you enjoy so much. If you’re over 40, what are you doing to make your wave bigger for next year’s skiing, backpacking, running, paddling or biking?
Do you ever have trouble opening your water bottle? This is a good indicator of your grip strength. And your grip strength is a good indicator of your overall strength and health. Recent research (including nearly 140,000 adults across 17 countries) identified grip strength as a stronger predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality than blood pressure, physical activity levels or diet quality. In other words, how strong you are says a lot more about your resilience than what we have traditionally looked at in the past. No, this isn’t where we insert our new grip strength trainer. It’s more than just grip strength. Your grip strength gets stronger from handling, moving, pushing and pulling loads or weights.
The way you get stronger is through functional movements. Squats, lunges and hinges are lower body functional movements that help stoke the momentum in your wave. Pushing, pulling, pressing (overhead) and carrying are the upper body functional movements that add to that stoke. These seven movements are the ticket for smooth turns down your favorite ski run, lifting your bike, canoe or kayak onto your car, or hiking or backpacking to your favorite alpine lake. The stronger you are, the bigger your wave is. The bigger your wave is, the more momentum you’ll have to carry you into your next decade.
Scan the QR code on the NW Movement Co. ad next to this article for a video of each of the exercises with helpful cues to make sure you’re doing them correctly. Then go get your wave as big as big as you can so you can keep doing all of your fun activities next year and next decade!
Trey Nichols is one of the physical therapists at his clinic NW Movement Co. He loves getting his patients ready for their next adventure and hearing their stories when they get back. He also loves staying ready himself for all of his family’s fun adventures!
