THE SCOOCH

 I might have learned the following important information for anyone over sixty-five the easy way. The knowledge could have been gained perhaps as quickly and painlessly as watching a television news report or reading a book. Unfortunately, the easy way has never been my way. For that, I have no explanation or excuse.

When it comes to our aging bodies, more than anytime during the recent past, strength training is strongly advocated for women. Not the kind of strength we’re rightly known for, innate strength of mind and will. Instead, strength of the muscular variety is encouraged. But fear not! Strength training does not mean you will acquire muscles to rival those of the Rock. (Unless of course, that’s your goal.)

Now, I’ve never considered myself weak either in mind or body. And frankly never given either much thought. Recently that changed. While I recovered quickly and well from a surgical procedure I still had no idea of what was happening to my muscle mass or lack of during the process. I didn’t even know what muscle mas was.

Until the great Scooch Catasrophe.

I was in the supermarket when a receipt fell to the floor. Instead of bending down to retrieve it, I scooched. (A scooch is very much like a squat. Okay, let’s call it a squat.) And was stuck.

Stuck in a scooch - and I couldn’t get up.

Without the necessary muscle mass it’s impossible to get up from a scooch. Or just about any other position. Apparently, we women start to lose muscle mass around the age of thirty and the loss accelerates around age sixty-five. (Approximately seventy years of age for men.)  Fortunately, the scooching incident left me with no injuries…except for my bruised ego. (I felt very embarrassed to be stuck in the check-out lane in a squat…or scooch.) Kind customers rescued me and the rest continued their check-outs. Once on my feet again, all was well. Except that now I understood why building and/or retaining muscle mass is so essential.

The loss of muscle mass results in a reduction of energy and the daily activities we take for granted become difficult. Which, in turn, risk a plethora of injuries. What exactly is muscle mass?

Muscle mass is the amount of muscle in your body, skeletal and smooth which make-up the combined weight of your muscles.

Several months before when coincidentally one of my friends asked if I was doing strengthening exercises, I blithely smiled and said no, while my inner voice replied, because I don’t need them. Obviously, I did.

In medical terms this lack of muscle mass and ensuring weakness is known as sarcopenia, which is a natural aging process. In addition to weight-bearing exercises, eating thirty grams of high protein meals daily are recommended per meal. By the by, the new high protein shakes on your supermarket shelves are not your grandmother’s shakes. They’re available in several thirty gram flavors and are mostly delicious. My favorite is the café latte.

It’s never too late to start weight strengthening. Take it from a woman with experience, you don’t want to have a scooching incident when you are least prepared.