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 the whitewater folks, the metaphorical wave matters all the more for everyone. Again, the bigger the metaphorical wave, the bigger the fun. 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 years old, what are you doing to make your wave bigger for next year’s skiing or backpacking or running or 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 or general strength and health. Research (including nearly 140,000 adults across 17 countries) has recently stated that grip strength is 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 to 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.
And the way you get stronger is by doing functional movements. Squats, lunges, and hinges are lower body functional movements that help stoke the potential or momentum in your wave. Pushing, pulling, pressing (overhead), and carrying are the upper body functional movements that add to that stoke. These 7 exercises are the ticket for smooth turns down your favorite ski run, lifting your bike or kayak/canoe 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 to carry you into your next decade.
