Nexus PR hosted a magnificent event at 34 restaurant, with equally amazing people w, experts in their field, discussed about the myths and recommendations regarding our own bodies.

It’s no surprise that the media control the way people think about their bodies, as it is always in plain sight, no matter where we go and they don’t always tell the full story. Top physiotherapist Sammy Margo spoke about Children & teens, 20’s & 30’s getting into good habits and the Hot & Cold heroes. Double world champion British rower and personal fitness trainer Toby Garbett spoke about Middle Aged spread and Exercise = Independence. Angus Hunter from Stirling University spoke about Structures, Stretching and the science behind it. Colin Brown speaking on the relevance of Deep Heat and Deep Freeze as the Hot and Cold Heroes!

Credit: Wikipedia

As you would expect with the Grosvenor Square restaurant, it was amazing and the food was perfect… I can’t jump ahead, as so much happened before the meal, which has relevance to the actual event.

Sammy Margo, started off with an intro, as expected and went on to speak about the relevance of Collagen. It is more in our muscle than given credit! A decline in Collagen creates sagging skin, but also takes its toll on our muscles, hair and nails. Muscle wastage and loss of power impacts our daily lives. A lack of exercise, modern technology and increased obesity are fuelling a surge of muscle problems, whatever your age!

Sammy’s stats sound like a horror story and it is more frightening because these stats are backed up with facts, but the solutions are there! As a custodian of your body, you have to take more responsibility of it and your children, as they follow by example, more than what you teach. This is reflected in the teenage and young adult stats that show a decline in exercise and more reliant on technology and being unsociable by being on social websites!

The numbers increase as the age increases, as aches, pains and stiffness are all far too common ailments. An incredible 71% (7 out of 10) people didn’t know that we lost muscle mass as we aged. The medical term for age related muscle mass loss is, Sarcopenia. The rate and extent of muscle loss is down to Genetics, diet and lifestyle. The adage, “Use it, or lose it” is wholly relevant.

Sammy highlights that whilst “growing pains” are a reality, our good habits are supposed to be habitual by the time we are in our 20’s and 30’s. It is imperative to encourage children to be more active by setting the example yourself. They are more likely to do it because you are and not because you force them to, whether it is for the betterment of their health, or not!

30 to 40 year olds are likely to take up new sports, but more likely to fail to follow through with that sport! Failure to warm up is a common failure and leads to stiffness, injuries and could be a cause of turning people away from sports and training. However, simple things to help alleviate bad posture and stiffness at work could be standing whilst on the phone rather than sitting. Also, not leaning back on the chair and tilting the pelvis to maintain posture will help also.

Sammy pointed out that preparation for pregnancy can lead to a smoother post natal recovery. A strengthened core is something worth considering for the load bearing on the area as a whole. And learning to lift correctly will always stand you in good stead.

As extensive as her talk was, it covered a vast amount of things that should technically be standard knowledge to us! It’s our bodies, so some care in making sure it’s maintained is the least we can do for it.

After a well deserved applause, Sammy made way for Toby to discuss our middle aged spread. Only a quarter of 30-40 year olds studied said they worked out at least 3 times a week. Unfortunately the amount was halved in the age group 41-50. This is reflected in the amount that suffer a daily pain, or discomfort. 13% for the 35-39 year olds and 22% for 46-49 year olds. Are we making excuses, or is it something to do with our age? Technically, as we age, we suffer a weakness of the skeletal muscle, but do we use adequate treatment for it? Hot and Cold treatment is probably the last thing we think of doing, when it should be the first!

In menopausal women, the loss of oestrogen can have a domino effect of increased weight, loss of muscle mass and strength and declining bone density. When the hot flushes occur this often makes women shy away from exercise. Almost one-in-three people over the age of 60 will suffer a fall due to muscle weakness. Skeletal muscle dysfunction in the elderly can be deadly.

Toby mentioned a couple of things, which should ring a bell, or two, for some people when I put it for you to read. “The moment we lose the ability to squat, we lose our independence to get on and off the toilet!” An exercise that keeps that alone is worth doing! Even if you did it for 5 minutes a day, I am sure you would be able to evaluate the extent of your need to increase, or improve your technique and exercise.

Another exercise worth considering is the rotator cuff. Even if you go to the gym, you have to ask whether, or not you cater for this exercise. The easier it is to take your jumper of and put one on shows how well your rotator cuff is. Yes, those are things we take for granted. Going to the toilet and getting dressed.

Angus Hunter covered an area I am an advocate for… Stretching! As I am a firm believer that there is no excuse forego stretching. Before your feet even touch the floor, you could have done a basic stretch that encompasses the whole body and takes about 5 minutes. However, it’s not about me, it’s about the presentation.

He has a quote from Shakespeare, which appeals to the actor in me, “… The sixth age shifts into the lean and slipper’s pantaloon, ith spectacles on nose and pouch on side; his youthful hose, well sav’d, a word too wide, for his shrunk shank…”

After we learnt the scientific word for the loss of muscle, we learn the word for the loss of strength, “Dynapenia”! The basics are without the muscle to support the strength, you will be lacking with increasing muscle loss. Granted Angus was far more scientific, but the statistics are the things that show how age and lack of muscle stimulus affects us as we age!

I found the fact that massaging and stretching have similar effects on the muscle interesting! They both lengthen the muscle and release muscle stress. Duration of both also determined the amount of stress alleviated and the length. There is no clear evidence on the most effective type of stretching.

Genetics play a part on the type of muscle you have and can help your sport dependant on the type you have. The 3 classifications are type I fibres, which are known also as Slow Twitch. Type IIa fibres, which are Fast Twitch. Type IIb/X fibre, which are also Fast Twitch, these have the shortest time to peak tension as opposed to the Slow Twitch which has the longest!

Collagen is considered the glue that holds us together, given it comes from the Greek word, Kolla, which means glue. Type 1 is the toughest and found in ligaments, tendons and bones. Type 2 is found in cartilage and the jelly (vitreous humour) inside the eye. Type 3 is the most thin and elastic found in the skin, lungs and blood vessels. About 25% of the body comes as Collagen and this declines as we age, hence the wrinkles, dry hair and brittle nails!

With all this knowledge, does it make it any easier to understand? Yes… and no. Always, the more information you have the better to make an informed decision it is! However, it means that the media have to get off their butt and make it so that it is something we read, not just whilst you’re waiting at the doctors, but actually as an everyday concept! It should be relevant to food, sunbathing, exercise, ageing and wellbeing! An article here, or there is great, but more of it makes it common knowledge and not a stranger to conversation with your doctor, personal trainer, neighbour, or child. It really is that important.

Even hot and cold treatment. How many people know the 4 distinct phases? Bleeding, Swelling, Proliferation and Remodelling… Just in case you had forgotten. Cold happens during the swelling phase and heat benefits the proliferation phase! Because those 2 phase overlap, there is about 72 hours after swelling and cold to treat it that heat treatment helps the proliferation phase.

Generally you can tell if it’s a swelling, as you can touch it and feel it! Calor (heat), Dolor (pain), Rubor (redness) and Tumor (swelling)… Loss of function is easier to determine. I can throw more science and figures into the hot and cold therapy, but ultimately, it showed that biology is something we should know better than we do! A basic knowledge of our own body, symptoms and maintenance is sorely (!) lacking. Many injuries reoccur when we return to strenuous training too soon and when care and recovery has been hurried, or ignored.

The amazing speakers were justified in coming together for the presentation and Deep Heat and Deep Freeze were amazing to have advanced their products from the pain inducing prank of my youth. As much as I have left out, I could go on and put all instances verbatim, but the onus is on us to be more proactive, knowledgeable and honest about how we look after and maintain our own bodies. We also owe it to the next generation not to sell them short that knowledge, as it should be as common as going online to chat to our friends on Facebook.

To end this, I am going to go through the amazing high protein meal that was relevant to the event as a whole.

Starter, Smoked Salmon and Brown Bread. Main, Roast Saddle and Grilled rack of Cornish Lamb, with a Pea Polenta Croquette and Sautéed Girolles. That is a wild mushroom, to save you Googling it. There were also some New Potatoes, which cover the high carbs for the meal. Dessert, was a light Peach Melba Meringue.

All were delicious and appreciated, as we all partook in a small demonstration of posture exercises before eating.

My appreciation of all that was presented to me at 34 Restaurant by Nexus PR and respective speakers was far more than this article can put into words and there are a lot of them.