Pluggers by Rick McKee for September 04, 2020

bend with your knees, doggone it, not your back!

Ahhhhhhhhhhh, yes…..gravity get stronger. Ask Einstein.

Pluggers know that in such situations a “grabber reacher tool” is their best friend.;-D

Very true. I can bearly reach the floor these days.

That is the reasom why we have grandkids!

I’ve spent the last three weeks on my hands and knees performing a ceramic tile install. I don’t think I have knees any longer.

At least it is not something very , very small ! That would even make it harder ;-)

But, but I can still touch my knees without bending my toes!

Getting up off the floor is my idea of weight training.

I never have any trouble bending over. Staying on my feet is a problem, and so is getting back up afterward. So I have to agree with david_42 said. It’s heavy lifting, for sure.

I find the older you get the more they lower the floor on you

The size of the midriff bulge complicates the math.

A few years ago, I began worrying about flexibility and balance so I started doing what I call ‘yoga-therapy’ (the moves without the ‘ooms’). The yoga instructor (who is trained to work with older people, children, and people with physical limitations) created a weekly routine to address my specific concerns of balance, flexibility, and leg strength. It involved a lot of stretching of muscles I didn’t know I had. Nothing really strenuous at first; new exercises were added as I mastered the old ones. When I started, I hesitated before stepping down from on up on a curb, worried about my knee giving out going down stairs, had trouble getting up from low couches (and the floor). That was 3 years ago. Last summer, at 72, I qualified for open water scuba. I’m not super strong or even super fit, but I have regained my ability to balance and bend and enough strength that I can climb the ladder into a boat with a scuba tank on my back. I encourage pluggers who are having trouble with the bending and balancing check out a few basic exercise books. It doesn’t have to be yoga — there are a lot of different kinds that use the same basic moves.

And directly corresponds to the height of the kitchen cupboard shelves.

Actually the ability to cover the distance to the floor is directly proportional to one’s age, and level of arthritis.