Prepare carefully before do your extreme Sports
While tennis and golf remain popular sports for baby boomers so, too, are more extreme activities like white-water rafting and rock-climbing, fast-paced sports like hockey, and even bungee jumping.
Perhaps hitting middle age rekindles a spark to live life to its fullest, or maybe certain people thrive on the adrenalin rush. Whatever the motive, boomers still need to accept that they are getting older and need to approach certain activities with caution. Before signing up for a kayaking excursion or joining a sports league for the first time, there are several important steps a person should take. A lot of gradual prep work is required, and baby boomers need to ensure they do activities in a particular way so as to avoid injury.
Pain might not be worth the gain unless you improve your conditioning first.
Here's some advice on how to (safely) get involved in extreme sports.
#Do the prep work
It may sound like an obvious first step, but a lot of older people rush through this part of the process and put a premature end to their physical activities.
#Take a class first
Get a good trainer and let them show you the right and wrong way to do something. Then you'll have the basics. Even activities like golf look very simple but there's a lot of rotation, and if you're not flexible you could really hurt yourself.
#Concentrating on honing certain basic skills is key to avoiding injury from the onset.
Balance is important -sit on a medicine ball and do curls with one foot in the air. It's also recommended that a person work on flexibility, posture and their core, as well as their glutes.
#Start with a gym (program)
Do some kayaking on a calm lake. Then progressively work your way to the white water. If you're going white-water rafting, for example, it should be very progressive.
#Do a combination of things.
Sticking to one strenuous sport continuously can cause wear and tear over time. As people age, naturally their bodies do as well.
#Most of people over 50 show some sort of arthritis.
It's a reality. Knowing that, if someone plays squash a few times a week and complains about knee pain, and an X-ray shows Grade 3 arthritis. So, doing it sparingly.
That's not to say a person should replace squash with channel surfing; they can still be active, but it's advisable that they find different things to do that are less taxing to the knees.
A lifelong runner in their 50s will have a few bumps and bruises so they have to vary their activities Extreme-type sports are okay as long as they're done as part of a combination of things.
Everything in moderation
While sports leagues and extracurricular outdoor activities can be a part of a healthy active lifestyle, many boomers experience the clichéd mid-life crisis and suddenly feel a sense of urgency to "live," too often propelling them into extreme and often dangerous pursuits.High-impact activities should really only be tried once. Bungee jumping isn't the greatest thing, no matter how old you are. There is more back pain after bungee jumping. It's great for thrills, but once is enough.
Signs of injury
A person who has recently indulged in an extreme activity may experience stiffness or minor pain. A certain amount of soreness is normal while other symptoms are signs that someone has overdone it.
If there's joint swelling, it's a warning sign the body has had too much. If it lasts more than four or five days, you should see your doctor. You should also seek professional help if there's loss of range of motion or delayed onset muscle soreness and it lasts beyond the normal 48 hours.
A healthy recovery requires an adequate break from any strenuous activity. Take at least a week off to let your body recover and then get back into it slowly, and you have to back off.
Baby boomers can enjoy the rush of extreme sports so long as they take all the necessary precautions to ensure their physical well-being. If you want to make the most of the time they have left set on doing an extreme activity, make sure you have a support group to try and help you do this, like a good physiotherapist, a personal trainer, and a doctor. You need that support group so when there is a problem, support group can take care of little bumps and bruises right away.
