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Friends, not children and grandchildren could be the key to a happy retirement
University of Greenwich

Date of release: Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Strong social networks may be more important than having children and grandchildren around you if you’re hoping for a happy retirement. This is the finding of a study by Dr Oliver Robinson and a research team at the University of Greenwich, presented at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference.

Dr Robinson and his team recruited 279 retirees from around the UK through a retirement website and online newsletter. The participants answered questions about their experience of retirement, marital status and retirement status of their partner, whether they have children and grandchildren, whether they have active social groups, as well as completing a satisfaction with life scale.

Dr Robinson, from the University of Greenwich’s School of Health & Social Care, says: “Retirement is a longed-for experience for many, and certainly a major life change for those who experience it. We wanted to investigate the factors that accounted for a happy retirement experience.

“Our most surprising finding was that retirees who had children and grandchildren were no more satisfied with life than the retirees without them. Being active in social groups was strongly correlated with higher levels of life satisfaction, however.”

It was also found that the retirees who were married or in long-term relationships reported significantly higher levels of life satisfaction than single individuals, and those whose partners were also retired were more satisfied with life than those whose partners were not.

“Having active social groups is strongly linked to life satisfaction,” Dr Robinson concludes. “These findings support the importance of interventions designed to promote social networking in those who could experience retirement as a lonely, rather than fulfilling, stage of life.”

Whiteboard for 7-23-2010

This mornings WOD was taken from last weeks Affiliate Games. This was the first time we did a “Buddy Carry”. It’s amazing the various ways that you can carry people around.

Dave and I carried Steve for all but one leg of the WOD. I have to admit it was a new experience for me when we were deciding who Steve should carry, between Dave and myself, and the decision was for Steve to carry me because I was lighter. That is something that has not happened for a long time, if ever.

As usual not a fan of the Thrusters and every time Brian came by it was “Lower Terry Lower!” Pull ups sucked as well. My shoulder is starting to feel a bit better but I am really laying off working it as much as possible.

Steve B, Noreen, Dave C and Paul we not around this morning so we had a smaller Friday class than we usually do.

This week has flown by and it hard to believe that it’s time for another Free Saturday Class tomorrow.

Checked the scale and got 222.0. If I could have pee’d a little more or sweated a little more I could have got 221. Maybe tomorrow. When pulling up last years post I noticed that I was 253 on this date one year ago.

I expected that deadlifts would be on the breakfast menu this morning and I was not disappointed. The side of thusters was a bit hard to get down but I managed. As I was getting in to set 6 and 7 I was actually doing something like a squat on the thrusters. It seems like I need about 30 or 40 squats with some weight before I can actually start getting a good squat depth.

Brian had said 185 for the deadlifts but I guess Eric and I must have become confused and Eric ended up with 215 and I had 225. Strange how that happens.

I used 2 20 pound dumbbells for the thrusters which were a total fail until I got to the last 2 sets.

Today’s WOD
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I felt good about this mornings workout although there is huge room for improvement in my squatting. Steve upped his deadlifts by 20 pounds from a short time ago. Steve is proving again that is you put in the work the results will come.

Eric alerted me to a cool article about CrossFitters over 40, Age Means Nothing. Be sure to read the comments.

Eating—On plan. Weighed in this morning and……down 5 pounds. Last Friday 258, today, 253. Very excited about that. Having Kate’s 87 day challenge along with other people in the gym talking about Paleo is really helping. Still a lot of modification I need to do on the diet but I am pleased with these results.

What Hurts Today—My right heel was really messed up this morning and I further aggravated it by slamming it into the back of the stairs as I was coming down. I really think this flair up was from the double unders yesterday. As I started them I could feel a real pull in the right heel. Perhaps I need to do even more stretching of the heel prior to workouts. Otherwise feeling great.

Whiteboard for 7-22-2010

I was really excited this morning because we were going to do a Max Deadlift WOD. I jumped on the rower and worked on some low weight deadlifts to warm up prior to class.

By the end of class I was in a total state of shock over my performance, or lack of might be the better thing to say.

Deadlifts were the one thing that I could do better than Eric and Will. Well, now there is nothing. I still cannot believe I could not lift more than 345 pounds. My PR is 410 but since I hit that my numbers continue to go down and down. Next time maybe I will be lucky to get into the 300′s.

I can’t do a pull up anymore because of my shoulder and the idea of a muscle up seems totally out of touch with reality.

I’ll stop talking about it now because to talk anymore will just make me seem like more of a whiny little girl. I will have to figure something out and get out of this mood to just screw the entire thing and get a dozen doughnuts from the Acme.

In an attempt to end on a good point for the day I got 222 again on the scale. I know that if I just keep on my plan one of these mornings it will be below 220.

My right hip is acting up a bit from yesterdays squat therapy but as long as I don’t start walking like Amos McCoy I don’t think anyone will know.

We worked on a new technique of using our shoe rather than a weight for our Turkish Get Up Skill work. Here is a video I found on youTube that demonstrates the movement.

Double unders were part of the WOD today and Charlie Dunifer was there and helped us out. Charlie is an expert in double unders. This was another example of no egos at CrossFit. Charlie competed at the 2009 Games and is one of our finest athletes but that does not keep him from sharing his technique and encouraging us during our WOD. That is an example of leaving your ego at the door.

Of course, the fact that Charlie leaves his ego at the door does not mean a thing when it comes to my ability to do a double under, but it’s a nice thought. I feel like a very unhappy three year old as I stand there jumping up and down trying to get the rope to go around twice, not able to understand why it just does not happen. I actually did get a couple completed and it’s just a matter of practice. At some point I have to make double under practice a daily thing to be successful.

Here is a video that gives you and idea of what it is like in my brain as Charlie is talking to me about accomplishing the double under.

Today’s WOD
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As is typical for my performance the only thing that saved me was the push jerks. The TGU and Wall Balls were total fails. Although I hate the TGU’s they are the best thing I can do to make sure that when I fall down I will be able to get up. Every time I do a wall ball I have flash backs to the NEO Competition and Kate screaming at me to keep going as the wall ball beat me into the ground. I may have Wall Ball block.

Has anyone else noticed how tough Stacia is getting? It’s clear that she was the one to beat this morning as she left us all in the dust.

Eating—On track. Got a pound of shrimp on sale and have been eating on them. Trying to get more seafood in my diet. Rather than Cocktail Sauce I got some natural salsa to go along with them. All of the ingredients are OK except for cane sugar, listed next to last in the list of ingredients so that is a bit of a fail.

This is a link to an interesting article about the benefits of grass fed beef which is another thing I am looking into.

What hurts today—Small issue with my right hip that I know will go away. I think is it a result of the intense squat work we did yesterday. My heels were in bad shape this morning for work on the double unders but again, I am sure this will pass. Back and shoulders feel good.

Whiteboard for 7-21-2010

Spent a lot of time working on skill for Turkish Get Ups and Windmills. Still don’t have the flexibility to do an effective Windmill and at this point I don’t know that I ever will. Had to go down to 15 pounds for the TGU’s. My shoulders are shot and can’t handle the 35lbs.

I was really slow in the WOD today. My swings were excellent with a 45lb KB but my burpees sucked. This time it was not my hips but my shoulders causing the slow down. I had to do the push up portion of the burpees with knees on the ground. My shoulders just would not get me up this morning and that was reflected in my slow time.

Had fun in self defense class last night. Mark was instructing with Scott, Dave, Eric and myself. I did a lot of striking drills using the palm of my hand rather than a fist to strike and that worked well. It saves my wrists and I can still generate a lot of power. We did a lot of grappling. At one point I was on top of Dave and he was able to lift me off the ground in a back squat. That kind of surprised me big time. Things are starting to come together so that I can think of the next move and actually use some of what I have learned.

I was talking to one of my buds at CrossFit about the class and he was telling me about the ETN method that he has always used. Eyes, Throat and Nutts. Just poke, punch or twist and you save a lot of time learning all these different moves.

Ran across this video of Rolf jumping. Proves that “Old Guys That Rule” can’t jump.

No ill effects from yesterdays squats, my back did fine during the night.

More work on squats this morning with Overhead Squats as our skill. I continue to struggle with having my arms overhead and squatting. Does not matter how little or much weight I have overhead. Although squats are never easy for me and my ROM is limited I don’t have the same problem with front or back squats, just the overhead.

Coach had me use a new modification this morning. Setting atop two boxes I stamp my feet and stand up from the seated posion, with a bar in the overhead squat, active shoulder position. Sounds easy, but a real challenge for me. Just one of the many things I need to keep working on.

Coach continues on his quest for the perfect pull up and that’s what we worked on this morning. I actually did a bit better this morning, using only a green and white band for assistance. Prior to this I had been using a green and blue band. Eric was the only one in the group this morning that did not use bands. We have to be careful with the women that they don’t use too strong of a band for fear they will shoot themselves right up through the roof of the BOX.

My secret personal objective is to be able to get to the point where I don’t need assistance to get the assistance band on.

Today’s WOD
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Although I would have much preferred to be doing heavy deadlifts or push presses it’s important to work on my weaknesses so the time this morning was well spent.

Eating—On plan, feeling good.

What hurts today—Other than being in agony during most of my workout I am fine. No lasting impacts from the workouts. Sleeping good for me which means only up twice during the night.

Whiteboard for 7-20-2010

Continued working on dips prior to class. After some discussion with Brian after class I am going to push back the intensity I have been using on dips and go back to Paralettes for a while to work on increasing my range of motion.

I had to sub back squats for overhead squats this morning. We started doing push ups where you have to completely hit the deck and take your hands up off the floor. Makes a real difference and was a real challenge with my already worn out shoulders. We did double tire jumps. No way I can jump that high so I did step ups. My box jump PR is only 27 inches and I think the height was around 30 inches this morning. This was a very slow a painful WOD.

Tom and I got weighed again. Tom got 217 and I am sticking at 221. Still working on goal to weigh less than Tom and I am sure it will happen.

Met Jerry last night and we walked the Parcour course over on Treaty Line Road. Hopefully we will actually run it on Wednesday evening. While we were their we got passed up by a guy that was running it barefoot. Hard core.

Debbie left this morning for a 2 day trip down to WV with Karen.

Yesterday’s WOD did not cause any issues for my back. I slept well even though I woke up every hour on the hour. That is just what I do.

Squat Cleans were part of the workout this morning. Squat’s always cause me problems but I did make a break through this morning. I was actually able to get all the way down on the squats with 95 lbs on the bar. This proves that my body will actually do that move after a lot of preparation. We will see tomorrow if I am still ambulatory or confined to my ScootAround. My big issue is endurance. I just can’t keep up the necessary speed to complete the WOD in a reasonable period of time. Brian cut me down to 4 rounds rather than 5. I did not like the fact that I was not doing as much as everyone else but I took satisfaction in finally getting a couple of acceptable squats. I did have a couple of fails where I had to dump the weight and roll out. Even though that was not the goal it does support my “i’ve fallen…AND I CAN GET UP” philosophy.

Today’s WOD
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Eating—On plan. Steve and I talked about how we need to try to balance out meat/chicken or turkey/fish. Seems like we are both heavy on the meat component at the moment. I really need to work on getting more fish as my protein. My secret continues to be having things ready and never having to think about what to eat.

What hurts today—Feeling very good with no real issues other than some aches here and there. I am very surprised but pleased that my back has held up the last two weeks with the tough workouts we have been doing.

Brian said our workout tomorrow would be gymnastics, like that is a good thing.

Whiteboard 7-19-2010

18 people in class this morning.

I was a total fail at the toes to bar. Last week I was able to do them and this week nothing. It’s all about the shoulders. After working on the dips and then the clean and jerks I was doing there was no way that toes to bar were going to happen so I just kind of hung around, back to my hanging side of beef impression.

Eric and Kelly were back in the box after their vacation. Conner even came along this morning and it was good to have Eric back in his regular spot. They even brought me back a souvenir from the beach. They said they thought of me the minute they saw it but I am not sure I understand the reference. That’s OK, at least they were thinking about me.

Brian was able to grab a picture from Saturday as I was demonstrating the finer art of foam roller positioning to the guys as we watched the streaming feed of the CrossFit Games.

Watching 2010 CrossFit Games at the box

I have finally been able to arrange to do some trail running the Jerry and that starts tonight. We are meeting at 6:30PM do to the Parcour course on Treaty Line Road. Looks like it could rain but I don’t think we will let that stop us.

Felt really good on the way to class but that is never an indication on how I will do on the WOD. Once I saw what we were going to do I really wanted to just walk out the door. I knew that I would be bringing up the rear and I knew I was going to be hurting.

One of the requirements to being consistent is that regardless of the WOD you just do your best and try to be thankful that you can even move enough to be in a CrossFit WOD.

Today’s WOD
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Although I was on the slow side I did keep up well through the first 3 movements. I did box steps rather than jumps. The walking lunges were not good. I did them in place. I feel like I use to be able to do these better but right now they are a real challenge. Not sure what is going on there. I really lost time with the lunges and the knees to elbows. This morning I was not even making knees to elbows. I did make a couple of knees to balls but that was about it. For the rest my legs were just kind on hanging off my body and swaying in the wind.

I did make up time on the push press. Whipped out 40 in a row, 5 second rest and the remaining 10.

The back extensions were very hard and from a distance must have given the appearance of a large whale flopping about on the beach, trying to get back to the security of the water to support it’s great mass. The WB balls were slow and the burpees were murder. I used my 6 inch box. I really don’t understand how people do burpees. Even using the box each time I got myself back up standing was an incredible effort. All three of these movements just rip my back up.

Did make up a little time on the 100 single jump ropes. I was able to push them out hard and quick.

All I know is I worked as hard as I could. I don’t know that I could have pushed harder and survived.

Eating—Really pleased with my eating plan. I am going to focus more on quantity this week and see where I can reduce amounts without impacting the ability to stay on the plan. Overall I am feeling better than I did prior to starting the Paleo. One sure sign is that I have not used a tums all week. I am convinced that for many people that suffer from heartburn issues it is simply a matter of what they eat. I know for a fact that if I were to eat a pepperoni pizza tonight for supper (1 large pizza = one serving) I would be gargling pizza sauce all night.

What hurts today—Although I experience a lot of pain during my workouts that pain does not seem to linger. The issue with my heels is almost gone although the first time down the stairs in the morning causes mild discomfort.

Spent time enjoying the live internet streaming of the CrossFit Games from Carson CA at live.crossfit.com. All the events are archived so I still need to catch up on those I was not able to watch live.

Spent time at the pool and the hit self defense class. Mark, with Scott and myself. Worked on some good drills with Mark striking at me and my blocking then counter attacking. I have to do this with open hands because using my fists wracks up my wrists.

We then moved on to grappling and Mark managed to plant a very good face bar that is going to leave me with a cold sore about the size of a quarter where my lip got ground into my teeth. Good times, good times.

Whiteboard 7-17-2010

Worked on my dips and I can already tell a difference in my range of motion from the work I have done this week. Instead of a half inch dip I dare say that a couple of my dips were in the 2-3 inch range. Does not sound like much but it’s huge to me.

Another good turn out for a Saturday morning with 20 people participating. Ed had his friend Joe come to class and it sounds like Joe will be coming to the 6AM class. There was at least one other new person that I did not get the opportunity to meet.

The WOD was a team event and Brian assigned the teams based upon abilities. That ended up with the dream team of Dan/Will/Justin/Chris and they got the highest score as expected. I was happy with the results of our team, we all worked hard.

I also found time to stop at the pool for awhile before heading home.

Talked to Rolf and we need to cancel our trip to Lexington next Sunday, July 25 to workout with the CrossFit Mortuus crew. We are going to try to reschedule once school starts back up in September.