Yes, I’ve Fallen, But I Can Get Up

By Lawrence Braverman

“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun” – Ecclesiastes

I’ve developed a tendency to run up escalators and flights of stairs in my older years, taking them two at a time. That can happen when one practices Zhan Zhuang or T’ai Chi, both famous for making one’s legs powerful again. That can foster a ticklish sense of exuberance that I’ll often release rather than contain in a more age-appropriate manner.

As for my bonafides as an actual codger: I remember Woodstock on the Monday morning after it was all over. I’d somehow been roped into helping pick up the countless muddy and abandoned sleeping bags dotting the rain-soaked fields one by one in a very desultory fashion, when, suddenly, Jimi Hendrix… HENDRIX! It could be no other! Jimi, an Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War was beginning to play a Star Spangled Banner like no other ever had, howls of protest in every note. Such magic drew me straightaway to the barren stage, thoughts of mud and sleeping bags forgotten.

But back to the stairs in Riverside Park. Racing up them recently, taking them two at a time, on the very last step, the toe of my sneaker caught the concrete and WHAP!

And immediately, a chorus of: “Uh oh! Uh oh! Uh oh! Uh oh!

How many times have I seen a crowd surrounding some unfortunate, lying on a sidewalk, or even in the street, unable (or unwilling) to rise again, awaiting…the police…an ambulance…both?  I’ve never actually seen a fall occur, only the aftermath: a rushing citizen in the midst of a life of accomplishment and BLAM! Transformed into a powerless object of sympathy, all other agendas having faded to black. And just like that, The Rubicon of one’s life has been crossed— there but for the grace of GOD go us all.

Are you all right?!” someone asked me.

Wow, was I?  All but my ego. Mainly I was embarrassed and just wanted out of there fast.

Jumping to my feet, I yelled, “Fine thanks” and raced on to Riverside Blvd, crossing it the work of an instant.

What had happened? Was I incredibly lucky? Blessed?

Last month, I wrote a story called Standing Beats Falling, which exhorted the importance of leg strength in preventing falls, and the benefits of two ancient exercise practices known as Zhan Zhuang and T’ai Chi. I am now adding that upper body strength can save your life should you go down. If upon falling our arms are weak and can’t catch the ground to stop that fall, then the real damage occurs: the skull, the face, the clavicle, the chest , the hips take the whole force of it, and, then, the blood, the concussion, the hip fracture, the broken bones occur.

To strengthen my arms and upper body, I do two pushups several times a week — actually, a special form of pushup I may well have invented. My recovery from my fall made all that work worthwhile; the cost of every pushup through the years was amply rewarded during that one fraught moment where life and death were in balance and things could’ve gone either way. I’d caught the ground with my arms; none of my upper body ever actually made contact with the ground. And because T’ai Chi, Zhan Zhuang, and pushups are weight-bearing exercises, my bones have actually been made stronger. The only thing I’d injured was my pride — okay, my palms stung a little, but that was over by the time I got home.

Now for my pushup, which I call the Glacial Plank.

First, I use pushup handles, because I don’t want to bend my carpel tunnel wrists any more than I have to, and because I get more of a stretch in the shoulders and chest area. I come down further than if I was just doing an unaided pushup against the ground.

l start my stopwatch, then grasp the tops of the pushup handles (which are on the ground, parallel, at shoulder width). I’m locked in the “up” pushup position. After about five seconds, I start to descend very slowly, at a glacial pace; it might take close to a minute and a half to reach the handles with my chest. I descend a little further, which is where the greater stretch comes in. Without pushup handles, I would have to stop descending once I reached the ground.

Just before my chest touches the ground, I stop and hang out for another five seconds or so, then start my my rise back to the top of the pushup position. Then, I’ll start to descend again for pushup number two. I try for two glacial pushups in two minutes, which is a good amount of “time under tension,” and advances hypertrophy [muscle building]. You can start with what works for you and build from there. You can even start with your knees on the ground, making it easier still.

Do protect your body by making it stronger top to bottom, and you, too, will be able to say, with justifiable pride: I fell and I got back up.