Study on the young guy, the 65-year-old. Well, I can call him young. Dammit.
It’s not really about being in shape. Quite different, in fact.
The saying goes use makes master or if you prefer, read Malcom Gladwell’s Outliers and the 10,000 hour rule- you put in enough time and practice (10,000 hours) at something, you generally get really, really good at it.
For instance, my niece’s husband Bob is a barber, has his own barber shop. And before the virus, he had a guy called John working with him part time, guy who had been a barber for probably fifty years and was sort of retired, just keeping his hand in. Bob, he has maybe four-five years in since being school trained. And you watch the two at work, one chair beside the other. And John is a pleasure to watch, economic motion, smooth, elegant even. No wasted motions, no wasted steps, he gets in there and does the job quickly and efficiently. You know you’re seeing somebody who has mastered his craft such that even I see it.
You also notice that he has the chair just so, wears shoes that are kind to his feet and his back, his tools are absolutely sharp and very conveniently spotted where he just reaches and there they are.
One of my gigs, growing shellfish: you see guys with toasted backs, shoulders gone ( Oh wait, that’s me) and more - their gear isn’t tuned, the working area isn’t set up right, they move wrong. Wasted motion, working too hard, it wears you down. I actually help teach a course on it. Summary, sort of: if you’re doing something once, hand carve it with oyster shells and flint, make it a work of art, I don’t care. Doing it ten times, have a plan, think about the process. Hundreds or thousands of times? You need a well thought out factory of sorts, even if it’s a one-man shop, efficiency matters. And if you’re doing something thousands or tens of thousands of times, like handling individual shellfish,tiny fractions of seconds count. Surprising how that affects your production in a working day.
Now, you may be trying to work with less than optimal tools, an imperfect setup and (for instance) no anti-fatigue mats on the floor and wearing Vans or equivalent ticket-to-back-pain shoes. Table/stand height, fine tune it. If it’s a little too low, you are bending your back just a little and dozens of times every board. And I’m talking a half inch. More, far worse. A half inch too high, you’re working your arms and shoulders harder than they have to, resulting in pain. If you’re reaching across too far, same thing plus shoulder strain, working your elbows more than you need to and more. See where this is going? End of the day, it hurts.
Okay, I mentioned toasted back, shoulders too, and mentioned that group included me? Don’t be me. Learn now. I realise that at 21, that may seem silly. Thing is, you are in pretty much the best shape you’re ever gonna be in. What hurts now, well, not only is it going to hurt more to do the same thing when you’re older but damage, wear and tear now adds up. It’s downhill from here, and not a straight line on the graph. Oh no. The line takes a dive. Same goes for safety, any horrible crap you inhale, for instance, you don’t want the long term effects. COPD sucks.
hope that’s of use
doc…
