All Life is Learning - February 2022

Picture it: London, November 1905. England and the world are changing. Every day brings new tensions in Europe as WWI and its horrors are fast approaching. New technologies are changing the landscape and into the rooms of Sherlock Holmes come Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. They bring new inventions that will alter the course of human history...only both inventions have gone missing. Can Mr. Holmes somehow unravel the mystery? You want to find out, of course, if he survives the greatest personal loss of his career.

As in prior theatre trips there will be a lovely lunch included. It will be provided at the Village Conference Center, part of the Comfort Inn. Be sure to indicate when you register if you require a vegetarian lunch. We will depart Portage at 10 a.m. and return to Portage around 7 p.m. 

At the time trip arrangements were made, the Purple Rose required all members of the audience to be fully vaccinated and wear a mask throughout the performance. Should this requirement change prior to June 2022, you will be notified. Don’t miss being on board for the first OLLI trip in over two years.  Our trips are now with AAA Nebraska so please note the new address, 815 N 98th St, Omaha NE 68114.

To sign up:

Starting February 2, 2022: call AAA Nebraska at 1 (800) 222-6327 - ask for Dave or Chellie.

Easy – This type of trip involves minimal walking, such as a theatre trip, requiring very short walking distances and boarding/exiting the bus a few times.

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What a glorious array of courses OLLI is offering for the winter/spring semester! Our members asked for both in person and virtual courses, both of which are represented. Let’s share the excellence of OLLI with others as much as we can this semester – be sure to invite a friend to participate with you.

Attending an in-person course means that safety protocols that WMU has in place regarding COVID-19 must be followed. These protocols can change over time and OLLI will let us know what is in place for the timeframe of the courses we attend.

Lifelong learners, your OLLI family is looking forward to engaging with you in 2022!

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Milo of Croton: Mythology’s original weightlifter and the important lesson he taught us

Milo of Croton (southern Italy) was a Greek wrestler believed to be the strongest person who has ever lived on Earth. Approximately 2,500 years ago, Milo discovered an abandoned newborn calf near his home and decided to take the calf home to raise. To train for wrestling, he decided to place the calf on his shoulders and walk one time around his property. He did this every day and according to the myth, four years later he was carrying a full-grown, 2,000 lb. bull on his shoulders. Considering the current world record for squat is approximately 1,200 lbs., you can deduce for yourself the likelihood of the myth being an exaggeration.

Regardless of the exaggeration, Milo taught us some valuable lessons that are as relevant and applicable today as ever. First, progression in exercise is important. He started with a lighter load and progressively increased his load over time, giving his body a chance to adapt to the progressively increasing load. We have discussed how the body responds to this type of stress, which is to increase muscle mass and bone density (aka muscle adaptation). Secondly, Milo taught us the value and importance of perseverance in exercise. Just like any discipline, exercise requires continuity to produce optimum results. When you combine the progression aspect with the perseverance aspect, you get the “Progressive Overload Principle.”

The Progressive Overload Principle is a very important training principle that is used by strength coaches, personal trainers, athletes, and millions of fitness enthusiasts around the world. In its simplest form, this principle describes how a gradual increase of weight, frequency, and volume in strength training challenges the musculoskeletal system to adapt. As previously mentioned, the way it adapts is by getting stronger, and data shows us that this phenomenon can occur at ANY age. Here is an example published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine if you are a data nerd like me (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2709760/). The prime takeaway in my opinion is that “two decades of age-associated loss of strength and muscle-mass can be regained in two months of resistance training.”

I decided to share the story of Milo to illustrate the importance of weightlifting for vitality. As we embark on the new year, I challenge OLLI members and friends to do so with renewed motivation to be STRONG and to live with VITALITY! Immunity health is believed by industry professionals like myself to be the top fitness trend of 2022 for obvious reasons. The best first step in doing so is to start an exercise program or progress your current one, like Milo. I will conclude by adding that the myth of Milo also included the consumption of 20 lbs. of red meat, plus 20 lbs. of bread, plus 10 liters of wine, not per month, but per day! For the record, I do not recommend that.

P.S. Check out my “Exercise is Medicine” class offered through OLLI in February!

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