All Life is Learning - July 2024

There is still time to register for summer courses—and to bring a friend with you so they can get a taste of all the opportunities that OLLI has to offer! If you plan on taking a course this semester that isn’t full, consider participating in our Bring a Friend program, which allows you to invite those who are curious about OLLI to sit in on a course with you for free. This is a great way to introduce your friends and family to our lovely lifelong learning community and encourage them to join! Please make sure you contact the office beforehand to let us know that you will be bringing a friend so we can know who our guests are. 

OLLI Members, Let's Go to the Theatre

Have you seen the incredible lineup for the 2024-2025 season at WMU’s Miller Auditorium? Even better, would you like to go to the theater together as a group?

Well, get ready for some exciting news! Our OLLI staff has been working closely with the sales folks at Miller so that we can offer you the opportunity to experience two incredible shows—“The Lion King” and “Two Trains Running”—alongside your fellow lifelong learners! This is a fantastic chance to enjoy world-class theater as a group, making the experience even more special.  

However, the deadline to register is July 15, which is just two weeks away, so act now to save your seat! Keep reading for all the details...

The deadline to purchase tickets is July 15, which is just two weeks away! Please note that this opportunity is a members-only benefit, so you must have a current OLLI membership at the time of purchase.

Get your tickets today! Easily register by following the directions below:

1. Click here to go to the OLLI registration landing page
2. Sign into your OLLI account
3. Click the OLLI SIGs and Special Offerings tile on the far right
4. Select the show(s) you want to attend and add them to your cart
5. Proceed to check out as you normally would for other courses and events

Additionally, we will offer an OLLI course in the Winter/Spring 2025 semester featuring special guests to dive deeper into these productions. Details will be available in the course catalog for that semester, coming out in late December/early January 2025. 

Please note that by reserving tickets, you are committing to attend. If your plans change, you must call the OLLI office for a refund, which is the ticket price minus fees, before December 1, 2024.

The Road So Far and Where We’re Heading Next... 

A message to the many OLLI travelers who have explored near and far enjoying fun, adventure, and education over the years. Our journeys began in 2012 under the leadership of Peggy Strong and the banner of our predecessor, the WMU Life Long Learning Institute. From September 2012 through June 2014, we launched 13 trips and filled over 200 seats, taking trips to Chicago, Detroit, Cuba (with Road Scholar), and countless other local points of interest. 

In August 2014, WMU officially became a part of the national Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes network and partnered with AAA of Omaha to manage the travel contracts, payments, and registration duties associated with trips that our Travel Committee planned. 

Over the course of the next five years, OLLI members participated in 62 trips with over 2,000 seats filled! Ten trips were fully planned for 2020, all of which were unfortunately cancelled due to Covid. However, your ever hard-working Travel Committee jumped back into action by planning five trips beginning in June 2022, followed by another two trips in 2023 as membership in our lifelong learning community began growing again, filling another 228 seats! 

That brings us to today. At the end of December, our OLLI learned that WMU had not renewed their travel contract with AAA but had instead selected a new vendor called Collegiate Travel Partners. Unfortunately, despite several meetings indicating they would work with us, they were ultimately unable to take on this partnership to help OLLI continue building the momentum and provide a growing number of Travel opportunities. We are continuing to work with Toni and WMU to find a company who can fulfill the essential role that AAA played in the success of OLLI Travel as it related to day trips and short regional discoveries. However, we are delighted to offer our OLLI members a variety of extended travel opportunities through Premier World Discovery; visit our OLLI Travel website to learn all of the details about these unique and exciting opportunities! 

We on the Travel Committee miss the fun and adventures we shared with all of you over the years so very much and sincerely hope that we can make a triumphant return to offering the diversity and frequency of trips you’ve come to expect and enjoy.

Milo of Croton: Mythology’s Original Weightlifter and the Important Lesson He Taught Us

I recently conducted a fitness consultation with Margie, a retired professor whose area of expertise is the Roman Empire. When I tried to impress her with my knowledge of Milo, mythology's original weightlifter, she corrected me in letting me know that he was a real man! So, in honor of Milo, I decided to revisit his legendary story, and the lessons he taught us.  

Milo of Croton, who originated from 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 would 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 a squat is approximately 1,200 lbs., you can deduce for yourself the likelihood of Milo’s myth being an exaggeration. 

Regardless of the exaggeration, Milo taught us some valuable lessons that are still as relevant and applicable today as ever. First, progression in exercise is important. He started with a lighter load and gradually 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, also known as 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 forces 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. In my opinion, the prime takeaway 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 summer, I challenge OLLI members and friends to approach their physical well-being with renewed motivation to be strong and to live with VITALITY! Immunity health is believed by industry professionals like myself to continue to be one of the top fitness trends of 2024 for obvious reasons (we all remember the lessons Covid taught us). The best first step in taking your vitality seriously 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 and 20 lbs. of bread, plus 10 liters of wine—not per month, but per day! For the record, I do not recommend that.