Welcome, everybody, to Midday Magazine for this Thursday, March 13th, 2025.
Have your host, James J. Mailov here.
We're joined right now by our great friend, Laura Hubert, from UW Extension.
Laura, usually we get together and we talk for H.
We're going to be diving into a different topic today.
Absolutely.
So normally, you know, I'm working with young people and I'm working with the volunteers
who work with young people, but I've started something new.
I'm here as a volunteer today for a program that, I don't know, it means a lot to me.
And I feel like a lot of your listeners would love to know about the program because it
has incredible benefits for middle-aged and older adults.
You know, it's funny to me that this topic came up.
I've been working out since I was a little kid, my dad being an athlete and it was just
a big deal to him.
And like a lot of us, as I've gotten older, I've gotten a little lax in my workout, haven't
been able to keep up on me as much.
My father, who is, you know, 20-some years older than me and everything, is the one that's
been keeping me on track and being keeping me on pace with this because as an athlete,
as a former athlete, he realizes, well, he's done a lot to his body and he's really got
to keep it in shape otherwise it could fall apart on him.
And he loves to keep active, he likes to keep doing things and stuff.
So it's been very helpful being around him and been helpful for that.
But even with that being said, I talk to some of my students and some younger people and
they don't really take the time for these things.
I think for a lot of people, one of the first things I do when I wake up is stretching.
I don't even think about it, I just kind of do it.
Even simple things like that and not a lot of younger people are doing.
So I could not agree with you more about the age range and men, women, all of the above.
But you're younger out there listening, don't tune out.
You should be tune did on this one too.
And you also just touch on what I was first saying and part of the reason I brought it up.
These are routines and their habits and your brain loves routines.
So if you get used to doing something like this, your body's going to get used to it and
you do it without even thinking half the time.
You bet.
A lot of these activities I'll say.
Absolutely.
So the program that we're talking about is called Strong Bodies.
And I turned 50 in 2024 and to celebrate my best friend and I from high school, we went
to Banff in Canada and we did some serious hiking.
And during that time I was really reflecting on my care.
I was 50 years old and able to do all of these things.
And I come from a family with a really strong osteoporosis history.
My grandma was bedridden after breaking her back multiple times by the time I was in second
grade.
My mom is 76 years old right now and she's already lost four and a half inches of height because
she's got that strong osteoporosis thing.
And the joy that I got from being able to get out into the most magnificent pieces of
nature and do long hikes and do all of that, it just really helped me realize that I don't
want the same fate as what my family has experienced.
And I want to do something to be able to maintain.
And we don't have to just say, oh, you know what?
Keeping our abilities, losing mobility, falls, it's not something that you have to accept
as you get older.
And so I'm going to tell you, I'm not really good at keeping myself accountable.
Yeah, I hear you.
So I talked with our nutrition educator in the office and I said, can I become a volunteer
to help teach these classes because that's going to hold me accountable and that's going
to make sure that I do all of these fabulous things that are going to help keep me strong,
that are going to help me maintain my confidence, that are going to allow me to maintain an
ability to do all of the daily things that we, we need to do as we get older.
Yeah.
Laura, appreciate the topic and always love, you know, we've been doing this for years
together and everything.
I love hanging out and talking with you.
There is no way you're 50.
There is no way, no way.
How dare you lie to it?
I don't look a day over 50 and a half.
It's fun to be able to talk about a program that we haven't really got to spend a lot of
time on.
And this one, yes, it's for middle age, older adults, men, women, all can really be really
helped with this.
I do want to send a shout out to Hannah, as you mentioned, and Kahn and some of the people
that have worked on this program before too and stuff, appreciate their work on this.
So this is actually a national program.
It's completely based in research.
The research happened in the early 1990s, especially with post-menopausal women.
Like, didn't make any difference.
And Wisconsinites have glommed on.
So this is a national program and Wisconsin has the highest number of participants.
It has the highest number of volunteers teaching the classes.
Like, I don't, I think it makes sense to me partly because of the seasons that we have
and all of that kind of stuff, but it is such a supportive program.
It's, I don't know, I can just say that as we age, sometimes building friendships and
maintaining those social connections gets hard.
So not only are we building muscle and not only are we building bone by getting together
in exercising, we are building friendships and connections that combat the loneliness
that, you know, have major health implications for us as well.
So.
And one of the things stands out about that to me, Laura, when you say that about that,
and especially here in Wisconsin, and just in the Midwest in general, I'm really happy
to hear that for many, all the reasons you just said, along with the kind of underlying
thing of the way, you know, society has usually been about kind of like, well, we just rub
some dirt on it and keep walking or, you know, you just put up with the pain or that's
just getting older.
And then you add on top of it, the Midwest mentality of, we just don't ask for help.
We just don't do those things.
That's encouraging to hear that.
That I don't want people to need the services necessarily.
But if you do, it's great to hear people not only are getting those services, but they're
being brave enough to get up and be like, you know, and I need a hand or I could use some
help with this.
That's one of the bravest things a human can do, especially the older we get.
So that's very encouraging to hear that.
100% and I think, you know, none of us are out there to become bodybuilders.
We have lived lives and we have roles and we have achy joints and we have all of the things.
And yet, you know, what we're all coming together into this community that is just, we understand
that we're doing things that are good for our bodies and our souls and our emotional health
and our mental health and, you know, I don't know.
I just think this is the coolest thing ever.
And I feel so fortunate.
This week I started a brand new class in Pitsville.
Pitsville clearly was ready for this.
I shared it on our extension web page and then I shared it on my personal Facebook page
and then the library director there at Pitsville shared it.
And overnight we filled up a class.
We have 22 people participating in class.
We have a waiting list.
And one of the things that I heard right off the bat was thank you.
And small communities like Pitsville, like Nikusa, it's a drive to get to a facility,
to be able to work out.
Some of those facilities feel really intimidating for people who are out of shape.
So how cool is it to have a program right in our small communities where we just right
off the bat, right?
We meet you where you are, all body shapes, all body types, all strength levels, all of
that.
Welcome here.
Right?
And when some of the things that can keep people from getting these services oftentimes
are just that one last step that they don't want to do.
Oh, I want to go to the gym but I don't want to leave the house or I don't want to go
across town or something like that.
Here, meeting people where they are, you kind of get rid of that, being even a factor.
And that's very helpful too with this.
Absolutely.
So we were talking about our location, right?
We have winter in Wisconsin and as maybe it's after somebody has experienced a fall, maybe
they're already feeling like a little bit less stable because of issues like osteoporosis
or arthritis or things like that.
So they're more nervous about getting out of the house.
So they're less likely to, even if they were feeling comfortable going and working out,
they're less likely to because they might be achy or they're afraid of a fall or any
of those pieces.
So it's like, or they don't like driving, they like driving when the weather is lousy.
So I just, all of those reasons, our reasons for people to be able to learn about strong
bodies.
We've got a program in Nacusa that's going on right now.
We've got the new program in Pitsville.
There's going to be a new program starting at the Lowell Center here in Wisconsin Rapids
this summer.
And we bring the weights, we bring the yoga mats, we have modifications for every single
exercise.
So people who aren't comfortable getting down to the floor and back up again, we have
ways that they can still strengthen all of those major muscle groups and all of the exercises
are targeted and ensuring that people are able to live their lives as fully as possible.
So carts are heavy, doors can be heavy, things can be hard to reach up high on shelves and
sometimes it can be really hard to get down into a chair or back up or let's face it.
We all need to use the bathroom on a daily basis.
So getting down onto a toilet and back up off of the toilet, these are what the exercises
are aiming to help everybody with.
And you had a sentence in there that I'm so glad you said and I want to make sure that
we hit on at least a couple more times if we get the chance that you don't have to live
that way.
That this is, it's not just, well, we get older and pain is going to happen.
Yeah, there's aches and pains, yeah, there's wrinkles, there's all these things.
But you also can work with your body to, in programs like this, to make it so there
isn't as much and there isn't as, and you enjoy your life a little bit more in it.
You look forward to waking up in the morning, getting out of bed, some of these things.
And while I don't think there are very few topics where you don't necessarily need science
and facts to back them up, anybody out there listening over the age of 30 knows what
we're talking about.
Yeah.
But I did want to get into a little bit of the biology of aging and some of that with you
if you don't mind, Laura, because some of that information that you've come across,
I think even with that is going to be eye opening to people.
Yeah.
So one of the things that we think about a lot as we get older is arthritis and arthritis.
It means that you're losing the cartilage in the joints.
So there's bone on bone rubbing and it can make the joints stiffer and it can make moving
sore.
And so what happens is people will move less to prevent the soreness.
And as you move less, you lose range of motion and you lose strength.
But the truth is, if you strengthen the muscles around those arthritic joints, the muscles
take more of the stress.
So you can maintain a range of motion.
You'll feel less pain over time when you do the workout.
It's really fascinating.
It's one of those things.
It's really cool.
It's very interesting.
It seems like I'm talking about my mom a lot.
Yeah.
Antithetical.
Wait a second.
If I move it more, it's going to hurt less.
And the answer is yes.
When you strengthen it, it will hurt less.
And it's the same.
It doesn't matter if we're talking about fingers and wrists and hands or if we're talking
about knees and feet, it is the truth.
Let's strengthen those muscles to take the stress off of those worn out joints.
And something a topic you brought up earlier about osteosporosis.
And I appreciate what you shared about that.
And the information you shared about it, because I, again, feel pretty up to date on a
lot of these topics.
I did not know the stats that you showed at the one and two women experiencing fracture,
one in four men experiencing osteoporosis related fracture.
That was very eye opening to me.
I didn't see that.
I think that what we've all come up, we've all think about osteoporosis and like postmenopausal
women.
But I think that's where all of the studies were happening.
So for a long time, people didn't realize that men also experienced osteoporosis.
And that's something that I think is critically important to no one understand.
So osteoporosis, if you're not really familiar, right, it's the bones losing their density.
They become more porous, there's less strength there, so they're more likely to break.
But how do we increase bone density?
What happens is when you build strength, when you're strength training, the muscles are
pulling against the bone.
So we know that when you weight train, like the muscles have to build themselves up.
But after those muscles are pulling on the bone, the bones have to build themselves
back up again, too.
So by weight training, you actually build both bone and muscle.
You can't completely reverse osteoporosis, once it's begun, it is there.
You can slow down its progression.
How about that?
Yeah.
Well said.
And Laura, I did want to take a moment to touch on the, and you've talked about this
a little bit as well.
The study in early 94 that showed the strength training is in postmenopausal women has very
strong benefits to it.
We know there are individuals out there in that situation.
So touching on this, I think, is a really important part of this program, too.
Yeah.
So what will you gain by strength training?
You'll gain muscle, you'll gain strength, or you can, you can build strength, right?
We lose muscle as we age, and it's pretty striking just how much muscle mass we can lose
in a year.
And so often, I'm sorry to say like that muscle is replaced by fat.
Yeah.
It's just the way that things go, but if we strength train, not only will we build strength,
we can help build our bone density.
We can improve our balance and our flexibility.
And balance and flexibility are crucially important to us in preventing falls.
Once somebody experiences a fall, there's a cycle there, too, just like with arthritis,
like, oh, you know, if you're arthritic, moving the joint can hurt.
So we stop moving the joint.
But once we fall, we become afraid of falling again.
And so we'll move less and in moving less, we get weaker, and we increase the possibility
of falling again, balance, strength, and flexibility all work together to help us keep ourselves
on our feet and stable.
And yes, the study was done on postmenopausal women.
This is true for men and women.
It is true for all of us.
The stronger our whole body is, the more flexible we are and the better balance that we have,
the more likely we are to prevent future falls.
So some of the exercises, I mean, like I said, we are not working on becoming body builders.
We are working to become stable and independent and maintain that independence.
So some of the exercises that we do, if somebody were to look through the window and watch
us, it doesn't look like we're doing much.
We're strengthening our ankles, we're strengthening our feet, we're, I mean, we might feel a
little bit wobbly while we're up on our toes or we're up on our heels, but we can feel
that balance developing.
And I just think, wow, some of the women in the Pitzville class made comments about this
doesn't look at all like what I thought it was going to look like.
And it's really because it's so targeted on what we need for daily life.
There's other benefits to this too.
Everything Laura has told you 100% with.
But one other thing that I really wanted to touch on to with you is how benefit, the benefits
of strong body that goes beyond some of these things you've already talked about.
One thing that you and I have touched on quite a bit is loneliness in our communities, loneliness
in our society.
Now, here on Wisconsin Rapids, we talk about this a little bit differently in ways of our
senior population and everything and that's certainly very noteworthy.
But loneliness is a problem around the country.
And so talking about that, this has a major impact on loneliness as a major impact on
our emotional health as well as our physical health.
So here's an opportunity to also not only do all these things that Laura has been telling
you about, but also have a conversation, have a conversation that isn't on your phone
or online or meet somebody new, just some fellowships, some camaraderie, you know, some
of that.
It goes a long way for all of these things.
Just real quick, I have always been a very quiet person working out.
I keep to myself whether I'm at a gym or anything like that.
Years ago, I started working out with my dad.
My workouts have never been better my whole life.
I'm much older now than when I first started working out.
I used to be able to bench this or do that, but I'm putting in so much better work now.
Not only having to be fair and accountability buddy kind of there and everything, my forum
isn't there.
You'll tell you right away, but the conversations we have, I can't even think of how many we've
had that we may not have had otherwise if him and I weren't doing this together.
Yeah, absolutely.
So if I could just talk a little bit like this group of folks from Pittsville, they just
wore my heart and I feel so happy to be able to be working with them.
We know that laughter is good for us.
It is a mood stabilizer or a mood booster even, but it actually helps our hearts, right?
And so here we are, we're struggling with back extensions today.
We're doing it together and we're all just, we ended up laughing.
It was wonderful, right?
And in small communities like Pittsville, you often think about people already knowing,
everybody knows each other already.
That's not really true, right?
Because we're pulling people from other areas, some are right in the city of Pittsville,
some are out in the rural areas and some are from the neighboring communities as well.
So there are new people to get to know.
And it's so nice that everybody is there for the same reasons, right?
So we're going to start out right from the bat, like, oh, you know what?
We all have something in common and we're all struggling with the same things.
And we can laugh at ourselves and it is wonderful.
So it boosts confidence.
It builds new social connections, especially during the pandemic.
We really saw a lot of the damage that loneliness and isolation can bring.
So how cool to be able to form a new community and really feel a sense of belonging.
We talk about how important a sense of belonging is for young people in youth development.
It is still critically important for us as we age.
Feeling a sense of belonging is critically important just to the human condition throughout
all stages of life.
Or if people would like to take part or be a part of or volunteer even like yourself
for this strong bodies program with UW Extension, how can they learn more?
How can they be a part of it?
So strong bodies Wisconsin has a website and I encourage everybody to just do a Google
search.
It'll pop right up.
It'll pop right up.
And there's some options.
There are in-person class options, but there are also virtual class options.
So that's one place to start.
You can actually search on that website for classes near you.
You could find out information about the virtual classes, but you could also find out more
about like, hey, I am a part of this community.
Is there a chance that we could find somebody to come and teach a strong bodies class here?
Could I become certified so that I could teach a class and hold myself accountable and
help other people at the same time?
Yeah, I want to add that there are two different strong bodies sets.
We're doing the intermediate version in Pitzville where folks are able to travel and come to us,
but there's a beginner session for folks like maybe in assisted living homes or places
where we already have reduced mobility.
So there are lots of options.
Yeah, yeah.
And again, as Laura was saying, I tried it this morning and just typed in in my search
bar strong bodies, UW Extension strong bodies Wisconsin, tried a couple of options.
Every time it was the first thing that popped right up, you can go to health.extension.wisc.edu
Otherwise, if you'd like to find it that way as well.
Along with all the other great things that are going on over at UW Extension, we talk
with you guys weekly and we still don't cover everything that is being done by the great
people over at UW Extension.
Say hi to the team over there for us.
Always good to hang out with you, Lauren.
We'll be talking for HMShure real soon and everything, but thank you again for volunteering
for being a part of this and for hanging out with us today.
Thank you so much James.
Keep on listening everybody.
We will have more with Midday Magazine coming up throughout the week and next week of course
a big thank you to Pam Hilke and the wonderful work she does.
Keep in mind everybody, we of course are following your Wisconsin Badgers basketball team through
the big 10 tournament as they keep winning.
We'll keep playing them.
That's why we had an abbreviated version of the show today and of course we might tomorrow.
We do plan on having at 430 tomorrow wrapping up the week of Midday Magazine.
Our friends at Visit Wisconsin Rapids Bureau, we're going to be talking to the Wisconsin
Rapids Figure Skating Club.
It'll be a lot of fun, be sure to tune in and listen for that and remember that you
can re-catch or re-listen to and download and share all of our show, all of our podcasts
at civicmedia.us.
Go on over there, re-listen to some of these great interviews with some of your great local
people as well as sharing them on your page and social media, 97-5 FM 1320 AM WFHR.
