"The Hunchback of Notre Dame"
(originally published at MMA Weekly.com)

I bet you're wondering about that title, huh?

For the past few days, it seems like I've been in a cartoon - that or someplace that plays a lot of football. Why? Because I'm surrounded by hunchbacks.

Let me back up a couple steps...

Two days ago, I got a that call from the school that no parent wants - your child has been injured in an accident, we're not sure what is the matter with him, and you need to come get him ASAP.

When I showed up at the middle school to pick up my younger step-son (he's 12), I was told that he was outside during PE class, and had been unexpectedly pushed down from behind pretty hard. He put his hands out to break his fall, and jacked up his right wrist and elbow pretty bad. It was swollen like I don't know what. His right forearm looked like a drumstick on a Thanksgiving Day turkey.

Needless to say, I've spent a lot of time in doctor's offices since then. Him and I have been to the hospital emergency room, an orthopedist, to another hospital for a CAT scan, and have at least one more trip back to the orthopedist to make.

Since, as is the case in most doctors' offices, we've spent more time waiting than actually being treated, I've seen a lot of other injured or sick folks. And I'm seeing a few trends that kinda disturb me.

Now, you might be wondering, "What's all this got to do with MMA training, Wiggy?" You see, the thing is that...well...er...ok, you got me - it's got nothing to do with MMA training. But I know that not necessarily everybody that reads MMA Weekly is an active fighter. A lot more people watch the NFL than play football. The same goes with MMA - I know there are a ton of fans (i.e. - people who don't fight) that read MMA Weekly. You're the folks I want to listen up here - the ones who might not be as physically active as the regular fighters who read my columns.

Back to the doctors' offices...

Although I've seen people of all ages in these offices the past couple days, the majority have been older folks (60+ years of age). And while some of the middle age and younger folks might be dealing with injury as well, the older folks have a definate trait that you see too often - hunchbacks.

I never noticed this before I moved to North Carolina about 10 years ago to go to college. But many of the older folks out here have hunchbacks. What's a hunchback? Just what it says - they have a giant arch in their back, just like the guy from the cartoon.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, imagine this - say a tall person had a desk job for A LOT of years. He was hunched over a computer or typewriter, but had to constantly look up at a screen or paper. The shoulders are greatly rounded forward, there is a giant arch behind the neck, and the person almost has to look up just to see forward. In fact, think of how a vulture looks sitting on it's perch. It's kind of the same thing. (I don't mean these folks are vultures - they just kinda look that way. Don't send me any hate mail. ;-) I've seen it get so bad, that an old lady I saw once had to lean on a cane just to keep from toppling forward.

I've seen a quite a few older folks with this since I've been in North Carolina. But I've seen an abnormal amount of them the past few days. And the thing that surprised me was that not only was I seeing quite a few people with hunchbacks, but I was seeing folks that were younger with them. In fact, over the past three days, I've probably seen four or five people in their 30s with a hunchback.

Now, I know that this can be caused by injury, or spinal issues. And I don't want to make light of that. However, I would venture to say that most of it is simple poor posture caused by weak muscles.

Another thing I've seen is older folks with terrible mobility. Folks that have a hard time standing up out of a chair, getting into or out of a car, or even walking. Again, I know that many folks I may have seen in recent days may have had injury or some sort of dehibilitating disease. But this is getting to be more commonplace in public as well (which constitute a more non-specific or general sample of the population).

Now, I might be wrong here, but I can't help but think that much of this is brought on by years of an under-active lifestyle. When these folks were younger, everyday life may have kept them active enough to keep in shape, and to keep their bodies strong and flexible. However, as they got older, they got more sendentary, their muscles atrophied, their bodies weakened, and everything just snowballed.

The thing that worries me is that I see younger and younger people with these sort of problems. I can see it some if a 70-year old grandmother is having some health problems. But when you see a guy who looks to be no older than 35 with a hunchback, and having trouble standing up out of a chair in an hospital waiting room, then something has to change.

And I won't even get into folks being overweight...

Like I said before - not everybody who reads MMA Weekly is an active fighter. You that are, you're plenty active right now - keep it up. This is to the more inactive readers. Get off your keister. Get active. Move. Play. Get stronger. Get conditioned. Become more flexible. A simple strength and conditioning program will do all this and more. The programs available at my site will get you into phenomenal shape - fast - and, if you keep them up, they'll keep you that way for the rest of your life.

Before you start complaining about how hard it's going to be, let me say one thing - shut up. I don't want to hear your excuses. The longer you wait, the harder it's going to be. And like the saying goes, nothing worth having is easy. You don't have to be Randy Couture - in his 40s and still kicking ass on guys half his age. But that doesn't mean you can get away with being Jabba the Hut, either...

Don't be one of those guys who needs a walker just to keep upright by the time he's in his late 50s. Get on a good exercise plan, and keep yourself healthy. The healthier you get, the longer you'll live, the better you'll feel, and the happier you'll be.

The first MMA event I ever saw was a tape of UFC 8 just days after it happened. There have been over 60 UFCs since then. I remember the giant fiasco that was the UFC's 10th anniversary show at UFC 50. I don't know about you, but I want to see what happens at the UFCs 50th anniversary show. And I ain't gonna hobble with a walker to the doctors' office to talk about it, either.

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard.