Michael's essay - The joy of walking backwards

The man with shoulder length white hair and tobacco stained moustache was walking towards me the other day. He was walking backwards towards me.He had his head tilted slightly to his left so he could look back over his shoulder. When he came to an intersection, he did everything properly: he stopped at the curb, looked both ways, and then crossed the street.
I watched as he continued to walk along the next block. People moving in the opposite direction - frontwards - carefully moved out of his way. He immediately made me think of the old Goon Show hit song, "I'm Walking Backwards for Christmas."
   
The new year is when we make all kinds of plans and promises to get more exercise. Over the years I have numbered myself among the legions of promise makers. My problem is two overwhelming addictions; Oreo Cookies and escalators.

I have been known to eat a bag of Oreos and a quart of milk at one or two sittings. And given the choice between climbing stairs and standing on an escalator, I go mechanical.
   
Nearly 30 years ago I took up the practice of tai-chi. It is a wonderful form of exercise and meditation. But there are 108 moves in the taoist tai chi set and I always have  trouble following them, remembering them. I still do the occasional set. But  nothing to the  number I should.
   
Last year I took up swimming. Yes, I know how wussy it is not being able to swim at my age; let's face it,  I didn't know how to skate until 10 years ago.
   
Tried jogging; boring and painful. I have a set of barbells, 5 pounders, that I will occasionally use but mostly they gather dust.
   
A friend recently introduced me to an app called Moves. By some magic of GPS, this app will count the number of steps you take in a day. The Nordics say 10,000 steps a day should be the goal. Anything under 5,000 and you are considered to be leading a sedentary life.
   
I was so intrigued by the walking backwards guy, I decided on some research. Lo and behold, Dutch researchers (always a canny lot, the Dutch) have discovered convincing evidence that "Backward locomotion appears to be a very powerful trigger to mobilize cognitive resource."

The benefits are amazing. The muscles, the tibialis anterior and the gastro achilles, on the front and back of the shin, are strengthened. Walking backwards burns more calories than frontward locomotion.

It improves our balance. It can help prevent the development of a hunchback. Walking backwards promotes blood circulation. It prevents lumbago.

In short, walking backwards sounds like the greatest thing since beer in tins.
  
I thought I'd give it a try.
   
The first thing to overcome are the stares and nasty comments of friends, relatives and colleagues. Usually the comments are of the "Are you all right"? category. Or "What the hell are you doing"?
   
The second thing you notice is a slight light-headedness. Not dizzy so much, as feeling just a tinge off-plumb. This goes away after a few minutes.
    
Now, in terms of bumping into things and people, I found it much harder to look over my right shoulder than the left. It gets even trickier if you have a stiff neck.
   
I haven't tried walking backwards outside the confines of my office. I'm still working up the courage to give it a shot.