One of my biggest pet peeves is hearing someone label someone else based off that person’s age. “That guy is too old to be playing that sport”, “she’s too young to be doing that”, “you’re too young to even be thinking about those kind of mature things”. One of the biggest downfalls I see in our culture is that they view age as more than just a number, when in fact, that is exactly what it is. I have met many a person who I was sure was a good 5 to 10 years older than they really were and vice versa. I’m sure we’ve all done it. But that only scratches the surface of the issue and as much as I hope to tackle the whole thing, I think the best I could possibly do is scratch the surface and maybe, hopefully not only get the stereotyping to stop, but maybe even inspire an older person than myself. Usually it’s those older than us that give us something, but sometimes the younger have to give back, and that’s exactly what I will attempt to do.
So I just said that age is not but a number, so how then can you define someone who is old? To me, it isn’t about the year you are born but rather the condition of your body and the condition of your mind. Here in lies the secret to eternal youth in my mind. The biggest trend I see with those I think are old is that their body declines with aching joints, and deteriorating muscle, not to mention their mind. Yet, I’ve come to question whether this decline in physical and mental attributes is out of our control or is it somewhat manipulative, with us having the ability to squeeze a few extra years (if not maybe even a decade) out of our bodies and minds. For me, I think it is something that is 100% capable of manipulation. There is a correlation in which we have all lost with all this technology and comfort we have immersed ourselves in. Let me expand.
I first thought of this hearing of a story of a little town in Japan where inhabitants consistently lived to a ripe age of 100. I really wish I could remember the site I read it off of, but if it’s any consolidation, I heard of it on the Joe Rogan Podcast and then went to fact check. For some reason, I feel as though it was off of Vice.com. Anyway, the article had tried to investigate as to why these people were living longer. The article mentioned various things, such as the clean food they ate, and the labour they did daily. Both of these I think are essential factors to living long but there was one other thing they said about these people that really stuck with me. It was that these people didn’t retire, they didn’t stay still. In essence, they didn’t get lazy in their lives and this is the exact thing I think is key to keeping a youthful body and spirit.
With that said, I’m just going to point out I don’t advise that if you are a 70 year old looking for the youth of a 30 year old that you go out and max deadlift.. You might just get the opposite results. What I am saying though is that it is never too late to start, and you are never too old that you have to quit. As long as you have the mental capacity to do the effort, you can continue working out till the day you die… if you do it smartly. That takes patience. But the flip side of that is that knowing you can train the rest of your life, you should have patience to know that the results may not come today or tomorrow, but if you work consistently, in ten years you may very well be quite the beast you’ve always wanted to become, or have those 6-pack abs you’ve been fighting in the trenches for.
Of course, there are significant health benefits of moving as you age. By working on building muscle and just having a training routine in general, you would be able to work on all aspects of fitness. Building muscle into your elder years can slow down the degradation of muscle, as well as strengthen your already existing muscles. Working balance and flexibility has its benefits too. All in all, training as you age keeps you healthy, reduces your risks of falls and injuries, and allows you to hold your independence while all your out of shape friends find themselves in nursing homes. Don’t let it be you.
On top of all this, Socrates had a quote that stuck out to me (which is in the picture associated with this post). What he says is basically that it is a shame for any human being to not feel the power they are capable of physically. The idea of movement itself is empowering, yet performing the movement even more so. Nothing feels better than the independence associated with being strong and power, quick and agile. Do not let these experiences pass you by.
In closing, I just want to re-emphasize that movement is important and just because we age and we are told that we must rest as we age, doesn’t mean we have to listen. We carve our own path and I know I, myself, plan to continue working out well into my 80s should I make it that far. This gives me the ability to go at a reasonable pace. I am in no rush to see massive leaps of result and thus I train with consistency as opposed to a big 3 week burst followed by months of rest.
NOTE: Picture taken from google images, and is from the movie 300:Rise of an Empire. Quoted text is from Socrates