Over the years I have dabbled in
many different challenges and approaches to fitness from bodybuilding to
triathlon. When I was young, I played all
the sports I could, hockey, soccer, baseball, football and rugby. We had many
children in our neighborhood and we were always outside playing pickup sports,
building go-carts and forts, going for day long hikes and reveling in outdoor
activity. I remember when my sister and I jumped into the Scugog river at my grandparent’s
farm and swam 3 miles into Lindsay. I was 12 and Karen was 9 at the time. I
still remember how excited we were to tell our parents, who didn't bat an eye
except to say we should be careful when swimming by the pump house as we could
have been sucked into their intake valve. Yikes, how times have changed! Today
my parents would probably be charged with child neglect.
When doing track and field in
high school I attempted everything from sprints to the pole vault, never
becoming great at any one thing but finding joy in exploring the diversity of
the events. When I wrestled in high school, I was surrounded by like minded athletes
that were looking to push boundaries and we added weight lifting, circuit
training and running to our workouts. I ran my first long distance run during a
"walkathon" fundraiser with some of my friends, when we decided to
see if we could run the full distance (26 miles) from my home town of Lindsay
Ontario to Peterborough. Needless to say, we were not prepared for this and I
remember completing the run, heading home for a good soak in the tub. then
embarrassingly having to be lifted out by my father after my legs locked up.
These foundational experiences
led me to many enjoyable years working in the fitness industry throughout
Canada, the United States, Europe and South Africa. Over the years I have gone
through periods of inactivity and poor nutritional choices but since entering
my 60s I have returned to embracing the variety and fun of physical activity
that I enjoyed earlier in my life and committed to eating a healthy diet. I
have always loved exploring different training methods and now as I enter my
67th year I feel more energized and ready to take on new challenges than ever. (Below, left at 32 years and right photo at 66 years)
My next mission in life is
to root out ageism by embracing aging with vitality through a more holistic
approach to exercise, to encourage others to take charge of their health and to
share the best practices and experiences of those who are reinventing aging. I
see aging not as lost youth but as a new stage of opportunity and strength. I
believe embracing a wide variety of physical and mental challenges is the most
effective way to ensure brain plasticity and is foundational for healthy aging.
Fitness takes on a whole new
meaning, however, when viewed in a holistic manner. Holistic fitness connects
your mind to individual parts of your body through conscious movement patterns
that energize you, repair and strengthen your body, and help you take control
of your life. It recharges your ‘inner battery’ through conscious communication between your mind, body, and
spirit, and promotes mastery of your inner self.
When you understand fitness in
this context – total integration of mind, body, and spirit – it takes on a
whole new meaning. Fitness becomes a way-of-life instead of something you have
to do. You create the energy and mindset to eat well, exercise, deal with stress, and get things done. Lasting, sustainable
habits replace the yo-yo syndrome. When this happens, you can achieve total wellbeing.
Aging affects all of us
differently and my challenge has become a lack of mobility and flexibility
especially in my hips and lower back. I have added mobility training to my
workouts and recently decided to begin a focus on yoga as a way to re-engage
the range of motion in my hips and lower back. This is pushing me outside
my zone of comfort, but I see it as a positive challenge that will provide
substantial anti-aging benefits. It has fueled my belief that we need to
embrace in a wide range of physical activities to help keep us fully engaged
with life.
Do you workout at the gym
regularly but still feel stiff and inflexible? Or do you practice yoga but lack
muscle strength and definition? Are you looking for a way to achieve a
stronger, leaner and more supple body and a calmer more peaceful mind? If so I
would suggest trying a more holistic approach to fitness that includes strength training, high intensity interval training (HIIT), some steady state cardio, yoga, mobility, meditation
and nutrition.
Nutrition is a deeply
personal choice and there is much controversy over what constitutes a healthy
diet. I encourage you to be mindful of your choices and eat in a way that
supports a healthy planet. Try to eat local, seasonal and organic fruits,
vegetables, nuts and seeds. If you eat meat, poultry and fish avoid factory
farmed versions and choose pastured meats, wild fish and free range poultry. Avoid
processed foods and oils, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, trans fats and empty
carbohydrates.
Mindfulness -
Traditionally there has been a split in the fitness scene between the yoga and
gym worlds. We still tend to migrate towards those activities we feel most
comfortable with, whether it's running, weight training or yoga. I suggest you
break out of your comfort zones and explore different aspects of your mind-body
connection, even try adding meditation and mindfulness
practices to your weekly routines. Practicing mindfulness is a critical part of
awakening your consciousness, so that you’re able to make good decisions and
work toward filling your time with the things you actually care about.
Significantly reduce your
medications by working with your doctor in deprescribing (carefully
and intelligently reducing and often eliminating drugs). One of the benefits
that exercise, and better nutrition provides is a reduced need for medications.
The statistics are staggering. Forty percent of those over 85 in the US
and Canada are taking at least 10 medications. Two-thirds of those over 65 are
taking at least five medications. That's a lot of drugs, and while many
modern pharmaceuticals are helpful, life improving and life extending, physicians
are recognizing that when it comes to drugs and the elderly, there is such a
thing as too much. There's increasing recognition that while drugs are helping
the elderly, overprescribing leads to negative drug interactions, overdoses,
and overmedication as people end up taking drugs well after the problem they
were taking them for has been resolved.
The trick is to take small
steps every single day when working toward your health and
fitness goals. The last thing you want to do is to overwhelm yourself with too
much to do, or worse yet, a much-too-big picture goal that leaves you not
knowing where to even start. By focusing on small chunks of progress at a time,
you’ll feel more accomplished, more confident and more willing to continue
trying.
It is important to embrace a
growth mindset by embracing challenges. When chasing any challenge or goal with
a growth mindset, you need to seek those pitfalls and look forward to
“failures” or pain points because hidden in those trying times and those
annoying experiences is a treasure of growth and learning. We all have fears,
and avoid challenges because of our fears, but if you can shoot straight for
the challenges and seek them out, this will change everything.
Three important tips on
developing a growth mindset:
- Focus on the process
- Seek constructive criticism
- Stop seeking approval
Closing Thoughts - Raise Your
Standards
Let's begin today to combat
ageism by changing our attitudes and taking control of our health.
Tony Robbins put it succinctly:
"If you want to change your life you have to raise your standards."
By being proactive and taking
preventative measures in preparing for your aging self, you’re already on the
path to raising your standards. You’re helping to shift our culture to uproot
ageism by taking care of your future self and setting an example for the people
around you.
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