When I was young, sixteen was old and if someone was thirty they were really old. Of course my parents were old and my grandparents were from another planet!
When it came to fitness, it seemed that once you hit thirty or thirty five it was time to start preparing for the grave.
Still Going
As I got older though, I grew up in a new generation that didn’t really put a limit on how old a person was before they had to be put out to pasture. I was thirty three years old when I joined the Emergency Response Team. At fifty I decided it was time to leave. Although I was still able to do the physicals at that age but I do admit that it took me longer to recover. When I was forty, I obtained my first degree black belt in Tae Kwon. I started personal training at fifty seven.
Dealing with injuries
One of the downsides of staying active for extended periods is that injuries start to to get a better hold on you. Just after I retired from policing in 2011, I damaged my back which affected my sciatic nerve. Overnight, my running stopped. My sidekick went from six feet to about four. One thing that was damaged was my right knee so most aerobic exercises are a no-no for me. I just recently put my bike up on an indoor trainer. Spinning for twenty five minutes or so at a low resistance is doable.. I will slowly be able to get that resistance up but I must be smart about it.
Falling off he ladder
Part of life is getting injured. The more ancient you are the more injuries. Besides the damaged nerve, I went down on my motorcycle a year and a half ago. Of course I injured my shoulder but my chiropractor has been able to get it working again. Then I go and fell off my ladder landing on some pretty big rocks on my right side. That was two months ago and my ribs are still tender at times. Getting old means slower recovery time! The real injury though was that as I was falling I grabbed for the side of the structure. Tearing the tendons in my elbow was and still is painful … basically getting tennis elbow right some quick!
Working Out Again
I have started to work out again and I will be heading downstairs shortly to lift weights. Of course it takes an old person like me forever to get down the stairs! Basically I am stressing the upper body. I will be starting to add exercises for the lower body but again I will need to be smart and progress slowly. Since I can’t run, I am slowly building up on my bike so it is effective aerobically. What I do though is to go through a modified HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) to raise my heart rate for around twenty minutes.
Keep Going
It was much easier to train and to come back from injuries when I was thirty five. My philosophy is that even though I have to modify my training I plan to work out for as long as can. Getting old is not an option but acting old is.It is much better than sitting in my chair just waiting for the guy in the dark robe and carrying a sickle to visit me.