“Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ?”
1 Corinthians 6:15
I’m convinced that old Bodybuilders judge their days solely by the pain their workouts generate. Every old gym rat has at least one injury that refuses to leave the past in the past. And those men love to regale anyone standing near enough with their tale of how much it hurts and how the injury came to be.
I’m not proud to say it, but I have my own catalog of aches and pains, and I may have delivered a monologue or two in my time. Some of those dings and dents were collected as a result of your garden variety stupidity. But others, by my recollection, were inflicted and shouldered with uncanny heroism, billowing courage, and a near inhuman indifference to pain, the degree of which can depend in no small measure, on who is listening as I tell the story. A good tale, I thought, would always excuse a sub-par performance. But I was wrong. It only cheated me out of a result.
A point came when there was more hurting and storytelling getting done than working out and improving and something needed to change. Age is less of a limiting factor than the unwillingness to find another way to get the job done. I finally accepted that discovering different ways to challenge my body and mind was neccesary.
My entire adult life had been devoted to having big and powerful muscles and learning how to defend myself and others. In my late fifties, I had come to grips with the concept that I was not destined to win a Mr. Olympia title, break any world powerlifting records, or win a UFC belt. My goals became less complex and attainable. I wanted to look and be physically fit. I wanted to be agile, flexible, and capable of defending myself and my family if needed. Most of all I wanted my body to stop hurting and I wanted to do things rather than sit and watch.
I had learned some fundamental biological truths I had not previously considered, and I have put them to work.
1. The human body is an adaptive organism.
2. What you take into your body directly relates to how well your body functions and performs.
3. There is no reality; there is only one’s perception of reality.
To the first point, performing traditional weight lifting movements is not the only way to exercise. Lifting heavy is not the only way to build bigger muscles, and running is not the only way to burn fat. The truth is that some of my very best workouts have never taken place in a gym.
I flip tires and pound them with sledgehammers. I sprint and do other exercises in the sand. I run with high knees waist-deep in the ocean. I use battling ropes and do basic bodyweight exercises like pushups and air squats. There is a nearly infinite list of things that I do now to stress my body, and the result has been an increase in muscle size and strength and a remarkable increase in cardio conditioning, and overall endurance. I have maintained my bodyweight of 225lbs while dramatically losing body fat which means I have built muscle in the process. I am more flexible more agile, my reflexes have gotten much quicker, and I am faster at everything. My big aches and pains are mostly gone, and anything that remains does not hinder my ability to train or do anything else.
It’s been two months now, and while I am adding some weight training movements that I like to do, the focus will be light weight and working fast, and I will continue to utilize a wide variety of less conventional methods of stressing my body.
I am eating delicious foods that improve my digestion and reduce inflammation. I drink lots of water, I lowered my sugar intake significantly, and I eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and good fats along with low-fat proteins. I recover faster on less food because my body digests and absorbs nutrients better.
My perception of what I wanted to achieve with training, and my approach to accomplishing those goals, needed to change. I followed the advice I had given to countless competitive bodybuilders, powerlifters, and elite or professional athletes I have coached over the years – to set realistic and relevant goals and find the most effective training methods to achieve them.
My fitness goals are different from those in my 20’s, so changing my perspective on training helped me get results. They come much quicker now, and this approach to training and lifestyle is far more sustainable for the rest of my days.
Find what works for you, take good care of your health and specifically your stomach, and most of all, enjoy the process by making it challenging and fun. If it hurts, don’t do it. If there are no results, evaluate your perspective and change the work.
And never stop. Life isn’t over until it’s over.
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Thank you,
Terry
