The coming week will see my wife turn another year older, but it is a busy week so we went out bowling and to lunch together today instead of later. It was fun, since we haven't bowled together for several years, and we aren't competitive at all. Bowling is a bit of a funny sport in that respect, because so many people seem to take it competitively serious, even though they themselves rarely bowl. The lane next to us was taking it seriously - and they weren't very good. Still, I guess for many, unless keeping score for a winner, a game isn't fun.
I am not competitive in many sports.
Though today I started box-jumps again at the gym. It is scary now. I used to be able to get up pretty high from a standing jump and then much higher with a lead-in jump, but today I just got used to jumping. It feels so weird to jump now, like my body is no longer coordinated enough to do it, and my brain knows it is incapable. There is fear before taking off, but I worked through it and I am not starting very high (75cm ~30in), so it isn't too bad. Instead of going higher today, I moved my jump distance out and was able to get on to the box pretty easily (although fear-filled) from about 1.5 metres out. I should film it to see how awkward it looks.
Getting older sucks, because the brain still remembers what it felt like to do things much younger, but doesn't necessarily predict how it will feel to try today. For example, close your eyes and remember back to when you were say ten years old, and doing a somersault. Now, move the coffee table and make some space, and try to do one now.
I will wait.
(with the ambulance on stand-by)
For about six months now, I have changed my workout quite a lot from what I was doing, and instead of putting effort into muscle strength, I have been putting it into tendon strength and now adding in more balance, flexibility and general mobility. I think I am strong enough to do most of what I will need to do in my life in terms of lifting and carrying, but I am more concerned about my day to day movement and ability to stay upright. I am in constant pain and have been for many years, so that isn't likely to change much, but I want to be able to run a little, jump a little, and generally move relatively freely as I get older.
I was doing some flexibility exercises the other day and a guy I occasionally talk to comes up and says, you look like a ballerina. Of course, this was meant as a light insult, but he looked surprised when I said "I wish!" And then went on to say that I had a chance to do ballet as a kid (joining with my sister) and turned it down. But hey, if I had I would not only be in far better physical condition, I would have grown up as one of the few straight guys in a class full of beautiful women.
Quite a different youth experience for sure.
Movement is something we really take for granted, and we don't do a good job of predicting what it will be like to have even minor changes to our abilities. The other day I was talking to a therapist and tried to give an analogy of what it has been like to have a "minor" stroke, as it has been classified. It is minor because I can speak and am not in a wheelchair. So I said, imagine what that your body is as it is now, everything working relatively well, but you lose all of your fingers. From the function of your body perspective, it is still working, but life fundamentally changes, doesn't it?
Even when we have seen other people age ahead of us, we don't fully grasp what it is going to mean for us, which is why most of us don't do a very good job of preparing for it, or mitigating the decline speed. There are plenty of things we can do to improve the quality of our lives as we age and many of them are pretty easy and don't require equipment or a gym, but are we doing them? Are we stretching our muscles out, working on our balance, or ensuring we are able to even put our shoes on without struggle?
If we are struggling in our forties, what happens in our sixties, and what do our seventies and eighties look like?
Most of my friends can't touch their toes.
That seems like something someone in their mid-forties should be able to do. It isn't that they are overweight, nor that they are inactive. It is just that their movement priorities have been aligned in a way that ignored flexibility, favouring activity that has restricted movement, or just strength training straight up. Even when I was strength training more, I made sure to maintain a modicum of flexibility, because I think it is important for our future wellbeing, whether it be doing tasks around the house, or just getting out of bed.
Wellbeing is something that doesn't just happen, it has to be worked for. Maybe it shouldn't be the case, but unfortunately in the world we have created where we are largely still, barely moving in any dynamic action unless forced, and constantly sitting, eating and remaining passive, staying healthy is getting increasingly difficult. In the past people didn't have hygiene and healthcare to keep them healthy longer, but their bodies didn't fail them in the same way ours do now.
I am not competitive, but perhaps society should have some competition around getting healthier, if that is what is needed for many people to take part in the game. Compete against friends and family, neighbours and strangers, to push each other to be a better physical version of ourselves. And perhaps, a better mental, emotional and social version of ourselves too.
Taraz
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