Fitness & Fatherhood Part 8: Being Fit at 40
Last month I turned 40 years old. Honestly, it's pretty surreal for me to think about. I don’t feel 40 years old, which is great. I’m really fortunate to still be able to be active and do the things I want to do. As I sit back and write this I can’t help but evaluate where I am in terms of my fitness. This is a milestone age that in my mind there is a societal notion that this is when you need to begin to slow down because your body goes into decline, etc… and personally I think that’s a bunch of crap. Right now I feel like I’m in really good shape, especially considering how far I’ve had to come since being hospitalized a few years ago.
So it begs the question: Am I fit? The name of this blog is Fitness and Fatherhood after all. After 20 years of working out I’ve come to the conclusion that fitness is all about perspective, sort of like age. There are a ton of ways to measure fitness, and it all depends on fit to do what? I think of my fitness in terms of being well rounded in strength and cardiovascular conditioning. Although, I have a ton of room for growth in both areas. After three years of what was recovery and rebuilding myself from scratch I’m super pumped that I’m able to really get after it again in the gym. When it comes to other people’s perception of how “fit” I am I honestly don’t care. They don’t know what I’ve been through. Besides, I’m my own worst critic so nothing anyone else says will top what I say to myself. I’m always competing against me. I have something to prove to myself when I get up at 4:00 am to bust out a tough workout. My goal when I workout is push myself as hard as I safely can. I have some other workout goals as well such as strength goals or body composition goals, but the only way to get those is to put the work in.
It’s interesting now to reflect back on how pushing myself and testing my limits has changed so much over the years. There were years when I pushed myself by running a lot and still fitting in time to lift weights. Other years I was focused on strength or maybe size. When I was recovering in the hospital a few years ago pushing myself meant walking across my hospital room. Those few steps took everything I had….and then I had to walk back. Afterwards I’d sit on the bed totally out of breath and feeling like I was going to pass out. Oh, and it was also really painful. These days pushing myself means getting in the garage and busting out a tough workout at 4:00 am. As hard as I can go for an hour, no excuses. I still have strength goals and body comp goals, but like I said if I’m not working hard then I’m not going to hit those other goals. I push myself in the gym so I can push myself in life. If I can tolerate all that blood, sweat, and tears, then everything else that day is going to be easy. For me working out is a test. I want to wake up first thing in the morning and test myself. I love the idea that I’m sweating and pushing my limits while many people are still sleeping. And I’m not alone in this. There are a lot of people who are waking up before anyone else and putting in some seriously tough work in the gym. Many of them are working parents like me, or single parents, older people, people with disabilities. Whatever the case there is a lot folks doing whatever they have to do to get in a tough workout, and I think that’s awesome!
On that note, I recently listened to David Goggins’ audio book Can’t Hurt Me, and it really resonated with me. This idea of pushing yourself is sort of his ethos, which really reinforced what I’ve thought for a long time. Although, in his own life he takes it to the absolute extreme. The past few weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about David Goggins and also Louis Zamperini who’s story was told in the book Unbroken. What those two guys went through is absolutely incredible. I also think all the time about my grandfather, whose name I share. He grew up in the Great Depression, fought in WWII, then busted his butt working the rest of his life. When I reflect on those books and what my grandfather went through I can’t rest on my laurels because it’s too hard to wake up early and work out. No way!
So if you’re reading this and you’re thinking “man you got a chip on your shoulder”, well you’re right. I do. I’ve always had it, and probably always will. Twenty years ago that chip was the result of external motivations, people’s opinions, etc… Nowadays I could care less about that nonsense. Now I’m just competing against myself, and by that I mean past versions of myself. As Goggins says “there is no finish line.” So can I be the fittest I’ve ever been in my life in my 40’s? “Fit” being whatever I’ve defined it to be in my own mind. That’s the challenge. To be in better shape now in my 40’s than I was in my 20’s and 30’s, even though I was crushing workouts and eating healthy back then too. I’m older now, busier, and my body has a lot of wear and tear. So here’s my mentality: So What! I’m going to put some freakin work in and get after it!
Thanks for reading and take care.
