From a recent class here in Columbus, OH.
I've added two classes at OrangeTheory to my week. This is on top of the six I teach and then the other stuff I do... like Pilates, walking, some weights, yoga, more dance, and soon tennis (as I write this here, I think we’ll be playing tennis this afternoon!!!).
These two classes though are teaching me something really important that I need people to hear but first a little context…
All through my 40s, I just kept getting physically fitter. AND mentally fitter because you CANNOT take those two things apart. Period.
Pay attention to this sentence: I was more fit in the decade of my 40s than in my entire life.
I got back all my youthful mobility and then some and got stronger than ever and more creative in my body than ever.
Then the pandemic hit, and like so many of us, I've come out the other side in a different body. One that's not quite so active. One that just feels different. (I’m not talking aesthetics here.)
After two frozen shoulders, that got even worse. I lost a lot of strength during those two years that I was trying to deal with that and then recovering.
I'm 55.
So... I start to go to Orange Theory and it hit me yesterday after class as I was walking home:
I STARTED JUST IN TIME.
I was a little startled by this thought, to say the least, but I knew in my bones that it was not an exaggeration.
Because I have lost more than I had even noticed. There are weird little things with my balance (which I will VERY QUICKLY get back). Little things in my ankles and my lateral hips (even though I do work on those things but apparently not enough).
I could EASILY blame this stuff on aging. That's what most people do.
But I KNOW that it's about UNDERUSE — because of all I just said about the pandemic and frozen shoulders.
The longer we wait, the harder it will be, peeps.
At any point, you can start to challenge that body and it WILL CHANGE.
I know this from watching elder dancers in their 70s and 80s suddenly being able to squat and come back up without touching anything. (With just my dance processes added to their lives.)
But at some point, you MUST start.
And start right where you are with no judgment.
What kind of aging do you want to have?
I'm not talking about things we can't control like illness and seriosus injury.
BUT there is SO MUCH we CAN control and when we don't take responsibility for that, it's a shame.
Again, what kind of aging do you want?
One of constant pain body and ever diminishing mobility and playfulness?
That's what our culture currently tells us is waiting for us all, but that's bullshit.
We CAN have vibrant elder years.
BUT NOW IS THE TIME TO DECIDE.
Do a wide range of things. Make sure you're including things that are uber challenging. Make sure you include PLAY.