The Age Card…

This last week I spent 4 days in Costa Rica with a group of guys to celebrate the upcoming marriage of one of the guys, Ryan Young, owner of Tier One Equipment. I’ll say it up front that for most of the trip they referred to me as the grandfather, old guy, etc… In some ways I enjoyed the bantering and conversation over me being older, yet still as fit as a younger guy. But I have developed a habit that I know is driven out of a healthy thought process, but may not be used in a positive manner for the development of my global health long term. I refer to this concept of “global health” which represents the physical, mental, spiritual and emotional health of all human beings.

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When I started 40fit, it was out of a desire to address the specific needs of the older or let’s say, more experienced athlete. LOL. But I have found that now, I will sometimes pull the “age card” and use that as an excuse or potentially a mental buffer when what I am really subconsciously doing is giving myself an out or an excuse. Now, that is not to say that the older athlete shouldn’t consider training and specific interventions more carefully than a younger athlete. But then again, every athlete no matter what their age should be purposeful and careful in their training decisions. I also don’t shrink from work or make excuses to get out of something, but I will sometimes use the “age card” when really what I am doing is making excuses for not working enough mobility, resting well enough, eating right, or learning how to modify my training based on my specific needs.

You see, the more experienced (as in age) athlete should consider the lifespan of their body and modify training accordingly, but this does not mean that using our age is something that should limit our development. The consideration of our lifecycle gives us a better understanding of what we should be doing in training, and better yet, how we should be preparing and recovering for and from training. So the next time I’m with the “young” guys and I start to use the “age card”, I hope to develop a little self awareness, step back and ask myself, “what is truly influencing your training performance or limiting you here?” It could be that my shoulder and hip mobility are the problem and only the fact that I am older promotes more stiffness than a younger body. But I shouldn’t let the fact that I am older be the excuse. Instead, I should focus on more mobility and improve my daily discipline toward addressing my specific needs as an athlete.

Always getting better….Fitness, Community, Lifestyle

Coach D

2013-09-14T05:51:41+00:00

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