Staying Fit After Fifty

When I was a much younger man, I had several reasons for going to the gym and not the least of which was my chosen profession. From the time I was twenty three after I left the Navy, until age forty, I was employed by the Department of Defense as a Firefighter. Though not all my colleagues felt the same way, besides being a little vane I also felt a sense of moral obligation to be physically able to fully perform the tasks involved in my job. After all, other peoples lives could depend on it. This same philosophy carried over to when I became a pilot along with the fact that FAA requires me to show up for a physical to keep my flying privileges intact. So for a long time I routinely kept my membership with a gym a tried to be consistent with my exercise regimen.

In my forties for a variety of reasons my life saw a lot of changes, some good and others not. I changed careers and I changed addresses (several times) In the process some things had to take a backseat to others and at times I know my physical condition suffered for it, but overall I have lived a pretty blessed life compared to many others in regards to my general health. I am one of those folks that has been fortunate to only be rarely sick. This in spite of the fact that I often neglected sleep, and developed some poor diet and lifestyle habits.

Shortly after I turned fifty I woke one morning to shooting pain down both of my legs. I had no reason for it, and it seemed to come out of nowhere. I went to my MD who prescribed steroids after he concluded the problem was Sciatica. After several weeks of still experiencing various levels of discomfort, I finally went to a chiropractor who was able to provide me with some level of relief. However it would not be a permanent fix and the next several years I started to experience recurring bouts of lower back pain. An MRI I had done after moving to North Carolina confirmed I had two bulging disc in my spine.

For those who have yet to experience chronic back pain., it can and will impact every aspect of your life. If not addressed it simply gets worse and worse as time goes by until the quality of ones life is greatly diminished. It can turn you into one miserable human being. To make matters worse we are bombarded daily by every manner of snake oil salesman that make bold promises and deliver next to nothing. But as time goes by we will often try most anything even it seems patently ridiculous. For me, among other problems, it brought on insomnia because of an inability to be comfortable in any position for any length of time beyond a few minutes. It was almost by accident that I finally found some lasting relief but not by some miracle medical treatment or magic pills though I had certainly spent enough time an money on both.

I was on a business trip to Rock Hill, South Carolina when I was booked in to a very small motel. I had been on the road for hours and my back pain was so bad it was difficult to walk. I asked the desk clerk if they might have a pool or a hot tub as these had given me some relief previously. As I expected they did not have any facilities but did offer me a weekend pass to a local fitness club. When I arrived I noticed that the club was pretty much your run of the mill small town club but they did have a good selection of CYBEX machines. When I was younger I suffered a knee injury and another time I was injured in a motorcycle accident. Both times I went to physical therapy and spent an hour or so a day on these muscle isolation machines. So that evening at the club I slowly worked out on each of the machines, in most cases using little or no weight. My whole emphasis was simply to increase my range of motion and to do only what I could. That evening I was able to get a decent nights sleep. The following day I spent most of the day in the classroom on my feet and at one point realized I had not even thought about my back all morning.

Upon returning home I sought out a local fitness club and began going to the gym several days a week, usually for about one to two hours per day. One of the first things I started concentrating on was strengthening my core muscles. What many men don't realize is though a back injury may have caused the initial problem. weak abdominal muscles combined with excess weight around one's midsection will preclude the situation from improving. It does not require a huge weight gain either. If you are carrying an extra twenty pounds that you didn't have a decade ago, as the result of a desk job where you find yourself seated much of the day, this is enough to easily create this condition. That twenty to thirty pounds may not seem like much but remember it is constantly trying to pull your back out of alignment and the first thing that becomes noticeable to others is your poor posture. If you doubt this, have a conversation with women that have had a few pregnancies

The key to ridding oneself of back pain such as mine is three fold. Strengthen the core muscles, lose the excess weight and improve ones posture. Yes I know that some people will read this and say "easy for you to say". I would say, no it may not be the quick an easy answer that some would like but it can be done and the payoff is well worth it. If you reach the point of" willing to do anything" then the changes necessary won't seem very hard at all. What may be somewhat surprising is that I no longer belong to a health club. I discovered a far more efficient exercise regimen late last summer in the form of an electronic game station.

Yeah that's right, the same thing your grandkids use to play video games on is my new fitness center. Last year my wife dragged me to a local electronics store to show me Nintendo WII that was on sale at the time. To say I was not initially enthused would be putting it mildly. I really saw little value in what I perceived to be an overpriced version of Super Mario. In spite of my lack of support in this decision we left the store with the game station, two controllers, a balance board and several games including one called WII Fit Plus. After setting the system up at home we spent several evenings just getting familiar with the how to's and just enjoying some recreational diversion. But mostly on my own, the WII fit program intrigued me and though I was sure it couldn't really provide any serious physical exercise, I began using it anyway. I am happy to say that I was totally wrong as to my initial assessment. Within a few short sessions the program was kicking my butt. I set up an initial workout regimen that included elements of Yoga, aerobics and strength training and began tracking my progress, Somewhat to my amazement I started shedding pounds at a steady pace. I n one month I lost nearly ten pounds that I could not previously lose using all the equipment at a complete gym. In another month another six pounds gone. Then I reached a plateau or so I thought. My weight didn't seem to be dropping any more even though I was working out at a higher intensity for the next two months. Then one day I went to my closet and just pulled some clothes off the rack to work in the back yard. I grabbed a pair of jeans that I realized I hadn't worn in years ,mainly because they had become too tight. I slipped them on and realized not only were they no longer too snug but that I needed a belt to keep them from sliding down my hips. I started pulling other clothes out and found that regardless what the scale was saying some fairly dramatically shifts were taking place. Yes my wife had been telling me that she could see the difference but frankly up to this point I thought she was just trying be supportive.

Along about his time I had purchased another fitness Program called Active Personal Trainer which , as it sounds is much more like working out with a personal trainer. It dispenses with a lot of the cute characters that are found in WII Fit and focuses on some serious physical challenges. Frankly' when I began there were a few exercises that I could not do at all. The thirty day challenge will definitely provide you with a very good idea of where you stand physically, but again I would suggest those of us over forty or less than stellar shape should began with the Fit Plus until it becomes too easy. If and when you begin some of these other programs be sure to only go as far as you can. It would be a huge setback if in the process of trying to improve your health and fitness you pushed yourself to point of sustaining an injury. Since I purchased this last program I have noticed others that have come out on the market. Undoubtedly this medium is going to change how many stay fit because of convenience, costs, and effectiveness. It may not replace the traditional club for those individuals who prefer the "social atmosphere" of a gym, but for those of us who would prefer to work out at our pace and on our own schedule this can't be beat.

Everybody has their own take on nutrition and that is a discussion sure to fuel a lot of debate. All I can say is that you can eat pretty much whatever you like but obviously there are things that you have to cut back on and have only occasionally, like rich desserts and nights out at the "all you can gorge yourself with" buffet. Become aware of your calorie intake and try avoiding stuff that comes out of vending machines. I still eat everything that I did before but am much more in tune with how sluggish some foods make you feel. Alcohol of any kind can drastically kill your desire to exercise so if you don't quit entirely, then just reserve it to certain days of the month. You need not become a vegan but most of us don't get enough fruits and vegetables and fruit is something is something that you pretty much eat all that you like. Fortunately my wife besides being an RN is a super cook and creates some tasty meals from simple ingredients. Find a cookbook that has ways of spicing up vegetables and you will find that cutting back on the pork chops isn't so bad after all. Lean meats are still great sources of protein, and fresh fish is still probably one of the best things in your diet when trying to cut back on fat content. Try going for the broiled or baked stuff first and cut out some of the breading found on deep fried fish.

Just because you have past the half century mark is absolutely no reason to retire from life.
In fact you may be amazed to find that when your health and vitality increase a lot of the dormant dreams you gave up in your thirties and forties may very well seem attainable along with other possibilities you have yet to consider. The mind and body are a part of the same package. Improving one can stimulate the other. Start moving in the direction you wish to go and stop worrying about how far it is. Life is about the ride, not the end of the road.