Yes, at 46 years old, I wonder if I can whip myself into shape. That is, a relative facsimile of the shape I was in during my 20s and 30s. Only better.
I have to say, I had some pretty rockin’ abs back in the day. Not only that, but I could purposely come within 1/2 inch of your nose with a roundhouse, spin or side kick, grapple you on the ground, or get you in a joint lock if I so desired. Not that I wanted to, but I’m just sayin’. I was in pretty good shape. So I thought.
I LOOKED like I was in excellent shape. I was strong, flexible and could do 60 pushups in 60 seconds. But thankfully, I was young, because I didn’t eat the healthiest diet ever, plus I was a smoker. My body could fight off the toxins I put into it, but who knows what would be going on if I continued down that path.
So here I am, on the later side of my 4th decade and I’ve been inconsistent with my workout routines. I eat a healthy, mostly raw diet now, I quit smoking almost 5 years ago, gave up the coffee habit and now I want to get back into shape. I never completely quit working out, but I sure let it slide down my list of important things to do.
I have to admit that 2 years ago, I decided, after about a year of not weight-training, to pick the dumbbells back up, and I worked out on a regular basis. But working out in your 40s isn’t the same as working out in your 20s or 30s. I wasn’t seeing the results like I used to back in the day, and in fact, I was putting on weight. I’m not talking about “muscle”, either. I was adding some fat to my thighs. Tired of feeling like I was working for no results, I gave up and just continued some light yoga asanas.
Then came P90X! Yay! I thought maybe that was the kick in the pants I needed! I did that for 2 months, only to see more fat in my middle. I found the P90X to be too time-consuming and seeing my clothes get tighter (not from muscle…again…fat!), I gave that up after 2 months.
So here I am. Again. Determined I’m not going to go down without a fight. I mean, come on…if I’m eating healthy, I’m not a smoker, I don’t require the kick of coffee to wake me up in the morning any more, I should be able to stay strong and in shape, right? But can I really do it? Can I at least get a little bit of the abs back that I used to have? At the very least, I want to say I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in - that is, healthy, happy, fit, and doing it all with a healthy diet and no smoking or coffee addiction.
We’ll see. I’ve started P90X again and am on week 3 - it’s amazing. I also started running again 2 weeks ago. That’s another story for a later post, but for now, let’s just say I was on the treadmill last week when the “can I do it” question came to me. I felt that click, like I did when I first started weight-training in my 20s, the one that made me say, “just stick with it to see what happens”.
So in addition to NOT letting myself atrophy and fall apart, I’ve added running to my list of things to do in this life. I’m going to start with a 5k and work my way up.
I’ll explain more about the running in a bit, but for now, I just want to track my progress in my health journey. I’ll be posting some pictures and my progress to hold myself accountable.
I feel better than I ever have. At the very least, I can say I feel AS GOOD as I did in my 20s. Only better 