Change And The Aging Athlete Pt. 1

Change And The Aging Athlete

It happens slowly, without much fanfare, and we largely ignore it. It starts in the late 20’s and we chalk it up to not having time to work out, but our performance drops. Family, career, and comfort push exercise from the forefront to some forgotten fashion statement from the 80’s like shoulder pads and popped collars, but in our minds we tell ourselves we haven’t slipped that much. Until you try to move like you used to and come face to face with the hard, brutal reality: You’re getting old.
This is the moment of truth, the time where you decide if you are content basking in your glory days or deciding to wring as much life as possible out of this existence. If you choose the former, it means taking the Blue Pill, deluding yourself that time has not passed, that it doesn’t matter, that you have in no way diminished. It is accepting a false view of reality. If you choose the latter, taking the Red Pill, it means accepting the truth. You have slipped a long way and starting back up is going to be a slower process than you believe, the things like push ups and pull ups that you took for granted are going to seem daunting, the shedding of extra pounds is going to seem excruciatingly, frustratingly slow. Perhaps the hardest of all is the realization that you will probably never regain those past levels of speed and strength. In other words, your body, your muscles, your joints, even your mind, have changed. This is your moment of truth; do you sit back on the couch or do you tackle the challenge and become the best you can be? Not the 25 year old version of you, that’s over, but rather a better, smarter, seasoned version.
We see it every day, young guys at work moving at 90 miles per hour, boundless energy and impressive production, yet they turn and look, with a puzzled expression, at the seasoned veteran who has his work done, and has exerted himself less. Once, that veteran was the youthful powerhouse but grew into the wizened tradesman. He accepted change; rather than continuing the same thing, the same way, year after year, he adapted.
The reality of the Red Pill is that getting off the couch and starting up that hill is going to be hard work. Probably much harder than you had to work when you were younger. You may not be able to do the same activities as you used to, and that finding new activities is not a cop-out, it’s a transition. It’s an act of courage, stepping out of your comfort zone, putting aside youthful arrogance, and looking into things that once seemed beneath you and your young, athletic incarnation. Moving from an attitude of striving to attain peaks of achievement, to one of longevity.
The truth is that you and your body have changed. It doesn’t mean you’re less, it doesn’t mean you’re over “THE” hill, it means you’ve passed over many hills and have more to conquer. Change is inevitable, so embrace it, accept it, adapt to it and use it to get off the couch and take the challenge.
Swallow the Red Pill.