CEILING can be as high as you can, right?
“Kei, would my body be in better shape had I started this 40 years ago?”
This is what one of my clients (who happens to be in his late 60’s) asked me the other day about his physical health. The obvious answer would be a emphatic “yeah.” However, the concept of training has evolved throughout the years. What used to be “lift big weights and go until you no longer can” is in the past and, quite frankly, lead to a dysfunctional body.
Balance is vital to having a solid foundation. Many people think that it matters only when we are older, but I have seen far worse balance on teenagers than people in their 70’s. For example, I have had 20 year old that cannot balance on one foot for one minute. Part of the reason can be the fact that they do not practice balance. It’s important to make sure the feet are strong and everything that is above it. Not just having strong quads and hamstrings. What good is it if you cannot put on your pants because you can’t stand on one leg?
Going back to my original question on whether exercising early can lead to a healthier body; the importance of taking care of the body may not have been that much of a importance at the time. You were busy playing sports, hanging out with friends, studying to get in college. I sure wasn’t thinking about making sure my ankles, knees, and hips were strong to help me play soccer or basketball in my 10’s.
The idea didn’t even come across my mind until I got injured.
Flash forward to present time, I am in my 30’s and understand that if I don’t continue to exercise, my body would not move as well. If I had the knowledge that I have now I would have applied it right away and who knows how much more athletic (yes, I am kinda athletic) I could have been. Makes you wonder, right? But to be honest, this is all theory and the real application part is not definite.
So I answered back to my client with, “the idea of you thinking about training wasn’t even in the question back then because everything was working well and now your knee is hurting and you have to train smarter so you can get it stronger without hurting it.” When you grow up playing sports, you wish you can go back when everything was at its highest potential. Unfortunately, time is against us and there’s nothing we can do to reverse that.
We have to work with what we have and improve upon it. However, that is not to say that your ceiling (fitness potential) isn’t capable of expanding. That is what people do NOT understand. The body is fascinating and capable of many things, so don’t let what YOU think you’re capable of LIMIT you. See what you CAN achieve with what you got because you’re stuck with it. Now it’s up to YOU to do something.
Hope you liked this week’s blog, stay tuned for more next Wed……………………….Kei