At 63 years of age, summer 2016, I became the oldest cadet to ever complete the demanding and quite rigorous ‘Los Angeles Lake Lifeguard Academy’. Competing alongside the 18 and 20 year olds in my class was both humbling and an unqualified validation. Validation that my lifestyle in my 6+ prior decades equipped me well to still have a resilient body and mind physically and mentally capable of the performance and clarity I had 45 years ago.
Yes, it’s all about Lifestyle, and it’s not complicated at all. Just like my WeightLoss and TrainingForFitness tabs on my homepage, it really is a NoBrainer! It’s not primarily about what you eat or how you cook it, and it’s not about how many vitamin pills and exotic cure-alls you cram into your body.
No , it’s something way simpler than that. In fact, as I write this, it’s not even a ‘thing’ I realize. It’s not tangible, you can’t hold it, cook it, or swallow it, you can’t even see it and you certainly can’t buy it! But the kicker is that everybody has it, but few recognize it! Yes it’s Lifestyle, but it’s powered by:
CONSISTENCY
I lead by example, I’m the guiney pig. GoingOn30 is a vast repository of proven strategies, behaviors, and actions that have made me what I am today. GoingOn30 will deliver you the keys to what I think is the closest you can come to securing the many aspects of the ‘Fountain of Youth’ such as:
- No aches or pains and how to banish them
- Joint flexibility and agility of your youth
- Muscular strength and reflex to move about your daily life
- Jumping out of bed ready to tackle the world, eagerly daring the day to ‘bring it on’
- Beaming with self-confidence and pride, self-worth and direction of purpose on a daily basis
Of course, consistency is of great value in the pursuit of any goal, but it is especially so when applied to lifelong pursuits. This is easily summed up in your daily behaviors. Specifically, I’m talking about:
HABITS
Anyone who is reading this is getting older, that’s a fact! If you are 20, one day you will be 30. If you are 40, one day you’ll be 50. In 2017, I’m 64 and one day I plan to be 95 and so on. The earlier in life that good habits are developed, the greater the likelihood these will survive into your future years. The older you are, the more difficult it will be to cultivate beneficial behaviors.
When I tell people that I have a tool chest of habits I’ve developed over the years to keep me a well oiled machine, they recoil at the thought I have dozens upon dozens of these strategies I observe on a daily basis. I often hear: ‘that’s too complicated’, or, ‘it takes too much time’, or, ‘I’m just too busy to bother’. Well, guess what? Everybody has 24 hours! It’s up to you to decide what has meaning to you in your life, present and future!
In fact, these habits are so unobtrusive and an afterthought for me, that people I walk or run with don’t even know I’m implementing these until the subject comes up. The subject is usually prompted in response to someone observing: ‘Gee, you’re in awesome shape, what do you do to stay so fit and healthy, and move like a 30 year old?’
What I do is less obtrusive than brushing my teeth because it’s woven in all my movements, in my attitude, in my way of thinking. Something so elementary as never planting and twisting my feet starts in the shower and has application with the 1000s of steps I will take that day. Just this alone will go a long way to saving your knees. Yet, no one knows I’m doing it, it’s ingrained in me, it’s part of how I move through daily life.
If you practice these nuggets of behavior you will glean at GoingOn30, you will inevitably be the proud owner of a body and mind that will age with little loss of performance or function.
Journey well my Friends, Claude