AGING GRACEFULLY INTO FITNESS
I’m turning 35 in a few days and don’t get me wrong… I am ecstatic about it, but also a little wary. Why? Well because I can’t predict exactly how aging will affect my body or my health.
This summer I decided to recommit myself to running. I hate running, but when I was in middle school and high school I could run a 7 minute mile. Now… not so much. On a good day I’m running it in 9:15, but if the distance increases…. my mind literally just shuts my body down. Now I know this isn’t solely because of age and more likely due to my inconsistency with my running habit and my negative mind set towards it, but when I was inconsistent and young, it didn’t matter. I could still run a fast mile regardless of how long it had been since I practiced. As I age, I realize that I have to adjust my habits in order to maintain a certain level of fitness.
Keep reading to see the steps I’m taking to age gracefully into fitness!
1. SELF CARE
Self Care is such a hot social media term these days, but that’s because it holds value. Self Care results in Self Preservation which really is the Goal! In taking care of our bodies and minds we can effectively prolong or even overcome certain unwanted affects that getting older can have. Strictly speaking about fitness, age can be detrimental because our bodies are inching towards the end of their life cycle. Muscles lose mass, strength and elasticity. Bones become brittle and cellular healing capacity declines.
Self Care looks different to everyone but these are my go tos for fitness and self care:
-Flexibility and Mobility Training
-Percussion and Massage Therapy
-The use of props/appropriate safety personal protective equipment when working out (i.e. – wearing good running shoes, using blocks and straps in yoga, wearing waist and knee braces if I’m lifting heavy).
-Knowing WHEN and HOW to rest my body
2. KNOW YOUR LIMITS
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t push or challenge yourself. You absolutely should! Yet there is a fine line between pushing yourself and injury. If we know our body’s ability to heal isn’t 100 percent, why would we intentionally put it in a position where it has to?
By knowing my limits I am effectively listening to my body. Understanding that running a 7 minute mile isn’t impossible, but it might take me some months or years to get my cardio back to that level. While it might hurt my ego, I have to admit that physically I am not where I used to be AND physically it might take me longer to get back to where I once was. It’s about being honest with yourself and then moving forward accordingly.
3. CONTINUE TO SET GOALS
Continue to set goals, even though they may have changed. Goal setting is a motivation and accountability tool. We evolve as we age, so it makes sense that our goals will change. It’s still important to set them so that we can visualize and form a path towards what it is we are trying to achieve.
My fitness goals for this year are to improve my cardiovascular health. I want to be able to make running a daily habit. I also want to continue to grow in my yoga practice and improve my flexibility.
4. CONSISTENCY IS KEY
Like I said earlier, running would probably be easier for me if I had stayed consistent with it. Why is consistency key? It’s key because achieving a fitness goal doesn’t magically happen overnight. It takes hard work and dedication over a long period of time. If you’re always starting and stopping, it takes longer to get to where you want to go and every time you stop it becomes that much harder to start.
I don’t know about y’all, but I’m all about finding an eazier solution for the same outcome. So yea…. Consistency!!!
5. APPRECIATION
Appreciate where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re going. This is all about offering yourself grace and understanding for where you are in your journey.
I honestly got mad when I realized I wasn’t running as fast or as long as I used to. Like legit mad, but then I paused. I thought to myself… ‘ you formed a healthy habit of running at the age of 11 and 24 years later you can still do that activity, just at a different level.’ Then I thought… ‘imagine what you can do in another 24 years if you’re consistent and intentional with the goal you want to achieve?!’
Taking a moment to give myself grace gave me the time to process the situation in a completely different way. A way that encourages and motivates me to do what I have to do.
A part of me is afraid of getting old. Afraid that I will lose the abilities that I have now. While that might be true, I realize that how I age isn’t something that’s completely out of my control and that I have the power to age with grace. I do not have to be bounded by fear.
I hope these tips are helpful to you all! Let me know what you’re doing to age gracefully into fitness!