Training at any age is hard work – but as one gets older – it becomes harder to do – harder to compel yourself to do

All the running around we did as kids changes subtly or fast – into doing as little as possible.
This has to do with the conservation of energy

We LOVE conserving energy, sitting down, walking as little as possible, taking the car when we could easily walk. Lounging about with all our needs like the remote and our phone and our favourite snacks within reach. A setup for minimal use of energy.

The antidote to this is to start moving on purpose, we really need to do this or we become these large couch potatoes, these enormous blobs of fat- and our muscles suffer – even our bones become weaker – so we have to make ourselves move.

Which I do, of course, by going to the gym, and I train with a group of other seniors – and I mean train hard. We do circuit, weight and resistance training – pushing ourselves and each other to always work to the absolute limits of our abilities. Push ups, planks, squats, lifting weights, rowing, cycling, dumbbells – you name it, we do it. We work in short bursts with short rests so we end up training every muscle in our bodies, even muscles we didn’t know we had. We have exercises for balance and co-ordination as well as strength and we stretch too. I mean, it’s not yoga, but short tendons won’t do anyone any good – will they?
The upshot is that every other day or so, I feel I may have overdone it. ( I’m such an overachiever – I really push myself)

On days like this I feel the ache right down to my bones and everything hurts.
I counter this by remembering that I’m still building muscle, and I still have a reasonable figure, shape and form –  and above all core strength.

Which does you good into old age

But it is so tempting for me to just to sink groaning into a chair and sigh at the pain, vowing never to move again – when I know – I KNOW that the only way to release this ache is to move again, an agonising thought!
Still, the reason I’m still so fit and flexible is precisely through this pain.
And it certainly proves to me I’m still alive.

Bring it on!