boomerhealthandfitness.com

I’ve been reading Dr. Norman Vincent Peale’s book, “You Can if You Think You Can.” It started me thinking about a couple of things:
1. my own recent fall off the exercise wagon
2. others in the baby boomer age demographic who have not exercised much or at all in their lifetimes.

This isn’t the first time I’ve failed to maintain my exercise program and I know I’m not alone. Getting back on the wagon is similar, in approach, to beginning a program. You first have to make the mental commitment which brings me back to the Peale book and its message that belief that you can accomplish something is paramount to success.

I hear people younger than me complaining about how they’re too old for this or too old for that. That’s nonsense. They make themselves feel older than they are by constantly reminding themselves that they’re X number of years old, as if that tells the entire story.

I’m 57. How is 57 supposed to feel? Am I supposed to relegate myself to sitting on the couch doing nothing? Am I supposed to get up every morning and think about aches and pains? Am I supposed to stop enjoying life because I’m too old?

Like anything else, age related decline is affected by how you THINK about it. My mom celebrated her 77th birthday last June. As a gift to her, we went to Disneyland as part of a summer road trip. She had never been there, but has always been a fan of Mickey and friends.

Before we arrived at Disneyland, we spent a week visiting my sister and her boy friend in Colorado. Then, on the way to the Grand Canyon, we visited Rocky Mountain National Park, Mesa Grande, Arches National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, and Four Corners.

We did a lot of walking at most of these sites and it frequently involved hills. After a few days at the Grand Canyon, we drove to Southern California arriving in the afternoon at our hotel near Disneyland.

I purchased two-day passes for Disneyland so we wouldn’t feel rushed to try to see everything in one day. We left the hotel about 8:00AM, hopped on a shuttle and were soon at the gates to the Magic Kingdom where we proceeded to tour from one end of the park to the other, only taking breaks for lunch and dinner. After a full day of walking around Disneyland, we arrived back at the hotel around 11:00PM.

Now how many 77 year olds do you know who could have spent 15 hours roaming around Disneyland? I have to admit that I was slightly thrashed and I’m 20 years younger. I really think my mom could have kept going if there was more we wanted to see.

The point I’m trying to make is that you’re only too old if you THINK you are. It’s all in your mind. You’re not too old to start working out. You’re not too old to get back on the workout wagon. You’re not too old to start improving your health and fitness levels. My mom never thinks she’s too old for anything which was why she got herself stuck on the roof a few years ago, but that’s a different story.

You don’t have to plan on running a marathon or bench pressing your bodyweight. Start small. Take a short walk after dinner instead of channel surfing from the comfort of your couch. Get some exercise bands and use them a couple of times a week. Either of these steps is an improvement over what you were doing….which was nothing.

If you think you’re too old or can’t do something, you set up a self-fulfilling prophecy that will lead to failure. Conversely, if you think you can and allow yourself to believe that you’re young at heart, you give yourself the mental conditioning that can start you down the path to success.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Give it a shot.

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