I had a couple of good workouts this past Friday and Saturday and I was going to comment on those. Then my wife made some good observations about Tim Ferriss' book, "The Four Hour Body" yesterday morning and I thought maybe I'd lead with that. Instead, I want to talk about my strategy for achieving my overall goal of becoming the best 60 plus athlete in the world.
Quite simply, I intend to be "the last man standing." I plan to continue to get better throughout the next decade while those around me either drop out of athletics altogether, devolve into "maintenance mode," or try to play "catch up" too aggressively and burn out.
I have always been in shape, sometimes I have been in better shape than others but I have never been out of shape. Moreover, I have always been a very good natural athlete. So I had a rather high level on which to start.
Then, starting at age forty, when my child rearing and career status allowed be to refocus more intently on my fitness level, I started on a program of very small but relentless improvements to my fitness, my sports performance, my already good diet, and tweaking my recovery and mobility program. None of the steps were huge, but by making small changes in each area every few months, I was able to make improvements throughout my forties and fifties that accrued much like compound interest increases your savings account. Borrowing from the Total Quality Management concept of Kaizen, continuous improvement became the watchword of my efforts.
I never exceeded a level of increased intensity or volume that caused mental or physical breakdown or push back and I learned important lessons about my own dosage thresholds when it comes to progress. As an aside, ignorance of that concept of a threshold for accruing changes to diet, exercise, and recovery is something I witness constantly. People almost always try to do too much too soon, and although they make great progress, their mind and/or their body eventually rebels and they quit.
I, unlike most, have chosen the long road. And so, again, unlike almost everyone else my age, I will continue to improve from age 60 to 70 and be that "last man standing."
Quite simply, I intend to be "the last man standing." I plan to continue to get better throughout the next decade while those around me either drop out of athletics altogether, devolve into "maintenance mode," or try to play "catch up" too aggressively and burn out.
I have always been in shape, sometimes I have been in better shape than others but I have never been out of shape. Moreover, I have always been a very good natural athlete. So I had a rather high level on which to start.
Then, starting at age forty, when my child rearing and career status allowed be to refocus more intently on my fitness level, I started on a program of very small but relentless improvements to my fitness, my sports performance, my already good diet, and tweaking my recovery and mobility program. None of the steps were huge, but by making small changes in each area every few months, I was able to make improvements throughout my forties and fifties that accrued much like compound interest increases your savings account. Borrowing from the Total Quality Management concept of Kaizen, continuous improvement became the watchword of my efforts.
I never exceeded a level of increased intensity or volume that caused mental or physical breakdown or push back and I learned important lessons about my own dosage thresholds when it comes to progress. As an aside, ignorance of that concept of a threshold for accruing changes to diet, exercise, and recovery is something I witness constantly. People almost always try to do too much too soon, and although they make great progress, their mind and/or their body eventually rebels and they quit.
I, unlike most, have chosen the long road. And so, again, unlike almost everyone else my age, I will continue to improve from age 60 to 70 and be that "last man standing."
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