Fitness and Aging

Aging is inevitable.  But the manner in which we involve ourselves in our own aging is a highly personal process. My aging experience included (until recently) a natural gravity toward relaxation and a decrease in the sorts of activity that had really framed most of my physical life into my mid-40's. I assumed I was enjoying the natural progression of an aging athlete.  Having devoted so much of my life to preparation for participation in school, college, and competitive post-collegiate sports, I thought I had earned less work and more enjoyment.

As a result, I decreased and almost eliminated any systematic strength training. I did jump into into serious fitness swimming.  But I also began stocking a bar at home with all manner of boutique whiskey and high-brow, small batch tequila. I figured the swimming handled my overall cardiovascular health in a way that enabled me engage a well-deserved emergence into a sort of middle-aged epicurean-ism. I had arrived at a time in life when I thought I had earned fine food, fine drink, and the occasional cigar. And wouldn't four days a week in the pool keep me fit enough to ward off heart disease, hypertension, stress, and prepare me for my occasional but still serious passion for surfing?

Beside, articles like this one in the New York Times certainly affirm a conventional wisdom that for folks in middle age and beyond, even a little bit of activity goes a long way to moderating the effects of aging on ones body. But the popular press has always done a poor job providing the public with authentic information on fitness and its relationship to the effects aging, and this article, among many does not paint a complete picture.

For most ex- or aging athletes, an hour or two in the garden or a couple of weekly bike rides might provide some psychic benefit; which should not be entirely dismissed. But that type of activity will have no bearing on continuing physical capacity to do real, stressful work over prolonged periods of time.

And the truth of the matter is that despite my enthusiasm for the pool, the blood work from my age-49 physical revealed exceptionally high serum lipids, unhealthful cholesterol, and low testosterone. My blood pressure was in a dangerous range.  And the only good marker I showed was high vitamin D (for a Seattle-ite). Despite the reputed value of vitamin D for our sense of well-being, that news did little to lift my mood.

How did I respond? Did a little reading on what affects lipid levels in the blood. Eliminated for a while, the easiest of the usual suspects (red meat, whole eggs, butter). Also emptied and then did not refill the bar as apparently hard alcohol can spike lipids. Who fucking knew. Finally, I gave in and went on blood pressure and cholesterol medications for the first time in my life. And I began a supplement regimen to address the effects of aging on my hormones, otherwise known as "man-o-pause."

I firmly believe these changes affected my attitude toward where my fitness regime had gone and precipitated my desire to get back on the mat. Furthermore, my change of routine led to a change of heart that inspired my present desire to step into the ring every week with trained fighters and get the snot kicked out of me while I vainly return blows veiled in 16 ounce thai-style sparring gloves.

Regularly working to the edge of one's physical and mental capacity while getting whacked around by a pro-fighter is not everyone's prescription for meeting the effects aging, but it is mine.  I'd like to see this through to some eventual highpoint that intersects with the end of my ability to improve further for my age.  That nexus is out there; but for the moment, I still believe I'm on an upswing that I can sustain for the foreseeable future.  And for the moment, I am really looking forward to getting back in the ring again, tomorrow night.