(This is a thread from my reactivated Twitter/X account, where I’ve been working on brevity. Let me know by Commenting if you prefer this to my wordier norm 🙂 – PBK)
At 60, I could easily out-lift, out-fight, out-ruck, and out-chill the 20-year-old me, no question.
All without investing decades of time and sweat.
I mean, what the heck, man?
Here are 10 secrets to being fitter and healthier than you ever were when you were younger:
1. Start now
Forget about it being too late.
After med school, I wore a ton of hats: doctor, husband, father, son, and family lynchpin. I put aside my long-term interests—martial arts, bodywork, languages, writing—to take care of business.Â
Until I decided to take care of myself.
At age 53.
This is where the “saving for retirement” analogy breaks down. Yes, you may never get as trim, strong, and skilled as someone who started 20 years before you.
So what?
Unless you have a Time Machine, this observation is pointless. You don’t need regrets, and you don’t need a reason to give up before you start.
Wherever you are, start. You’ll improve no matter what.
2. To heck with the 10,000 hours to mastery thing
Even the popularizer of the concept, Malcolm Gladwell, acknowledged that it got taken out of context.
6 hours a day every day for 5 years to get really good at something… the idea is a giant barrier to entry.
You may not have 6 hours a day to spare. You may not have 5 years to give. No one gets any guarantee of how much time they have left.
I thought I’d practice a BJJ drill 14 times daily for 2 years to get 10,000 repetitions. It took just 1 month to pull off the move in class.
So skip this idea. And any other idea that sounds like Don’t Bother Trying.
3. Make good use of the time you have
Compounding your gains over time is a thing. But it only works if you have time to compound.
Avoid getting taken out prematurely.
Over 40, you’re most likely to be taken out by heart attack or cancer. So see your doctor and get the essential risk factors screened and fixed.
While you’re at it, see a cardiologist about getting your heart cleared for high-intensity workouts.
You have what you have. Stop avoiding the checkup, get dialed in, and move on.
4. Start slow and build
Whether you’re 26 or 62, The World is competing for your time.
This is our new reality. Anything new will have to fight your professional, Internet, personal, and family demands for space in your life.
So add just a little.
- One new dietary habit, or
- 4 breaths of breathwork, or
- Walking down the block and back
Drive a narrow wedge into your life and drop a seed in the crack. When it widens, add another seed.
5. Build towards your target activity
I followed a program of 2 lifts as prep for returning to the mat.
Got pretty strong in those lifts.
Still blew out a calf muscle my 2nd week back in class.
The activity of choice is its own preparation for the demands of that activity.
What you’re trying to do is bridge the gap with remedial work and recovery until you can start the activity proper.
6. Support the activity with secondary exercises
Doing your goal activity—BJJ, CrossFit, cycling, backpacking, or playing Captain America—is necessary to doing it better over time.
But it’s not enough. You can’t jump straight into it from zero, and once doing it, your odds of injury improve by doing outside training to get stronger, more mobile, and more energy efficient.
Less is more here. Remember the competing elements in your life; a big one is your recovery capacity.
7. Good and regular beats great and random
A great day to remember is when you realize you’ve dialed in Your Regimen.
The few but key parts are all in place.
And they’ve been running on autopilot for a while.
From this point on, improvement is as close to guaranteed as it gets in this life.
8. Stack your gains
The key elements don’t substitute for one another. You can’t run more to make up for less sleep; you can’t eat your way out of loneliness.
But key habits can amplify each other if chosen smartly.
- Walk outdoors (exercise + sun)
- Walk outdoors with a friend (exercise + sun + socializing)
- Take a tai chi or aikido class on the beach (ditto)
- Then grab an unprocessed lunch (ditto plus nutrition)
9. Always Review and Revise
Do you bookmark cool social media posts?
How often do you review, study, and change some part of your life because of them?
“Almost never” is the honest but wrong answer.
Autopilot for your healthy habits is much better than nothing. But you’ll go further by reviewing your progress and making adjustments.
- Black belt your goal? Great, how’s the belt progress going?
- Want to benchpress your body weight? Amazing, how much weight are you adding every month?
- Committed to losing 30 pounds? Can do, how much weight do you have left?
You can start off in the completely wrong direction if you course correct. Recheck your progress.
10. Flow with the go
If you’re frustrated or disappointed a lot, you’re doing it wrong.
Life is too short, especially after age 40. And too much negativity makes it HIGHLY likely that you’ll quit.
The incredible — being adept, moving like a gyroscope, making it look easy — comes from the compounding effect of time.
The enemy is anything that cuts your odds of staying the course.
Be pleased with the process, with little wins. Then good night and back at it tomorrow.
Leave a Reply