“I wish I was as fat as I was the first time I thought I was fat.”—Chris L.
How many times do we tell ourselves: “I want to get back in shape”? For most, that is probably more correctly stated: “I want to get in shape.” My friend’s statement, above, is profoundly accurate (I mean for most all of us, not specifically my friend). If we really tracked ourselves, we would see that our fitness lives (and, likely, our “well-centered fitness”) is a rollercoaster ride of ups and down—generally ending overall worse than when we started. This need not be the case!
Last week, we had a discussion in a programming meeting at my work about (among many things) adding an exercise and aging class. I am adamantly opposed to the idea for numerous reasons. For one, I teach exercise physiology and we cover the effects of aging on exercise (I actually discuss it in several courses). For another reason, we offer a course in Lifespan Adapted Physical Activity. I could go into more of my arguments, but let me summarize them as “the fundamental principles of exercise do not change because of age or limitation.” Aging should not be considered an inevitable disability or decline in ability. It is true that there is a level of decline that comes with aging that is linked to physiological changes, BUT the most significant declines are the result of inactivity, not time itself. Thus, in my humble opinion, any changes to the exercise prescription because of “disabilities” that result from the aging process should be treated as necessary adaptations. And this is merely a reflection of the individualized nature of exercise prescription.
So, if you are using age as an excuse for being (significantly) fatter or more out of shape than when you were younger, you’ll get little sympathy from me (with the exception of legitimate medical conditions). Now, this is not to say that we need to get crazy with exercise and neglect our work and families. I personally have no desire to put the effort into diet and exercise that would be required for me to be in better shape than I was in my 20’s and 30’s. (I’d like to get to the conditioning level I was in before marriage and kids in my early forties—and maintain indefinitely.) I should also be clear that specific exercises are not age specific—rather they are ability-specific. I see no reason for a healthy person to not squat, for example.
Defying the “inevitable” decline in fitness should be the goal. Imagine maintaining most of your peak level of fitness for the rest of your years. I tell my students that my goal is to go back to my high school reunions in proportionally better shape than everyone else. Thankfully, I have quite a few classmates who make this more difficult, but overall maintenance is all that is required. The majority of our friends and neighbors are going to significantly “let themselves go” over time. Many (perhaps most) will come to the conclusions my friend, Chris, did in the quote above.
The basic principles of exercise (the bioenergy systems that provide energy for muscle contraction, overload, progression, specificity, etc.) do not change over the lifecycle. Dietary principles do not change (though metabolism might—thus, requiring fewer calories to maintain body composition over time), and “calories in v. calories out” is still the most important factor in weight management. Motivation (or lack thereof) and consistent effort are the primary reasons we see a “yo-yo” effect in our fitness levels.
Diet is not a short-term approach to losing weight. Exercise is not something we do to get “back into shape”. Diet and exercise are serious lifelong habits we practice across the lifespan. When we take the short-term “fix what is broken” approach we will inevitably find ourselves wishing “I was as fat as I was the first time I thought I was fat.”
If we are not in the shape we want to be in, then do something to get back on track and stay on track. If we are in shape, we just need to keep doing what we are doing. Indeed, maintenance is actually easier than getting into shape. Getting in shape—e.g., improving the functioning of a body system or improving one’s physical appearance—requires overload (i.e., stressing the body system to a level greater than that to which it is accustomed). Maintaining requires little more than continuing with what is working—that is, maintenance exercise which requires less effort than it takes to get into “shape”.
So, pursue and maintain your (nearly) best you. Don’t settle for less. When I say “be your best today; be better tomorrow”, I am not putting a time-stamp on this. You can continue to improve yourself over your lifespan.
Carpe momento!