Blog
Stay Active
Children run, jump and play and are forever on the go. Exercise for them is simply part of being alive, but as we get older we become more and more sedentary and modern-day life doesn’t help.
Modern day life has eliminated most of our mandatory exercise. For instance we’re no longer required to walk to the shops or to the cinema or to the train or the bus or even the clothes line or the outside toilet. Over the years mandatory physical activity has lessened dramatically to the point exercise has become an optional extra. It is essential that you keep physically active. You’ll age quickly and your strength and health will suffer if you don’t and I can vouch for this.
At age 62, the bones in my left foot were collapsing and needed to be broken and rearranged. It was a congenital condition and shock, horror I found out the bones in my right foot also needed to be broken and rearranged. I was devasted! At this time I was super fit and in superb shape. I’d been in training for some time for the International Natural Bodybuilding World Titles and they were only two months away, but instead of competing I found myself in hospital and bedridden for 18 weks out of 28 and instead of two operations I had to have three.
When I started to recover, I could only shuffle along with the aid of a walking stick and medical boots and I felt like a little frail old lady. I was used to feeling strong and energetic. Even worse, people started treating me like I was somehow separate from them. This was a dark time for me. I lost my strength, shape and motivation and I became unenthusiastic about exercise, the less exercise I did, the less I wanted to do. Lucky for me I knew what it felt like to be strong, energetic and in-shape and I wanted to be that way again.
I eventually was able to return to the gym and I found out I was as weak as kitten. I had lost so much strength. It took me 12 long months to regain what I’d lost in terms of muscle strength and shape. Thank Goodness for the gym and Thank Goodness for Weight resistant training (WRT)
A 75 year old woman who has been doing WRT for a only matter of a few months told me yesterday that before she started WRT she found it difficult to carry her shopping bag but now she said she was able to carry her shopping bag easily. WRT works!
Competing in natural bodybuilding at 70
Well it’s done. I’ve just renewed my membership with the INBA (International Natural Bodybuilding Association) and I plan to compete this year at age 70 in Melbourne, Australia and Zakynthos, Greece.
How about that! I’m already in pretty good shape, not all that different from the photo on my website taken at the Olympia in 2009 at age 67. So here goes!
Living Young cont.
When you Live Young nothing is set in concrete, instead life is an adventure and in adventures mishaps are common, but mishaps stimulate the spirit, they cause you to think on your feet, to improvise, and so when you Live Young you are in a perpetual state of learning. Seeing life as a perpetual state of learning makes it easier to look squarely at “What is,” because you don’t expect to be perfect.
There are those who choose to avoid looking squarely at “What is.” The reason for this is, “What is” will always include one’s part in whatever has occurred and many people would prefer to stay blind to their part in things and focus only on the part others have contributed.
This sort of selective focus can be a huge obstacle to Living Young because it shuts out part of life. How can you be open to life if you are protecting yourself from it? Although facing “What is” can be scary, facing “What is” stimulates the spirit and makes one stronger. If you opt out of facing it, you’ll stay stuck behind a protective invisible wall of your own making as the World moves on. You need to accept “What is” and move forward. Staying stuck, in any way, shape or form wil cause you to stagnate and age.
FLEXIBILITY
I’ve been attending the same gym for almost 20 years and most of my friends, who number about 50, are now 60+ years old. Some are 80+. What I’ve noticed as my friends have become older is that quite a few of them have become quite rigid in the body and also stooped. This is most likely a natural phenomenon but we don’t have to lie down and let the process do its worst.
It’s important to stay as flexibile as possible for as long as possible. One day when I was in the Post Office two older men walked in and one dropped a letter and simply stood staring at it in dismay. He wasn’t able to bend down and pick it up. The other man, noticing the other’s inability to pick up the letter, bent down and took the letter in his hands. The first old man said, “Gee you’re great mate. I couldn’t bend down like that.” To which the man bending down said, “Yes, but I’m not sure I can get up again.”
One needs both flexibility and strength. I recommend Yoga and Tai Chi for flexibility and strength.
LIVING YOUNG
Being open to change is vital to Living Young. The World is continually changing and if we want to Live Young we must be open to a continually changing World. Living Young means aspiring to learn new things and to see things in diverse ways. it means being open to life, open to change and open to new and contrary thoughts.
We grow old because we start shutting life out. Somewhere along the way we stop being stimulated by life. We stop being excited by it. We stop being challenged by it. We become set in our ideas and shut out those ideas which don’t fit what we’ve been taught or come to believe. If we want to Live Young we must be open to explore, new and different and even opposing ideas.
Remember what is castigated today might well be revered tomorrow. Things are forever changing. You don’t have to bend to all the changes that take place, but to Live Young you musn’t build a wall between your ideas and these changes, for if you do, you’ll be separating yourself from the flow of life.
Be open to all ideas and allow others to freely choose their path. Learn to Live and Let Live!
POSTURE 50+
A healthy posture is particularly important for free and painless movement as we age. Some years ago I had a very stiff and sore neck. CT scans showed that the neck was ‘wrecked’ in that it had a great deal wrong with it, and couldn’t be fixed. I tried a myriad of things to alleviate the pain and nothing brought relief. I had massage therapy, neck injections, acupuncture and osteopathic treatment for some time but nothing worked. I was beginning to think I’d have neck pain for the rest of my life.
I had heard of the Alexander Technique and I thought I’d try it as a last resort. The Alexander Technique was devised by an Australian named Frederick Matthias Alexander who was born in 1869. The Alexander technique is a natural therapy which teaches painless body movement. It shows how we put pressure on our bodies by the way we move and sit and stand. It teaches how to take pressure off the joints of the body so it can move freely and painlessly. It took me about 6 months to master this technique and for the pain in my neck to disappear.
The posture taught by the Alexander Technique is nothing like the posture we learnt at school, e.g. “Sit up straight, shoulders back!” In fact it is quite the opposite. I recommend this technique because it is natural and beneficial. Whether you have an injury or not, you will find that if you become familiar with it you will move more and more freely and have less pain for the rest of your life. The Alexander Technique made me very aware of where I was holding tension in my body, for instance I discovered I was holding tension in my toes when I cleaned my teeth.
Until experiencing The Alexander Technique I was totally unaware of the unnecessary pressure I was exerting on my body. Every now and again I slip backwards into my old way of sitting and standing and straight away my neck reminds me to release the muscles around my neck and shoulders and I am instantly pain free.
As you become more aware of how The Alexander Technique works you will start noticing how others are contributing to their pain by the pressure they are exerting on their bodies simply by the way they sit, stand and walk.
Self Esteem 50+ No. 5
You are a walking book of life. Your life is of interest. You are of interest. What we older people experienced wasn’t perfect and we weren’t perfect but let’s preserve what we can of what we learnt for future generations. Who knows what catastrophes and disasters humanity might have to face in the future.
With the advent of machines and computers many skills have been lost. Imagine what would happen if all of a sudden people had to grow their own food, cook without modern conveniences like commercially prepared sauces, seasoned and sauced meat, packet cake mixes and many other things the modern world has come to rely on.
Consider the myriad of hands on things you learnt how to do, like cook old style, grow your own food, run chickens, knit jumpers, gloves and sox, make tables and chairs, build cupboards, all those survival things you learnt that young people are no longer being taught, things they might one day need.
So take the time to record or document how you managed without modern day things. Future generations might well be grateful. Who knows, you might find yourself wanting to give talks about your life and what your generation learned and experienced to audiences of all ages from school students upwards.
Regardless of whatever you choose to do or not do with your life story, if you document it you will have the quiet satisfaction of knowing you have left behind something very useful for those you love, something that only you can give, something that can inspire and assist. Young people don’t have all the answers and life these days is far from easy. (To be cont.)
SELF ESTEEM 4
You might still say, “My life couldn’t be interesting or relevant to anyone today because the World has changed so much.” I agree, the World has changed. As a child I couldn’t have imagined the World today. I marvel at the modern conveniences we now have like dishwashers, mobile phones, computers, central heating and comforts galore.
Young people these days would be amazed to learn how we managed to survive without such things as flush toilets, fridges, washing machines, floor polishers, vacuum cleaners, hot running water, cars, television sets, clothes dryers, motor mowers and home telephones to name only a few.
Young people couldn’t imagine coping with the shops closing at 12 noon on Saturdays and not opening again until Monday morning. They would be appalled at the very idea of using cloth nappies and washing them by hand and then having to walk to the clothes line to peg them out.
We older people have been alive long enough to experience a great many things and we should be proud of the things we’ve learnt and lived. You don’t need to sit on the edge of life and watch others live it just because you’re older. You are a wonderful living book of life, a book with tales of courage, romance, joy, diligence, fortitude and stories of caring and sharing.
You’ve won and lost, laughed and cried and you’ve hoped, ached, loved and despaired. You’ve struggled long and hard with life’s emotional turmoil and you’ve faced changes beyond belief.
You have also known days of glamour, days of wonderful Balls and Cocktail Parties where women wore beautiful gowns made of satin and chiffon and tulle and lace and silk.
And you’ve known days when people laughed until they cried. Why not share all those funny stories you’ve got tucked away? There’s not enough laughter in the World today. Things have become far too serious.
Don’t hide your light under a bushel. Don’t let all your wonderful experiences die with you. Celebrate Document! To be cont.—-
SELF ESTEEM 3
The popular TV show “Who Do You Think You Are?” traces the ancestry of celebrities and finds out who the celebrities’ ancestors were and where they came from. The celebrities can’t wait to find out all about their ancestors. Unfortunately however, the records are most often scant so there is much the celebrities aren’t able to find out about their ancestors.
Like the celebrities I also would like to know much more about my ancestry than who they were and where they came from. I would love to know how they lived, thought and loved. I would particularly like to know more about my grand-mothers and great-grandmothers. I would love to know what joys they experienced and what hardships they had and what they thought about life and what their dreams and aspirations were. I’d also love to know whether or not they felt they achieved what they wanted to achieve or lived the life they wanted to live. But they didn’t document anything so whatever they experienced and learnt all went to the grave with them.
Years ago oral history and life stories were recorded by the educated few. These days however, with greater literacy and with the assistance of such things as voice activated tape recorders and computers, life stories can now be told by people from all walks of life and all levels of education and academic ability. So what are you waiting for? To be cont.—–
DIVERSITY OF SKILLS AND TALENTS
You’d be surprised, as an older person, what potential could exist for your valuable skills and talents right now. You might not be able to use your talents and skills the same way as you once did, but talents and skills can be used in different ways. For instance as far back as I can remember I’ve always wanted to motivate and encourage people.
During my working life I fulfilled this desire in different ways, firstly by becoming a mother, then a teacher, then a school counsellor and then a registered psychologist. When I retired at 55 I pursued the same goals and I used the same talents and skils of motivating and encouraging but I used them differently. I used a completely different vehicle. I used Natural Bodybuilding with the aim of motivating older women to defy the traditional female age stereotype and strive confidently to reach their dreams and become all they wanted to be.
Presently I am using the same skills and talents and pursuing the same goals but this time I’m writing books. In these books I’m documenting all the things i’ve learnt on my journey through life.
I’m doing this so I can leave behind a record of my life and learning for my children and their children, as well as anyone else who is interested in being motivated to move forward in life. In fact I think we should all leave behind a record of our lives as a legacy for future generations. You might not think anyone would be interested in your life story but I can assure you that is not the case. The popular TV show “Who Do You Think You Are?’ can atest to this. To be continued——-