Only vigorous physical movement and good habits will provide us with the energy to really feel good as we get older.
When I write or speak about exercise, I normally write about strength, flexibility, joint mobility and the ability to use those physical attributes to push things, pull things, lift and carry things and the other aspects of fitness that allow us, as seniors, to remain functional all our lives.
Those are important. But, all too often, exercise is “pushed on us like a prescription drug”. We are told that exercise will prevent heart attacks, strokes and any number of ailments and diseases, keeping us healthy and fit, as if those are the only benefits.
Those who study these kinds of things understand, and speak or write, about the added mental and emotional benefits that come from pure physical movement.
You don’t read about them in magazine articles or advertisements for exercise equipment. Yet those mental and emotional benefits are some the most important benefits to any exercise and overall health and fitness program — the feeling that you get after a good, hard, physical workout. You feel alive. Those “feel good” chemicals are moving throughout your system and they will stay there for a while. Psychologically, they put you into an ALTERED STATE — a FLOW state — if you will, that is the after effect of the pure effort of physical movement.
George Leonard, the author of The Ultimate Athlete and The Way of Aikido called it, “The Joys of the Physical”. He said: “This glow I now feel in a body over a half century old — no Gym Instructor ever mentioned that.” — George Leonard, The Ultimate Athlete, p. 20
In his bestseller entitled Flow, author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (yes you read that right), said, “When we are unhappy, depressed, or bored we have an easy remedy at hand: to use the body for all it is worth.” He goes on to say, “Most people nowadays are aware of the importance of health and physical fitness But the almost unlimited potential for enjoyment that the body offers often remains unexploited.”
Mihaly C. Also said, “Every person, no matter how unfit he or she is, can rise a little higher, go a little faster, and grow to be a little stronger. The joy of surpassing the limits of the body is open to all.”
This feeling of FLOW is available to men and women, young and old alike. Add a degree of risk to the movements, and the exhilaration is even greater. That’s why extreme sports are gaining in popularity among all ages.
While most seniors are averse to risk as part of their fitness program, learning and mastering new and difficult movement patterns can add significantly to the positive feelings you’ll get from a good workout.
So, it’s up to you whether you will go after the added benefit of the exhilaration and flow state that a vigorous program can provide. But you might want to give it a shot to see how it works for you. Put some “oomph” in your exercise. It can become addictive. Be bold, but be careful.
Thank you for reading.