The Come Alive Project

Category: Exercise

  • Energy Bite 180 – Perceptions of “Ageism”

    I’ve been reading and hearing a lot about “ageism” lately. Does it exist? Probably. Age discrimination in the legal context does. It’s against the law to discriminate against a person in a hiring situation solely because of age. Except for athletes, of course. They get put out to pasture in their 30s, and it’s OK.

    But that’s the legal connotation. One of the definitions of Ageism in Webster’s New World Dictionary – Second College Edition is “prejudicial stereotyping of older people”. You know, holding the door for older people, helping older neighbors shovel snow, giving an older person a seat on the Metro, and similar courtesies.

    The AARP wants to categorize Seniors as a “Special interest”; and put a label on that category. And then they proceed to rail about ageism. They claim we are “stereotyped”.  I remember the old saying that when you label or categorize someone, you diminish them. I don’t want other people diminishing me.

    I prefer the term from the same dictionary: “Ageless”. Meaning “Seemingly not growing older. Eternal.” Hmm, much better!

    In many cases, ageism is a matter of perception, ours and others. If we perceive ourselves as aging, we have the ability to change our Mindset. If others perceive us as old, we can change their mindset. We can make a point to stand up straighter, move a little faster, lose or gain weight as needed, and tone up our muscles. We’ll look younger and act younger if we do.

    By the same token, if you perceive yourself to be old, and you don’t do anything about it, how can others not perceive you the same way, as old. Before we get upset about the way others treat us as we get older, maybe we should take a close look at the way we treat ourselves.

    The best thing we can do to prevent ageism is not to let ourselves fall into the stereotype that ageism seems to reflect.

    The reality is that as we get older, some are simply not able to do all the things that they were able to do at a younger age. But there’s another reality, and that is that many of us have more energy and a better attitude toward life than many of our younger brothers and sisters. Look around you and you’ll see what I mean.

    Personally, I like Senior discounts, Senior movies, Senior coffee, etc. I enjoy reading the “Pickles” cartoon in the newspaper, and I laugh at jokes about Seniors. But that’s “ageism” isn’t it?”

    Does ageism exist? Of course it does. Do you have to be a victim? Of course not. You can choose to perceive yourself to be a “victim” of ageism and be offended, or you can enjoy and laugh at the “ageist” Senior Jokes and cartoons. It’s a Mindset. It’s all in the way you’re thinking.

    Thank you for reading.

     

     

     

  • Energy Bite 179 – A Brief and Final Word about Motivation, for Now

    I’ve been writing thoughts about motivation for a few weeks now, asking about why some people exercise during the week and others don’t. What motivates some to either go to a gym or exercise at home, while others won’t do it, even though their doctor has told them to either exercise or get sick and die

    I think these words by Tom Bilyeu, former President of Quest Nutrition, makers of Quest Bars, the second fastest growing company in America, and current CEO of Impact Theory, a new media company with the purpose of empowering people, sum it up pretty well. He had this to say during an interview during one of his recent video interviews online:

     “Going to the gym is optimizing the body to get to the mind. It’s about looking better and feeling better. It’s earning credibility with myself that I have the discipline to show up and do something. That’s a huge one — proving to yourself that you have the discipline to do something that’s hard, that’s difficult, that you don’t really want to do”        —  Tom Bilyeu, CEO, Impact Theory

     When you’ve finished with your exercise, you can say:

    “That’s good, I did what I needed to do.”

    It’s true about all of life and not just your Health, Fitness and Personal Energy. It works for me.

    Thank you for reading.

  • Energy Bite 178 – A Less Than Final Word on Motivation

    Since I have  been writing about what motivates people, especially seniors, to exercise and take responsibility for their own health and wellness, I thought I’d go back to George Leonard’s book, The Ultimate Athlete for some good statistics and reasoning about health and fitness. I referred to Leonard’s books often when I first started this blog many moons ago. George Leonard was one of the early pioneers of the Human Potential Movement at the Esalen Institute in the 1970s through the 1990s. He was particularly focused on physical performance and the capabilities of the human body.

    In that book, originally written in 1974, updated in 1990, and again in 2001, he offered some interesting statistics based on a massive survey published in 1973 by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness And Sports. According to this survey,

     “Only 55 percent of all adults in America do any exercise at all. The majority of these reported “walking” as their means of conditioning. Relatively few devoted themselves wholeheartedly to any physical pursuit. When asked why they do exercise, the active 55 percent answered as follows (with some giving more than one reason):

    • 23% – FOR GOOD HEALTH: good for my heart; to keep in shape; to stay in good physical condition; I can breathe better.
    • 18% – GOOD FOR YOU IN GENERAL: make me feel better; good for me; I feel like it’s good for me.
    • 13% – TO LOSE WEIGHT: to keep slim; I like to keep in shape; I’m a little on the heavy side; to flatten my stomach
    • 12% – ENJOYMENT: I like doing it; for pleasure and relaxation; for recreation
    • 3% – MY DOCTOR TOLD ME TO.”

    — The Ultimate Athlete, George Leonard, p. 45

    Leonard goes on to say:

    “Never before in human history has so much information been so widely available about health; the human body; the unity of body, mind and spirit . . . and the profound influence of lifestyle on our health and well being , , , Best of all, more people than ever are engaging in vigorous physical activity mostly for the sheer joy of it.”

    That’s the intrinsic motivation I’ve been writing about the past two weeks.

    But now, the bad news. Leonard cites a U.S. Surgeon General’s report in 2000 that says: “more people now than in the 1970s are sedentary”. And a Tuft’s University study showed that 55 percent of women and 63 percent of men over age twenty-five are obese or overweight. At the time, that was the highest rate ever recorded. Statistics vary today but the the percentages of obesity and chronic illness are worse today than then.

    The fit get fitter and the weak get weaker.

    Leonard said, “What has happened is that the fitness movement has moved millions of people out of the middle toward increased physical activity and body-mind-spirit awareness while technological change and the fast food epidemic has moved other millions out of the middle into decreased physical activity and obesity.”

    I have often said that when I write or speak, I am “speaking to the choir”. Most people who read a blog like this one are already aware of the overall health and wellness benefits of exercise, proper eating and other habits, and are taking responsibility for their own health. Most of us in the 55% that exercise at all, do it “FOR GOOD HEALTH” or because we know it is “GOOD FOR US IN GENERAL”.

    The question is motivation. How can the other 45 percent be motivativated to move their bodies and eat right. Recall that I wrote two weeks ago that only one in seven who are told by their doctor that they will die much earlier if they don’t  exercise and change other habits, will do it. If losing independence, feeling terrible, being far more susceptible to long, lingering, preventable chronic illness, and dying an unpleasant early death isn’t enough to get people started, someone please tell me . . . what is?

    Thank you for reading.