BahamaMan’s BodyBlog

“He who wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens or skill.  Our antagonist is our helper.”

                      
                          — Edmund Burke

            When’s the last time you felt the adrenaline rush of competition?  Had to take a nervous pee before you stepped on the field?  Stared into the eyes of guys that wanted your championship ring?  Heard people cheering for you?

            Or when’s the last time you just competed against yourself?  Challenged yourself to jump higher or to be faster or stronger than you’ve ever been?

            Unfortunately, for most 35 and olders those feelings, those personal challenges are distant memories.  Competition for “grown-ups” is mostly coming to bat with runners on the corners in a church-league slow-pitch softball game, striving to become employee-of-the-month, and/or trying to break your record time in the daily commute.

            No wonder you feel old!

            Let me relate a couple of stories:

            I recently mentioned to the grandpa of one of my daughter’s friends that I had started doing timed sprints (we were at a track meet).  He related the following story.  “When I was about your age I remember trying a 100-yard dash with one of my sons.  See, I used to be a sprinter in school.  Anyway, I got about halfway into it and fell.  Rolled head over heels.  Felt about this small in front of my boy (holds up thumb and forefinger about an inch apart).  There’s a timing required in running that you lose that if you don’t do it.”

            No shit Sherlock.  The same thing happens to tires that you don’t use.  It’s called dry rot.

            I also told a group of 40 and 50 something buds at work that I’d started sprinting.  They looked at me like I was crazy.  “You call a 440 a sprint?  I don’t even know if I could make it once around the track.”

            Gazing into my crystal ball I see my work pals growing old before there time.  What am I talking about, they’re already there.

            Finally, some of my wife’s friend’s husbands crack nervous jokes at dinner parties about how I get on stage in my underwear. 

            Meanwhile, said husband’s wives are grabbing my knee under the table. (Okay, metaphorically grabbing my knee.)

            Look, although it seems that schools these days are doing their best to convince our kids that physical competition is bad (as in “Hey Johnny, whadya do in PE today? Not much, Dad, just some more of that cup-stacking game”), we 30, 40, and 50-somethings KNOW that competition is good.  And at 30, 40, and 50-something physical competition is more than good; it’s essential.  It’s essential because competition keeps you mentally and physically strong.  Competition helps you keep your edge.  Competition makes you feel alive.

            I highly recommend getting as good as you can get at something that is physically challenging and competing, no matter how old you are.

            ‘Cause if you ain’t competing, you’re a spectator.  And watching from the sidelines, pudgy and/or bent, contending that you coulda been a contender, is no way to spend the rest of your life. 

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 4:38 am and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.