image by Gutter

Ten minutes a day surely shouldn’t be hard—it wouldn’t if there wasn’t the mind and the endless distractions it comes up with. But I have stuck with my plan—ten minutes Chi Gong a day, even if, on the occasional night, I totally forgot or procrastinated too long and had to make up for it in the morning! And it is beginning to work—the practice is powerful and 10 minutes are beginning to fly by!

As an update to the fitness challenge I would like to post two pieces by friends who have taken that challenge and run with it. This week’s contribution is from my friend and biking-partner Rod, who just turned 60 and uses this time in his life to give himself a big push forward physically. Here is his experience:

Given the bigger issues looming before us—global warming, the economy, the war in Iraq, the erosion of values and other such critical global and personal crossroads, doing a physical workout program didn’t at first seem to be an important step to take. But what came out of a discussion I had with a close friend and trainer was that by doing a program that really works, we are getting in touch with and experiencing a kind of liberation that is defying a sometimes subtle, other times gross affliction to the process of aging and the ways we / I interpret what’s possible and what my mind and societal environment interpret as inevitable.

In my own case, the result of our talk was that I rattled off a couple of physical issues that years ago I thought would be chronic and systemic for the rest of my life: a meniscus that was always going to flare up under pressure and sciatica from a ruptured lower disc. I figured, for quite a while, that I was just going to have to live with the intermittent pain, discomfort and limitations and I found that I was constructing a path to compensate and move within these limitations. “That’s the way it is going to be, and besides, you are getting old, so naturally you are going to have to adjust.”  The adjustments, even though subtle and justifiable, were forming structural pathways in which to view and experience my life. It’s more obvious now, looking back that there is a lot more going on then just my physical prowess or the inevitable sunset of the body. I was giving in, or up. And that was helping to define who I was, what I was capable of and what to expect.

I just turned 60.  In some ways it’s a pivotal benchmark. A lot of people at this age are seriously planning for and talking about retirement. I can’t really relate. It’s partly denial, no doubt, but the healthy side of a nagging conscience that wonders at the world says that you can always be prepared to be part of it.  I think this is what stirred me, through my friend and coach Laurie Carroll, to find out about Beachbody and P90X in order to begin conquering the subtler and grosser aspects of what could be called “the ageless inertia”.

I have been doing these workouts for about 5 months now, and the results are not always those that would be so demonstrable or explicit. Yes, I’ve lost a few pounds (I have never had a weight problem), there is a perceptible shape and contour to the more overt muscles, and my abs are showing some development. But the chronic ailments that I had been negotiating and beginning to accommodate had receded so much into the background that they were no longer an inhibiting factor, in my work, in my play or in my workout routines.

The further I pushed myself – and these workouts can take you from A to Z every time in terms of where you are at and where you can go – the less I experienced the threshold of any previous injury. And the more I just ignored the excuses, the less I experienced my mind working its incessant mechanisms for inherent and habitual limitation.

Lately I have begun riding my bike.  This is something that has been in the closet forever.  I have never been an avid rider, but I committed to ride a 100 mile race in early October to help raise money for an important and inspired magazine publication. My longest ride was 113 miles the other day, through the hills of western Massachusetts and Connecticut.  My goal is to do this race on the coast of Maine in 6 ½ hours.

When I hear what other people are doing and the remarkable feats of endurance and strength, especially in old age, I am humbled.  There is so much opportunity out there, and in here, for growth and goals at any age.  What I appreciate about Beachbody and P90X is they take you through barriers and dimensions of yourself that, in some ways, move you to a physical well-being and joyous rejuvenation that leaves you wondering how that might have happened.

If you want to contact me to find out more about the program, or talk about what you are doing or want to do, write on this blog.  The power of the collective to push limits is an awesome and ever-surprising tool.