Age is but a freakin’ number

Morning all,

Oh wow, what a tremendous start to the morning!

But wait! I just got ahead of meself – I must first rewind and bring you back, back back to…ummmm…..last week!  Yes!  Last week! 

Last week, I had posted Today’s Thought To Share – Easily Do 100 Pushups.  I’m pleased to announce I’m up to 350 every few days (in batches of 7 – today is another 350 pushup day, I’ve already completed 150).  And I’ll bet you’re wondering:

Jeepers Barbara, what got you into doing something so insane?

So glad you asked!  You see, 2 weeks or so ago it was my birthday; I’m happily barreling thru my 40s and am just getting  better and better.  At least, I was doing that….until I kinda sorta got a weeee bit lazy and stopped working out for a month or so.

See Barbara’s muscles deflate!  Bad bad Barbara!

Sure, I maintained my 50 pound weight loss and didn’t gain anything…but wow, my muscle tone and endurance dissolved faster than Koolaid at a revivial meeting. 

Zoom ahead now to last Thursday.  I was watching my kids take an advanced karate class, and realized….my gosh, because I’m kinda sorta an adult, kids classes were OUT for me.  That meant that my only karate practice was obtained during adult sparring (which, of course, is an activity that is UTTERLY MAGNIFICENT AND TRULY WONDEROUS AND WOW I LOVE CAPITAL LETTERS FOR EMPHASIS AND quite enjoyable indeed), which meant….my karate skills weren’t really being honed as razor sharp as, say, oh, a butter knife. 

So!  I watched what the kids were doing (a to-die-for exercise in which you lay on the ground, bend one knee while keeping the foot on the floor, and with the other leg, practice roundhouse kicks/side kicks/kick kicks/etc.), and when we came home, I asked my eldest to demonstrate it for me. 

Now, because that particular exercise isolates specific leg muscles, it can be, ahem….. a wee bit, ummm, tiring?

At least for the kids!  Yours truly, even thought I was ‘waaaay out of condition, whipped out batches of those kicks and then thought, hey that’s really cool!  Let’s do some more!  So of course, I then had to practice my sitting-to-standing front kicks, my side kicks, my round house kicks, etc. 

Let me tell you, I was going strong for about 45 minutes.  My kids were looking at me most bemusedly:

Ummmm, Mom?  You can stop now, you’re sweating more than a shower on full steam!

But little did they know!  Ha ha! That was ONLY the beginning!  Muah hah hah!!  Because….the next day was adult self-defense!

(No, it wasn’t anything like this:

But I digress. 

Oh talk about a profoundly satisfying workout!  The particular sensei who ran the class is just about the best fighter at our dojo, and really understands a lot about the physiological aspects of how the muscles work with one another and as a whole.  He had us run thru the above exercise as well as:

• Roundhouse kick OVER chairs (in a blinding flash of grace, I did manage to send my chair flying, but hey.  It was only once.    ),
• Sidekick OVER chairs (my chair was left unmolested by my foot that time, yay!)
• Starting on our knees, move up to a front kick and then sink back down, crossing the dojo floor
• Go from sitting in a chair to front kicking and back to sitting

And as if that wasn’t enough Martial Arts goodness, we closed with sparring and (YES YES YES YES!) I WASN’T knocked off my feet AND (get this!) he didn’t wipe the floor with me!   I was even able to jam his leg (which in hindsight, he probably allowed, but hey, who cares, I got over my fear!) a few times as well.

At the close of class, I asked him when the real class was starting.    I could have easily gone for an hour more.

Friday’s class really taught me something:

It showed me that age really is just a number. 

I’m the, ahem, most venerable (read – oldest) woman who actively participates in adult sparring; most of my colleagues are half my age or younger.  That being said….my enthusiasm and inner spirit of "I can DO this!" often makes me the only student who begs for more after being totally decimated!

I like that. 

Sure, my speed is, well, non-existent and my left ankle is missing half an inch of bone (meaning I have close to zero stability on it) and I did have my femur surgery last November and I’m the only insane karate mom there and all in all, I’m still probably quite incompetent…BUT!

Who cares?

I’m having the time of my life doing it….and that’s what’s important to ME.

Let’s now bring this post back to the most important person in the world – you.

Do you enjoy activities that are generally considered to be the realm of young whipper-snappers?  Have you experienced disapproval because fat, overweight loser biddies (compared to fat, overweight people who still try their best – actually, that was me 1.8 years ago when I was 177 compared to the 127 I am today – btw, the best resource for getting started there is Richard Simmons, unbelievable support is found there!) tell you, ACT YOUR AGE!

If so, I have but to say…

Who cares?

You’re living YOUR life.  If you’re happy with learning new things, even if you’re more incompetent than a parakeet carrying a coffeecup , you’re doing honor to your own personal well-being….. and getting in better shape to boot! 

To me, that’s a 100% win-win.   

What’s it to you?

Enjoy,

Barbara Ling

ps – I just realized…after all of that, I didn’t write about my tremendous morning!  Wah!  I’ll have to do that later on today.

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-- Barbara Ling