It’s Never Too Late

I want to tell you a short story about an older adult who came in to see me. She had never really exercised in her life, and was starting to feel the effects of “aging” as she put it. She had difficulty getting up and down from chairs, seemed to now waddle when she walked, and struggled to put on her shoes. She couldn’t walk long distances, was noticing worse and worse balance and was starting to have numerous aches and pains.

I was really pleased she had taken the step to come see me. She seemed positive and eager to make a change. I told her that we could absolutely get her feeling and moving better, get her stronger, and make her forget her age, but that it would take work on her part.

Sounds like the beginning of a motivational story, doesn’t it?

Well, unfortunately, it isn’t. Instead it is a recount of what seems to be a common theme when it comes to working with older adults.

This woman came back, eager to start working towards feeling better. But then when we showed her some basic exercises, she refused to do them. Said she was good, and that she didn’t feel like doing them. You see, these exercises were WORK. They were hard. She had become so out of shape that even the warm-up exercises were extremely challenging. Now, don’t get me wrong – this can be the case for anyone at any age. But the difference here is that this woman was just not willing to try. Fitness, as she stated, ‘just wasn’t for her’. She was too “old” too “immobile”. No sense putting this hard work in when she was getting so old anyway. She would rather quit and go about her life, continuing to lose mobility, strength and balance and live with constant aches and pains then work. Hell might as well get surgery – that will fix it!

You see, we hear this all of the time. “I’m just getting older”, “it sucks getting old”. But what these people don’t understand is that it doesn’t HAVE to suck getting older. You can still make positive changes. Sure, there are physiological changes that are inevitable when you age, but that does not mean that a serious decline in mobility and strength is inevitable. That does not mean that an older adult cannot still make rather significant gains to their strength, mobility, balance and most importantly quality of life!

Age is just a number. And that number should never, ever be the excuse that you don’t do things. It should never be a reason why you choose to quit something before you try. It is not a get out of work free card.

Age should be something that you embrace because you know you are doing everything in your power to stay strong, healthy and mobile. Please don’t let your friends and family believe that their decline in health is inevitable. Show them that it is possible to make changes at any age. We are lucky to have some amazing older adults training with us at our studio who truly are incredible people. People like this below video which I implore you to watch.

It’s never too late. Don’t get in your own way by quitting before you try.

Cassie