Catching Benjamin Buttons Disease - Part 1

Ben Lerner - HOW TO CATCH BENJAMIN BUTTONS DISEASE – PART 1...

HOW TO CATCH BENJAMIN BUTTONS DISEASE – PART 1
The alternative to our previous concepts of aging is to observe what it looks like to get in or better yet stay in great physical and mental condition as you age. My wife Dr. Sheri and I are endurance athletes. We do triathlons, Ironmans, marathons, and participate in many challenging group workouts throughout the week in our community. I know it sounds like a terrible idea to you, but we love it and it allows us to spend quality, constructive time together and with other good health and fitness minded people. In a triathlon, you have to write your age on your calf so other competitors can see if they are competing against you in the age group competition. Occasionally and actually more often than I am happy to admit, someone older than me in their 50s or 60s will pass me on the bike or the run. However, rather than being upset, I love it. It is encouraging to know that I can keep getting faster and more fit as I age. There are always competitors in these challenging competitions in the 70, 80, or even 90 plus division. When I look at them, I say to myself, “OK, now I know what to do when I am 70, 80, or 90!”
Research is showing that people in their 60s and 70s now view themselves to be twenty years younger based on their perception of what old used to be (Setterson & Trauten, 2009; Westerhof, 2009).
The positive reality of today is that 50 is or can be the new 30. I see people in their 50s and 60s all of the time that were in way better shape than people in their 30s and 40s used to be.
You will find this to be true in any Cross-fit, YMCA, or local 10K or triathlon in your neighborhood. I used to workout in the gym with a 80 year old man named Ron. He had a heart attack and almost died at 52. He decided that he would get stronger every year for the rest of his life. On his birthday, he would always set some type of lifetime record in the gym. We’d all gather around Ron, or as I liked to call him “Benjamin Buttons” as he benched, squatted, curled, or leg-pressed more weight than he had been able to the year before. I turn 50 this year and I can tell you that I am continuously looking to be like Ron.
Unlike Ron, I was an All-American wrestler in college, so I’m not coming from having had a heart attack at a young age. Several times each year I look to set some new physical record and I do. I don’t set them for easy stuff either. I do heavy, young person exercises like dead lifts, tire flips, weight pull ups, burpees and clean and jerks. I can more weight or repetitions in those exercises now at 50 than I could at 18. The biggest hurdle I had to overcome was in my own brain. I had given many of those types of exercises up thinking that they were for young people or surely the years of different injuries had ended my days of heavy, intense exercise. Yet, in overcoming the wheelchair, walker, and teeth in a jar by 50 mindset I am now far and away in the best shape of my life.
MORE STEPS COMING...