Fit for life after 50

With older age comes deteriorating fitness, immobility and chronic pain. This is not fact, but merely a belief held by many people. It couldn’t be further from the truth!

We are what we repeatedly do

There are people well over 100 years old that still exercise daily. If you choose to sit in a chair all day in your spare time (as well as at work), then it shouldn’t come as a surprise when you become immobile, unfit, gain weight and develop a bad back. However, if you choose to remain active through various forms of physical activity and manage to match your calorie intake with your energy demands, then there’s every chance you can continue to enjoy physical activity for as long as you choose. Sure, if you have sustained injuries over the years through sport, or other means, then you may have to work around some limitations, and you may take longer to recover after workouts and there’s going to be some aches and pains…but nobody said it was going to be easy. It all depends on how bad you want it. If maintaining a healthy lifestyle means that you can spend more quality time doing the things you love, with the people you love, then surely it is worth it?

One of our members (Mick) has kindly written about his experiences since starting CrossFit and how it has affected his mobility and health, you’ll also see textbook posture in the pictures!

“I stumbled upon CrossFit Leyland three years ago, following a conversation with a member who told me he was going to a gym where they did a combination of weight training and cardio. I played rugby until my early forties and then settled into a life of looking after a young family and going for the occasional run. I went along to CrossFit Leyland for the Taster Session, aged 52 with a “glass back”. At that point I’d never heard the word CrossFit let alone researched it, which was probably a good thing, because I may not have turned up! However, turning up that day for the taster class was probably one of the best decisions I’ve made.  I was hooked instantly and joined.

I think being older I wasn’t over ambitious in terms of the weight I had on the bar and was happy to scale (and still am) concentrating on technique. Which in the long run has probably helped me progress.

The changes in how I feel now physically and mentally are incomparable and the glass back disappeared a long time ago.

When you tell somebody you get up at 5 in the morning three times a week to train, you do get some funny looks, but for me that sums up how good it is. To be fair, you’d be struggling to find banter anywhere else at 6am!”

Mick Maddox, CrossFit Leyland Member