Back in the groove again (possibly)
From time to time I take to the Rust in order to report from my perspective as a near-septuagenarian seeking to stave off the ravages of time by maintaining a certain degree of physical fitness.
This quest is a sometimes unequal contest between committing to and enjoying the undoubted benefits of taking regular exercise (on the one hand) and periods when circumstances such as an unusually large number of engagements inadvertently filling up one’s diary, a certain general late afternoon weariness and/or sense of “Oh, who gives a stuff?” (on the other).
It may also by definition be doomed to ultimate failure but, arguably, its aspirational quality alone may provide a certain beneficial motivation capable of adding a certain quality in itself to life in retirement.
Today, based upon personal experience, I have two pieces of advice to impart to oldies everywhere.
The first is to avoid too much self-analysis or indeed self-chastisement, for example, by documenting the number of times you start fitness campaigns and then later abandon them.
I’ve found this to be a counter-productive and sometimes depressing pastime.
Which is why I took the decision, many years ago now, to adopt the official line that I am engaged upon on a constant personal fitness campaign which may – at any particular time – be either in full flow or (alternatively) in a temporarily dormant state.
My second piece of advice is never to over-do it.
Whenever I am resuming a campaign of regular physical activity – as I did yesterday, for example – I ignore all previous databases and documented records and begin the activity concerned at a pace I regard as “within myself” and simply concentrate upon completing the task at hand.
Yesterday after lunch I embarked upon a walk around my usual local seven-mile “circuit” – as it happens on this occasion in a clockwise direction (I always alternate between undertaking it in “clockwise and “anti-clockwise” directions) – and took somewhere between 90 and 110 minutes to complete it.
I didn’t even look at my watch to note how long I actually took – it didn’t matter because … as it was my first time out … the goal was exclusively “to get round”.
Which I achieved.
As it happens, I also listened to the radio all the way – a highly-recommended accompaniment because I find that a blank and/or unoccupied mind is not always conducive to productive quality exercise.
In short, being distracted by listening to something (anything) can be an aid to completing a walk or a jog in good time.
I was lucky in this respect yesterday because Nihal Arthanayake’s main guest on his Radio Five Live afternoon show was a former deputy-something inside President Barak Obama’s White House who has just written a book analysing USA’s politics since 2008 (through to the departure of President Trump) and then America’s place in the world as it stands today.
They had a fascinating conversation which took proceedings right through to Arthanayake’s hand-over to Five Live Drive at 4.00pm and (for me) could happily have lasted another thirty minutes because by that stage they hadn’t even reached one of their intended subjects – the place of China in the modern world and how to deal with that country.
But I digress.
When last I was at peak fitness – when one is aged north of 65, perhaps a difficult state to define – in September/October 2020 on one particular day only I weighed in at 11 stone 8 pounds [or 74.3 kilograms].
I used the term “peak fitness” above because at the time I was walking 7 miles – and then doing what is called a High Intensity Interval Training (“HIIT”) session every day.
From November until this week I then switched to taking very little exercise – save the odd walk and such other movement that as an older member of the public I was doing every day – and (for comparison) weighed in yesterday at 13 stone 6 pounds [or 85.3 kilograms].
That’s just two pounds light of being two stones heavier than I was last October!
Time for some graft, methinks!
