Ability vs Age: How our Mind can be the Barrier

I came across a wonderful quote from Nick Tuminello (long time Personal Trainer and respected in the industry);

"Train based on your ABILITY,

not your AGE"

It made me want to discuss it here on the Zen blog, as this statement cannot be more BANG ON!

AGE truly is a number

I am not in denial. Yes, things CHANGE as we age. Yes, our body's NEEDS shift as we age. However, ALL OF THIS still allows us the ability to live a very HEALTHY, HAPPY and ACTIVE lifestyle. The problem is NOT in the age, but rather our mindset toward aging (especially in Western cultures). The NUMBER has MUCH less to do with how we feel, than does the LIFESTYLE we've chosen to live and the habits within that daily lifestyle.

We can DO anything we want when we do it in a REALISTIC way for our individual selves.

- I shared a story with my clients in our app recently about a woman who COMPLETED the London Marathon after getting a diagnosis of blood cancer in 2023. She's 75 years old!

-I shared the story in a past Zen Blog post about a 68yrs old lifting over 300lbs in a powerlifting competition in St John's, Nfld AND another woman who is 72yrs deadlifting 280lbs.

There are COUNTLESS stories like this that can motivate, inspire and remind us that it's NOT our age that prevents wonderful things from happening.

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We can't base it on our parents or generations before us. I actually think this is a contributing factor to this fixed mindset. Our parents and grandparents, worked hard (sometimes to a fault) in order to retire and then... nothing. They worked so much that they let hobbies go, play and fun were set aside in favour of work and money with no balance in their lifestyle to the point that when they get to retirement they didn't know what to do with themselves. A sedentary lifestyle became the norm for these folks because they ran themselves through the ground (in many facets of their deep health) over decades of working AND the lack of knowledge out there about the importance of caring for their deep health. It's not their fault by any means, but WE have the ability to LEARN from past generations in this way.

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Training from where we're AT

On the other side of the story, if we're NOT using age as a barrier in our mind today, we sometimes are caught up in being unrealistic in our ABILITY. TRAINING from where you're AT RIGHT NOW, is a SKILL in itself. In the comparison heavy, social media, "internet clicks" world we live in, we are CONSTANTLY seeing people at VARIOUS STAGES of their movement practice and training. THAT in itself is forgotten sometimes, and it leads folks to doing TOO MUCH TOO SOON and/or going BEYOND their current ability levels. This in turn can lead to that person chalking things up to, "well I guess it's just 'old age'".

Shankar Vedantem says the same message as Nick Tuminello in a different way;

"Accept where you are"

Don't take your body FURTHER than it has the ability to go. That doesn't mean "don't challenge yourself". We can absolutely challenge ourselves in a realistic and safe way, that isn't beyond our capabilities. Recognize and accept where your ability lies RIGHT NOW. Work from there.

Putting it into the Real World

The scary part from my experience, is that people will NOT do something because of their AGE + ASSUMPTIONS, rather than their ACTUAL abilities. I can't tell you the number of clients who say "I can't get on the floor", and yet they get down AND up again in their first session with me. Why is that? It's not anything I did aside from enouraging them to TRY and to NOT attach expectations as to HOW, when they DO try. They usually get back up and say "Oh, that wasn't so bad".

REALITY is, that same person has been AVOIDING DOING it because they associate their "inability" with their AGE. "It must be old age" they say to themselves, day in and day out. Meanwhile, the ACTUAL factor is that they are no longer practicing the ABILITY TO DO the movement!! They are NOT modifying the movement (if needed) due to EGO, "SHOULDING THEMSELVES" and/or COMPARISON to others.

When we train from our ABILITY rather than our age, we experience the natural EB and FLOW that nature brings.

Training from our ABILITY, I would argue, puts us into the present moment in a more efficient manner. It allows us to then FEEL what TODAY is bringing and what we NEED TODAY (again eliminating assumptions and comparisons by focusing on "What do I need").   By listening to our body and adjusting HOW we approach training on any given day, we STAY within our ability (and capability) on that particular day. This reduces the risk of injury, manages the stress impact on our physiology, promotes efficient recovery AND increases the possibility that we'll feel GOOD with our choice of training that day and therefore more likely we'll do it again!!

In today's society, WE (i.e. YOU... US... The individual) have to CHOOSE to CONCIOUSLY go AGAINST the NORMS with this mindset. It won't find you. YOU have to ACTIVELY practice moving your mind AWAY from the stereotype of AGE being a factor and re-learn TRUST and the ability to LISTEN to our body, based on our ABILITY in the present moment.