Fitness — Is Thirty Becoming The New Forty?
From a young age, right up into my late twenties, I’ve always been acutely aware of the age forty. I’m sure this is mostly due to the classical connotations of “Life begins at forty”, forty being synonymous with a mid-life crisis, and an acceptance that forty, is just quite old when you’re younger than thirty!
I’ve always been an athletic person. As a child, I played lots of football. I ran cross country for my school and practised karate. Into my teens and early twenties, I was playing for two football teams, Saturday, and Sunday. I maintained the running and started attending the gym.
During my mid-twenties to late-twenties, the gym became more intense, I put on some muscle, and felt stronger bossing the centre of midfield. Also, I was known for my box to box work ethic — no doubt from my earlier cross country exploits and the fact that I still maintained an excellent weekly mileage.
Before I was thirty, I had run numerous half marathon races, several 5k races and the odd 10k race. I topped it off with a herculean effort of completing the Virgin London Marathon in a respectable 3 hours and 27 minutes.
It’s fair to say that in the run-up (no pun intended) to my thirties I felt pretty invincible.
I approached thirty in great physical shape. Mentally, age was not a worry for me. After all, it’s not until at least forty that things start to break down. I’ve still got 10+ years before I need to consider slowing down. I’ll smash through my thirties without as much as a seconds thought, won’t I? I’m fitter than most people I know; I’ll be going strong into my forties, surely?
What happened when I turned Thirty?
And just like that, shortly into my thirtieth year, things started to go wrong. First of all, football began to take its toll. The effects of each knock — and I took a few — lasted longer and longer. I found that my recovery left me almost unable to do anything else with the rest of my day if I’d had a match that morning.
In the gym, although just as enjoyable, the aches and pains also started to creep in. Elbows began to ache for a day after chest press, then two days after working biceps and triceps.
Running became a slog as I was aching so much from football. I was only partway through my thirtieth year, and something had to give.
I’d been playing football from about the age of 6, and I’d witnessed several players around me, still turning out into their forties. I always thought that would be me. It wasn’t, football was having the most significant physical impact and was affecting other activities that I wanted to do — It had to go.
Retiring from football should have been a positive move for my other physical activities. I would have more energy and be less beat up to get the most out of them. However, from a mental perspective, I’d taken a massive hit. The link between making this retirement decision and my thirtieth birthday was suddenly weighing on my mind without me realising it.
I carried on running for a while, but with niggle after niggle, I was running myself into the ground (Ok, pun intended). It wasn’t long before my body gave in to the constant pounding of the road. Small injuries accumulated and lasted longer and longer, then came the lengthy layoff.
At least I had the gym. By this time, I was hitting the gym 4–5 times a week. Progress was up and down but unfortunately the aching elbows, lower back and knees were still taking a toll. I started to feel like my body had betrayed me. It had snook up behind me and struck me with a sucker punch that I did not see coming.
For all intents and purposes, a physical breakdown before the end of my thirtieth birthday!
So the big questions:
- Is thirty becoming the new forty?
- Are more and more people going to fall into this trap?
- Why did this even happen — was I just unlucky?
Now I accept that not everyone will be as active in their early years as I was. Few people will approach activities with the same level of intensity and investment as I have over the years, but this isn’t what I believe lead to my demise.
We’ve all seen people into their fifties, sixties and seventies, doing activities at which we marvel. Such feats are evidence of achieving longevity.
Why did my body start to break down closer to thirty than forty?
When we think of something being so far off, we tend to worry about it less. It’s human nature; if the danger isn’t here and now, it can wait. It’s the classic idea of convincing young people in their teens and early twenties of saving for their retirement. In reality, the compound interest of such a decision has the potential to reap great rewards. However, giving up that money now — when there are beautiful things to buy, friends to meet and night clubs to party in — makes it an almost impossible task.
Worrying about your demise upon turning forty when you’re in your mid-twenties, is not something that most people will be doing. But not being mindful of this potential outcome, could turn out to be what brings such effects ever closer to your thirtieth birthday rather than your fortieth. That sucker punch might be waiting just around the corner.
With the hindsight that comes with age and my propensity for reflection, I’ve realised many factors that led to the issues I faced. The biggest problem was simply taking my body for granted. Taking their body for granted is something that millions of people all over the world do daily.
I took what I could get without giving back. Behaving in this way will come back to bite you in all walks of life, and so it did me in a physical capacity.
I drove my body into battle on the football field. Did I warm up correctly? Doubtful. Did I cool down appropriately after the game, or did I get changed as fast as possible to get down the pub? We know the answer now.
Did I stretch before and after a long weekend run and provide my body with the fuel it needed to perform, and then to recover? Or did I use my exercise as an excuse to eat as much rubbish as I saw fit and not put on weight?
Did I hydrate my body and implement a maintenance routine such as active recovery or yoga? No, in my earlier years, I saw these things as activities undertaken in the later years of life.
In the gym, I lacked the focus on proper technique and lifted as heavy as I could, time and time again.
Forty is not too far away, so what now?
I’m 37 years old, given that you’ve read this far, you probably think that I’m a physical wreck and sofa bound, but fear not.
I have a personality in which I find it extremely difficult to give up. Now that doesn’t mean that I stick to something through hell or high water. What it means is that I find a way to achieve what I set out to achieve. It may not be the first way, the second way, or the third. But sooner or later, I’ll find a way to achieve what I want to achieve. The achievement could be through different activities or a completely different perspective or approach. The latter being the far more difficult to come by.
In my mid-twenties to late-twenties, I was bold and ignorant. But I realise now that I also learnt a hell of a lot. Experience is not something we can buy, we need to live it, and if we want to put it to good use, we need to learn from it. I have learnt from my experience. My physical endeavours did not die a horrible death at the age of thirty. I had to reflect and achieve a new perspective; I believe many people call this, growing up.
I’m in better physical shape now than I have ever been. From a gym perspective, this has involved taking time to consider my nutrition, my recovery, and most of all, a dedication to excellent — if not ever-improving — technique.
I now find the time — although still not as much as I should — to do yoga or something similar, and I semi-regularly meditate for short periods when I feel the need.
I run regularly with a more significant focus on enjoyment than intensity, and try my best to help others by imparting my experience. Parkrun is a great place to take your mind off of an actual run and just get swept up in the people and the event.
With my fortieth birthday on the horizon, I no longer fear a physical breakdown. Primarily because I no longer take my body for granted. If you can find the time to appreciate the fantastic job your body does for you and you can repay it with some essential maintenance along the way, you might even stand a chance of turning fifty into the new forty!
