OK, first thing first: 40 isn’t “old.” Neither is 50. And for the sweet love of all the deities, I am so sick of people younger than us commenting on our Facebook posts about they think they’re too old to learn new things.
Getting a sense for the gist of this episode yet?
For our first new episode in over two years, Ryan and Andy asked our clients and followers what topics they wanted us to discuss, and the most common request was for tips on how to stay healthy and keep making fitness progress when you’re not straight out of college anymore. Well, our first priority is divesting you of the idea that there’s some magical age at which it’s impossible to improve yourself.
Here’s what today’s episode will cover…
- The realities of building muscle beyond your physical peak
- Why recovery is so important (even it it’s not uniquely important) as you age
- Our personal strategies for feeling good and staying happy with our bodies
- The REAL reasons people feel like they can’t make progress anymore (they have nothing to do with actual biology)
- How to deal with old injuries and habits
- How to improve your mindset around training and practice
Resources mentioned
- Proof That 65 is Never Too Late to Kickstart Your Fitness Journey
- GMB Trainer Apprenticeship & Certification
- How to Speed Up Fitness Recovery Time and Reach Your Goals Faster
Transcript of Fitness Over 40
Andy: Alright. Welcome to the GMB show. This is the Got Marshmallow Biscuits podcast. I’m Andy, with Ryan.
Ryan: I’m Ryan. What’s up?
Andy: Yeah. And so, today we’re going to be talking about some things that people seem to think that once you’re over … the number of changes right?
Ryan: Yeah.
Andy: It’s over 60, over 50, then it becomes over 40, because that’s almost 50 and then it’s over 30, and then it’s once you’re past 25, and it’s a slippery slope of what constitutes this, but fitness when you’re older. We’re going to just go on and draw the line at 40 because that’s a line we’re all comfortably on the positive side of. And it seems to be where a lot of people really think shit’s all down hill from here. This is what we’re going to talk about but first, we should say 40 is not actually old. 50 is not really actually old.
Ryan: Nope. Nope.
Andy: We are not old. We are over 40. But interestingly, people always assume that we’re a good bit younger.
Ryan: That’s a good thing.
Andy: Especially before you had the gray in your beard.
Ryan: Yeah, that’s right. And I remember having shaved my beard from my surgery a couple of years ago, and it was like, “Oh my God, you’re so young.” And I was like, “I’ve always been young.”
Andy: Yeah. Well it’s funny because we post videos, so like YouTube for example, and we regularly have people trying to, when you’re my age Ryan, when they’re just like 40 years old or like 35 or something, and Ryan’s like-
Ryan: Like me, I’m 46 years old, okay. Unlike you, you’re 37, right?
Andy: Yeah.
Ryan: Yeah. So-
Andy: So, there’s that, but it still is, it’s a very real thing that as you age, of course the way your body works changes. For various reasons which we’re going to get into, and people have concerns about this. So that’s what we’re going to be talking about. This is not … Some of this is backed by research and various things that we’ve learned by dealing with professionals and Jarlo being a physical therapist, having done a lot of research and work with older populations, but a lot of this is just things we’ve noticed ourselves and from working with many, many thousands of clients. So that’s what we’re going to be basing this discussion on.
Andy: Not necessarily an evidence based inquiry into whatever. This is just our observations and things that we know work. That’s the caveat I want to give for this. And before we get into, let’s talk a little bit about some of our clients that we know are older than people seem to think it’s possible to do what we do.
Ryan: Starting off, we can talk about Stephen. Stephen is amazing. He’s in his ’60s and he went through the apprenticeship when actually in his ’60s as a matter of fact.
Andy: In his 62 or three, I think.
Ryan: Two or three. That’s right. And the guy’s great and for various reasons. But the one thing that was really cool is the fact that we all got the learn from him. When we talk about autoregulation in GMB, he’s a living example of a guy who does that. He’s very clear on what he can do, what he can’t do, and what he’s willing to do, which I think is also a huge thing too and we’ll get into this maybe a little bit later, but reframing and your priorities change in life.
Ryan: He was a great example of when he was going through the apprenticeship, he was just really clear. He said, “Look, my body doesn’t do this anymore.” And he said, “I’m perfectly fine with that.” And he says, “I’m going to do whatever I can to try and make sure that I can do something similar to what’s going on.” He says, “But I got to do it my own way.” And the thing is, of course, yes, that’s exactly what we’re after here in GMB. So he’s a great example of not only being a trainer, but a guy who continues to move –
Andy: The thing is let’s just go on and say, Stephen is just doing handstands, he’s doing strength training.
Ryan: Oh, yeah.
Andy: He’s not doing aerial gymnastics and stuff like that, but he’s doing a lot of different kinds of local motor movements, some very light tumbling gymnastics, he’s doing stuff that a lot of people, even when they’re not even 40 yet, think they won’t ever be able to do. And this is stuff that he didn’t have a history with.
Ryan: Yeah. A couple of other people we can talk about, and I apologize if I’m going to butcher your name, but Shelomo is located in Israel.
Andy: Shlomo, yes.
Ryan: In his ’70s, the guy comes in and he said, “You know what, I want to do your floor program.” We’re like, “All right, man.” He’s had to make a lot of adjustments to be able to do this. But the thing is he keeps going. He just keeps going and he’s doing great. He wanted to get the handstand eventually we’re going to be able to kick up against the wall and do the handstand. It’s an example of a guy again who is listening to his body but he’s not saying, “Well, I’m in my ’70s, I probably shouldn’t be doing this so I’m not even going to try.” He’s not that way. He said, I want to figure out a way that I can do this and do it in a way that’s going to be good for me.
Ryan: Another guy met him in Australia. He’s also in his ’70s, Kanti, wow. The dude got his muscle up last year. He’s continuing to work on the rings, incredible.
Andy: The impressive progress on the rings –
Ryan: Just so cool. And his attitude towards things as well is just amazing. So-
Andy: And I think that that’s key.
Ryan: It’s attitude-
Andy: … this with Stephen, Shelomo and with Kanti is attitude. And this is something we refer to the book, Mindset by Carol Dweck a lot, and her research on this, the idea of a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset.
Ryan: Absolutely.
Andy: Not this idea of I’m old now, I can’t do this, but, this is going to be different for me than it would be for somebody in their ’20s. What do I need to do differently to still achieve my goals? And that’s a very powerful shift if you can make it and that these guys are great examples of.
Ryan: And that’s not just when you hit a particular age, this is anywhere at any time in your life-
Andy: Absolutely.
Ryan: … and making that change and looking at it with the growth mindset. So, let’s talk a little bit, let’s move forward a little bit and just talk about some of the things-
Andy: They’re very real.
Ryan: … involving age. Yes.
Andy: Very real things that happen as you age. And so, I think one of the big ones is that you just have to accept that as you age, and this is going to be different for everyone depending on DNA, health factors, environmental stuff, et cetera, when this happens to you, but everyone is going to hit points where their ability to grow and their ability to recover from exercise or injury slow down. And for some men, a lot of times this happens at 25 or even sooner. For women it tends to be a little later, but as you age, your ability to recover as based on hormones and other things too, is going to slow down, and this is … there is no way around it. So Ryan, what do we do?
Ryan: A lot of contributing factors to this and so it’s not a matter of okay, you’re at this age there for sort of thing. An example with me who is in my ’20s and pretty much my entire life, I haven’t really slowed down. I’ve been pushing the envelope the entire time so hard, that I did notice, right around when I got to be 40, just after 40, because on my 40th birthday I remember doing 40, I actually did 45, 45 back flips-
Andy: I remember that one.
Ryan: … in a row. I was still great feeling good, everything like that. But I remember just right after I turned 40, I realized I’ve been hitting it pretty hard. And really, I don’t even think it was a matter of the physical activity. It was more a matter of everything else that was going on in my life, going on in our lives with GMB and growing the company, that actually physically wore me out. So again, they’re age-related, yes, of course that could be a thing, but it also is other factors going on.
Ryan: But some things I do feel right now, 46 it does take me a little longer, I should say, to recover. I appreciate my sleep a lot more. I’ll just say that that’s a big thing for me definitely. And so, looking at things like that, as well as the amount of time that I actually not just can work out but want to work out has decreased. And so rather than trying to do so much and cram a lot of work and it’s a matter of saying, “Okay, this is what I know I can handle, I do really, really well with. And I know that if I push it past that point, that my recovery is going to take quite a bit longer than it did in the past.”
Ryan: So again, lots of different things in there, but really I think the biggest thing is looking at where you are in your life, what are some of the other … I don’t want to say influences, but of course influences, but outside things that are going to take … that you need to take into account when you’re working out … He’d say working out, but exercising, moving your body and things like that, and then looking at recovery time, making sure that you’re able to get in enough recovery time. So, you’re the same way. I know, it’s … we’re busy.
Andy: Well, we’ll mention this a little bit more later on, but I think you made a great point in that it’s not just that your body is older, it’s that as you are older, your priorities have changed and your lifestyle changes. The stressors in your life are not so much … are a lot different now. You have family, you have business responsibilities, you have other things going on, and these are legitimate stressors that do have a physical impact as well. These are increasing your cortisone levels and your serotonin levels and they’re changing the way that your body processes the results of your work. And we talk about this a lot, that there’s your stress including work and workouts, here’s your rest, including sleep and just active recovery and meditative stuff, and there’s also your fuel, which is your nutrition air, sunlight, all of these things.
Andy: But these are the three factors that you have to balance. And the more you have stressors from other things, career or lifestyle, that is added to your physical stressors from working out. And it has to be balanced with just the same kind of recovery and fueling that you would need. So that’s why as you age, it’s especially important to make sure that you’re getting sleep, to make sure that you’re having some recreation, some downtime, some off time. It’s really easy when you’re 25. Your life is optimal? We are optimizing everything to say, watching TV is horrible for you. If you’re watching TV, you’re an idiot. Well sometimes when you’re 40 years old, damn man, you just want to sit down in front of Netflix and watch some Damn John Wick killing people.
Ryan: That’s real.
Andy: That’s okay.
Ryan: And especially if the fricking kids went to bed early, that means you got a little extra time there. So yeah, just what you said, because when you’re 25 and if you don’t have kids and you’re not married, hell, yeah man, hit it hard or do whatever you want. But as you get older, there’s so many other things to take into consideration. I will say too, you mentioned nutrition. As I’ve gotten older thanks to what we’re doing, I’m able to buy better food. So my nutrition over the years and my wife, phenomenal cook, she loves to cook. I’m really lucky because the actual nutrition that I’m putting into my body’s better. It’s helping me to be better over a longer period of time.
Ryan: Something though that you and I talk quite a bit about together is the fact that we travel so much. So this is another factor that you and I take into consideration in looking at longterm rather than just short term working out things like that. Because if we’re going to be traveling, we know we’re going to have that jet lag. You got to take that into consideration when we come back, when we do our work, when we do our workouts and as well as be there for our family. So as you get older, a lot of different things to take in consideration but all comes down to balance and what you’re really after.
Andy: Absolutely. So, we have our Facebook board of directors for the podcast and we had mentioned that we were going to be talking about this today. So just a couple of related questions or observations to address real quick there for members of our group. Steve mentioned that he’s really interested in how to continue getting stronger as he ages. And that especially one of the things that he’s found is that increasing leg strength seems to be from a lot of research correlated with health later on, and that’s also really true.
Andy: It’s not necessarily limited to legs. You’d see there was a study that just came out like a couple of weeks ago where they measured a strength by a number of pushups, and this was taken in the media. If you can do 40 pushups, you’ll live longer. If you can do 39, you’re screwed. Which is a complete wrong takeaway. It’s just that pushups are not the best exercises that push ups are an indicator of someone being strong. So it’s not only leg strength, but in general, after you’re say 40, how accepting that it might take longer, what do you think about the possibility of continuing to increase your strength, by even a considerable margin?
Ryan: Yeah. So this is something that’s very high on my list. For all of those who do know me two years ago, ankle surgery, blah blah. But I’m way past that. I’m like, yeah that happened. But right now my life the big thing is that leg strength, but not just building these tree trunk kind of legs, I’m also looking at balance. Literally being able to balance on one leg and spending a lot of time strengthening my leg, doing single leg work. So, yes I’ll be doing squats with both legs body weight squat, weighted squats as a matter of fact, but a big part of the stuff that I’m looking at is that single leg strength because the tie over to balance. And as we get older, being able to be in balance or as in balance that we can, looking at equilibrium, this is also going to help with balance falling, what not, things like that.
Ryan: So it’s not just a matter of just having strong legs. To me, it’s looking at the long run and saying, okay, as I do get older, we do know that the core needs to be involved when you’re performing these leg exercises. So therefore you’re going to be also working on your core, which is going to help with balance side to side. If you need to get up and down off of the ground, whatnot. But something to come back to you, it’s, yes, you’re working on, Steve, you’re working on the ring sets, great. Some other things that you could do are loaded walking. Okay. Whether that be … like in my case I really like to go hiking. So, something that I’ll do a once a week is go really heavy, like really heavy loaded walking and try and, do it on a elevated grade or if I can hopefully go out to the mountains and things like that.
Ryan: I’m not saying that that’s the only way to do it but basically think about really not just getting strong but actually thinking of everything else that’s revolved around it. This is another reason why too and angle strength that we spend so much time working on single legs, pardon me, a single leg strength and that is the shrimp squat. That is covering all the bases, as you progress through that, you’re increasingly, you’re increasing the load because it’s getting more difficult, which forces you to have better balance with forces, your core to work harder which forces your everything to work.
Ryan: So again, keep it simple but hit it hard. And so for the legs, that’s the thing. If you can continue to do that, I really suggest doing that. Just to make sure that you’re also working on your mobility as well.
Andy: Yeah, and Steve also specifically mentioned weighted versus body weight for legs and the general principle. If you’re just looking for maximum strength, lifting heavier weights with weighted exercise-
Ryan: That’s the to go.
Andy: … there’s a way to get there. But also for us, we’ve always prioritized being able to move and being able to have that balance and control along with it. So the body weight exercises give us the opportunity to put that into action. And I love the loaded carries. They’re something I don’t really devote enough time to –
Andy: … but, fantastic-
Ryan: That it jumps. It actually jumps too. I love it. It’s just something that I’m … recently I’ve been doing in my program would be, I would do these jump tucks or you can even do onto something, and I don’t even want to say box jumps because … anyway. But jumping movements, then immediately after that I’m doing a weighted deadlift or even a version of that, a shrimp squat or something like that. So it’s a superset, and then again, it’s just hitting so many different things. It’s not just one thing that you did.
Andy: Yeah. And also just a real quick also, Sandy mentioned that she noticed it takes her a little while longer to recover. But that’s just the truth, it’s there. But interesting thing that she mentioned is she knows that consistency is important, but it’s also important to know when to call it. How do you balance trying to do a little bit every damn day if that’s what’s important, versus knowing when you shouldn’t push yourself any harder than necessary.
Ryan: And that’s the thing too. It’s when you can hit it hard and by actually continuing to increase your work capacity over time, no matter that level that you’re at, then you’re going to have better feedback for your body. So this is actually something that I’ve been spending a lot of time recently is simply trying to increase my work capacity in order to be able to continue to get strong, to continue to improve in my flexibility. But also it’s given me really good feedback because the next day then, because I’m doing a little bit, just adding a little bit more work each day, the following day I’ll wake up and I can really check into my body and if there are days where I know that I do my assessment and I’m like, “You know what, it’s not there.” I will back off.
Ryan: And so, I can still continue to do work but I’ll do it on a lower level in terms of the difficulty of the movement. So that way, I either take a break, take a day off, or I can continue to do it on a lower level making sure that it’s not going to overtax my body as well as possibly injure me.
Andy: I think that’s a great point is that you can continue to do exercise and movements, but do a simpler version, a less complex version of less challenging version, and you’re still working towards the things that you are working towards. You’re still working those same muscles and skills and attributes, but you’re doing it in a less intense way and that’s a great way to scale things back.
Ryan: Yeah. Look at the long run. It’s a long run. It really is. Think of it that way.
Andy: Absolutely. So I think a lot of these things are, when people think about age-related training issues, this is what springs to people’s minds. But there’s also a whole class of things that people tend to forget about. That when you talk about being 40 or 50 or 60, it’s not just that your body recovers more slowly. One of the really big things that happens is by the time you’re 40 or 50, you’ve already got a lifetime of injuries, of built up pains and aches and also poor habits that we don’t necessarily pay attention to.
Andy: But these things are definitely holding back our progress, definitely holding back our ability to train at the levels that we would like to, and we like to chalk this up to, well I need to change my diet to get my T-levels up so I can start performing better again. But a lot of times it’s because you’ve been having shitty posture for 45 years, and how are you going to raise your arms over your head to be able to do a pull up. With you [inaudible 00:21:23] have shoulder mobility. So-
Ryan: Or you’re even doing a movement and just cruising through the movement, but the actual technique is off. So that’s screwing up as well. So go ahead and continue with what you’re saying but-
Andy: Yeah, it was exactly that, is we have all these assumptions we think we know how to do a pushup. Oh well I’ve been doing pushups since I was in high school. How much energy have you given to actually how to do it well? Or any number of things, like we always … we used to do this at seminars and stuff too, ask any adult to just jump and look at how pathetic and sad that they’re jumping. I don’t mean … I’m not saying this is bad about anyone, but the thing is you learn to jump when you’re four years old, if not younger. And after that unless you are in basketball, track or maybe some martial arts or gymnastics, you don’t give any thought to jumping again as long as you live. So, adults can’t jump, we’re terrible at it.
Andy: But it’s not that hard to learn how to jump better, and even strong people, even athletic people have terrible jumps. And this is the thing, we have these assumptions that, I know how to jump, I know how to do this. But a lot of times there are things that if we put some attention on doing it better. This is really the key, is when you’re older, when you’re 40 or 50, or whatever, you need to start thinking about what your assumptions are that you’ve carried with you, and how those are impacting your training.
Andy: So one, let’s look at old injuries and things. So Ryan, you’re a great example. You’ve had multiple shoulder surgeries, you’ve had your ankle basically snapped off of your leg, you’ve had knee issues.
Ryan: My knees. Yes, exactly. Pretty beat up.
Andy: 46 years old.
Ryan: Yeah, I should just retire.
Andy: So, these are things you can’t ignore.
Ryan: Now, that’s true. And it’s just what you said and so it’s a matter of just being smart with it. It’s not that I can’t do anything, it’s reframing and looking at what I truly want to do and what I am capable of doing. And the thing is I’m not … my ankles never going to be the same. Fine, it is what it is, but it’s good enough to be able to do the stuff that I want to do. And so the thing is I still need to keep working on it. I still work on my shoulder. It’s been … I don’t even remember, like 32 or something when I had that injury. So, we’re talking quite a while over about 15 years. But the thing is I still need to work on it.
Ryan: The thing though is I don’t let it hold me back. That’s another thing to think about it. It’s a matter of being realistic, but also fully understanding exactly where you’re at and a lot of people don’t even know that. And so, thinking about what’s going on, where you’re at, and then saying, okay, this is what I want to be able to do, and then slowly working to do that. You might not ever recover from it, if it’s an old injury, you might never regain that.
Andy: That’s right. That’s important to know. You may never, ever-
Ryan: Ever-
Andy: … come to that.
Ryan: … have that. Here’s a good example. I was working with a group of guys, this is like November or something the last year. Lovely group of guys, they’re still at it, they’re in their ’30s, and this guy comes up to me, he’s like, “Man, this has been really good.” And he’s like, “I wonder if you could help me with my snatch.” I was like, “Okay man.” I said, “So what’s going on?” He said, “Yes. I got hit, no he didn’t say he got hit, he said, “I got run over by a truck.” And it ran over him and his shoulder just all messed up here and his sternum is sticking out. The guy’s completely messed up. And there’s this group of guys and they’re all standing around me waiting for me to answer and he’s like, “So can you fix me?” And I was like, “Brother, no one can fix you.” I was like, “Nothing’s going to help you.” And I said, “The only thing you can do really is work with what you got.” And everybody’s standing around laughing.
Ryan: But the thing I’m getting at is that sometimes you have something in an injury, or maybe because you have been sitting in a particular way for so long, that you’re in that position. All right, whatever, whatever. You just got to deal with it. And that’s just it. So if someone is like, “I can totally fix you and what not.” Okay, great, if that person can fix you, wonderful, but sometimes we can’t be fixed, and that’s okay. We just got to figure out what we can do, and doing it in a way that we can just get a little bit better than we were tomorrow. And that’s good because just focusing on that, will keep you going.
Andy: Right. And we get these emails all the time. I want to do these things, I want to get stronger, but I had a knee injury 10 years ago. We can’t fix that, we can’t undo that, but here’s the thing, the fact that someone still wants to do something I think is great. And the fact that they’re looking for a way to go forward anyway, I think is great. And I think that is so important to understand that you might not ever be able to have full use of that knee again, but here’s what you can do. One, you can work on other things, but here’s the other thing. That need does not mean that it’s just going … you just let your leg with her. Your knee is what it is. Your shoulder is what it is. And your ankle is what it is.
Andy: We know this, but you may never be able to fix it but what you can do is you can learn to use what you have as better. You can learn to use it more fully, learn to understand the boundaries better. Learn just how far you can go before you start to have restriction or pain. Learn how to strengthen the area around that so you can maybe have a little more control. Learn how to use it better so that you can work with more confidence and that you can’t maybe fix your knee, but you can have a lot more confidence in your ability to use your knee to bear weight, to move around and not be worried about when your knee is going to explode and fall out from under you.
Andy: Maybe you can’t fix the knee, but you can give yourself the confidence and control to be able to use that knee so much better for so much longer if you’ll give yourself the permission to train to use it better rather than looking at it as a limit. And again, it’s just growth mindset rather than the fixed mindset.
Ryan: And I’ll add to that too. With my shoulder, my knee, my ankle, it is forced to me to get more creative, and that’s a good thing. Because there were things that I couldn’t do, so I was just like, “All right, well, okay, what’s out there?” And it’s forced me to look at other modes of exercise and learn about new things and and just be like, “Alright, what can I do?” And do it. So it’s been a blessing in disguise of sorts.
Andy: Absolutely. And so, I think that this is really the important thing to know is as we start talking a little more, let’s transition more into what to do, what to do, right?
Ryan: Yeah.
Andy: And I think in GMB we talk about our AAA framework, the assess, address and apply. I think that as you get older the assessment becomes much, much more important to be able to take a look at specifically what is holding you back. And not just all my knees done for. But okay, well what specifically can you not do? Can you move this way, can you move that way, can you not move this way? Is it a strength issue, is it that you just can’t move it past a certain number of degrees anymore? Do you have pain when you move here, be really specific about assessing what you can and cannot do, and start looking into what are the actual causes of that that you can and cannot change. This is assessment. This is really understanding your injury, understanding your limitations so you can start to work with it.
Ryan: The other thing too, if you’re looking at a macro way in which you’re just saying in this, it can also be very micro in terms of on a daily thing. I mentioned this in the last podcast that we did and that was every morning I’ll put my socks on by standing on one leg. There’s an assessment for me from my ankle to see how it feels that day. And I did exactly what you said. I went and had a person look at it and assess it and figure out exactly what I could and couldn’t do at that point. And as it gets better, better range of motion, whatnot, then it allows me to be able to assess it myself, but on a daily basis as well.
Ryan: So a great example is not yesterday but the day before, really leg intensive workout, like really, and the next day of course I knew that my ankle was going to be tight, not a problem. But I have things set up that way because I know if I’m going to do it a session that’s very, very Ligon and, focused the next day I need to get myself a bit of a day off to recover. So it’s also something to take into consideration, but yeah, the assessment is very, very important.
Ryan: The other thing too is if you can’t asses that, go have someone do that in person.
Andy: Yeah.
Ryan: In person, not online.
Andy: Don’t listen to a person you don’t know posting on a Facebook comment that says, “You should just do Pilates.” Nothing against Pilates. Some random internet commentators saying Pilates is going to fix your back, might not be the best advice.
Ryan: Now, GMB the same thing. If you’ve got an injury now, really happy that you’re sending us an email because we would love to help you, but after you figure out what’s going on and after you get the okay from the doctor and you know exactly what you need to do in order to get better.
Ryan: That’s the other thing too is make sure that you’re playing your own game. And so just because somebody out there is doing something, just because somebody out there maybe challenges you to do something doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be doing it. Probably you shouldn’t be doing it just matter of fact. I get this all the time. It still cracks me up. Younger guys in their 20s send me a video saying, “Hey Ryan, can you do this?” My reply, if I reply is the same, “No.” That’s it. And you know it’s funny because typically they’ll reply back and they’ll say, “Hey man, don’t you want to try it?” I’m like, “Not really because I’m doing my own thing right now.” So, play your own game.
Ryan: If there is something that you want to do with other people, great. But remember it’s about you and focusing on you and making sure that you’re good in terms of healthy, and are able to do the things in a way that’s not going to help you will make things better for you so that if you do want to go out and, I don’t know, do some sort of challenge or something, you’re good to go. But again, play your own game, figure out what you need.
Andy: So, we’re talking about this in the context of, after a certain age, it’s not as easy to do the physical stuff anymore. And it’s all, it’s so hard, and so doom and gloom and terrible. Let’s just pause for a minute. Pause for a minute to appreciate the upside of getting a little damn older. Do you think you might learned some shit since you were 20?
Ryan: Right.
Andy: I sure as hell, hope so. And this is the important part, what Ryan said about playing your own game. When you’re 40, when you’re 50 and I’m sure as hell hope by the time I’m 60, I get to a point where maybe I really just don’t give a rat’s ass about what some 45 year old whippersnapper wants to tell me. That’s where-
Ryan: I’m already there with the 20 year old, so yeah.
Andy: Still, yeah, it’s great to still want to be able to do things at a level that are impressive or are objectively not just for your age, but objective, really strong or objective full. That’s great. But also, not just saying, I’m only going to compare myself to people of my age, but as somebody who has lived a few spins around the sun, maybe I’ve got a little bit of maturity and I don’t have to compare myself to other people quite as much anymore. And I’m just going to focus on what’s important to me rather than how I feel like I should be ranking myself against other people. I think that’s really, really important.
Andy: That’s the upside of being older. That’s the part about getting a little more mature, than I think that we should really be focusing on and be proud of instead of how do I mitigate all of these creeks and aches and stuff? Well, how do you use this awesomeness of perspective? That I think is key.
Andy: All right, so just to sum up some of the things we’ve talked about the day, the truth is that some of the issues that you come up with when you’re over 40, over 30, over 50, whatever, it’s simply a matter of having different priorities, different perspective, different lifestyle than you used to. So you can’t do the same things you used to do. You don’t value the same thing to use a value. You have other things that are more important to you now. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that at all.
Ryan: No, no. And that’s the thing, it’s priority and thinking about not just being selfish, I’m not just talking about that, but really, really thinking about how you could be better for other people by just focusing on what’s good for you. It really changes because we have our families, we have the people that we work with and the people that look up to us. And so, right now in my life, you know this, I’m not out there trying to impress really anybody. My thing right now is how can I just continue to be better for those people who do look up to me, who do love me, who do trust me, who do need me. So yeah.
Ryan: And then also moving into the next thing maybe in looking at your age in relation to the stress that’s going on around you. And so saying more, pardon me, saying no more to things that you don’t need to do, and so, trying to keep that stress down. There’s good stress, bad stress. It’s a matter of looking at that bad stress and trying to make sure that you don’t have too much of that in your life.
Andy: Absolutely.
Ryan: And a big part of that is not comparing yourself with other people. Right?
Andy: Yeah.
Ryan: And like we’ve just been talking about it. As we grow, we have those different responsibilities, different priorities and just making sure that you’re focusing on those.
Andy: It’s really important to just know that some of this, yeah, it’s going to be chemical and hormonal and whatever, but some of it is just because your life is changing of different stressors, and that’s fine. But you need to then make sure you have activities that help you relax, help you rest. Get good sleep every night, have some recreation, be around humans, don’t spend all your time online.
Andy: Get out in nature when you can, eat good foods. These things I think become more and more important as you get older. They’re always important, but as you get older and you have to deal with more stress and more demands on your attention and time, and then your body is less resilient, then it becomes more important to take care of these other things that help you stay able to do any of the things you want to do.
Ryan: And just remember we got injuries. Whenever, that happened, move on. Work around them, figure out what you can do, don’t dwell on it. And hell, like I mentioned earlier, they could help to force you to explore a bit and try something new-
Andy: Yes.
Ryan: … maybe something that you had never thought about doing before.
Andy: Cool. So let’s end up here with a bonus tip. So Ryan what you got?
Ryan: This is funny. Andy and I were talking before we did this and … I don’t know why this just popped into my head. I hadn’t thought about this in years. But when I was really young, I’m talking like right around, I think when I first started gymnastics, and this is why this happened, but I remember my grandfather’s actually my … didn’t see him too often. Okay. But I remember coming to our house and we’re talking about gymnastics, and he started walking on his hands up our stairs in our house. I was like, “What the shit.” I was like –
Andy: … impressive at any age.
Ryan: Right. I was just like, I’m in gymnastics but that’s next level shit. And he just did it. And at the time when you’re little … He was probably, I don’t know, let’s say he was in ’50s, maybe his ’50s maybe 60, I don’t know he’s grandpa, but the image you have is this is a old dude, and he cranks that out. Well, it turns out afterwards I learned that this is something that he’d been doing pretty much his whole life and that was his like one trick thing that he had, but it was also, he’s like I still got it move that he would apparently want to show everybody whenever he could.
Ryan: It got me thinking about today what we’re talking about. We talked about priorities, we talked about continuing to train and here in GMB, there are a lot of different skills and tricks if you will, that we like to show. But think about one thing. Think about one party trick or I still got it trick that not quite out of reach for you. It might be still maybe be a little difficult for you still, but think about working on something that you can own. That you can crank it out and be like … not just showing off all the time, but it’s still like someone you know, those young whippersnappers when they see her, they’re like, “Damn, that dude still got it.”
Ryan: Some examples, maybe it’s a crew pose. It could be maybe like an L-sit, a hand stand, a front lever. It could be a Cartwheel, it could be anything, but the thing is just choose one thing. It puts some time into like working on it, but don’t think you have to nail it. Think of it as, okay, this is something like … right now I’m 46, when I’m 70, something that I still want to be able to do. Working on that now and just putting a little time into it will allow you to be able to do this your entire life. So just a little something for you to think about and work on.
Andy: Very cool. Well that’s it obviously. We don’t think 40 is the end of the road. It would be a pretty [crosstalk 00:40:37] if that were the truth. And we also, we’ve been really lucky. We’ve had some really good role models and clients that are showing us that it’s possible to continue to make progress well, well past where we are and where almost anybody listening to this is. So, please don’t sell yourself short, except your limitations, but also learn how to master what you’ve got. Learn how to use what you’ve got in the very best way possible and just keep making progress where you can.
Ryan: All right, thanks for listening everybody.
Andy: Thanks.
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