Old School
Kid and Play, BBD, Ralf Tresvant, Atari, Nintendo 64, high top
fades, Kriss Kross... You know you are an 80's kid when!
If I asked you to go back to a happy time in your youth
most of you have an immediate picture in your head right now.
I have to say
that grade school was awesome for me for the most part (when I wasn't dreaming
about passing gas on wooden seats 30 minutes into a 2 hour math final in front
of the girl I dreamed about holding hands with only to find out I wasn't
dreaming! Yes, we all have had embarrassing moments in our youth. Unfortunately
as many of my closest friends have confided in me, many have also had devastating
times that we would rather forget. But for this part of my journey I want to
look back at a time that I thought I would never be quite good enough. A time
that I now realize I never new how good things were. So where most people talk
about sharing wisdom with their younger self I want to take a moment to
introduce you to my younger self, and speak from my 20 year old heart to my 40
year old self. Imagine if our young selves could talk to our older self. What
would that conversation be like?
For the purpose of this blog I am going to focus on
wellness and body image. There are so many more things to share but we will
start here. First off, I didn't know that there were specific things I should
be doing in my 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's in order to experience the best from
my body and my health. At 20 I was slim, trim and fit and as human nature would
have it I wanted the opposite. I wanted to look like Lee Haney or Shawn Ray!
(again you can tell I'm an 80's kid)
but when you look like I did below in
these...
...you think all sorts of things are wrong with your body. Now I know many
people think that muscle building is not attractive but I have just
come to realize that it is the same for men as it is for women. What I mean is
women often aspire to a "too skinny" body type that is really a turn off to most
guys and even most other females (when their honest). Men (boys) conversely often want to be larger
and more defined than may be practical and most women do not find that
attractive.
So at this tender age when hopefully most of life is
ahead of me I remember I would look at myself in the mirror and say one day I
will gain some mass. I will have big muscles and lots of power. I will bench
press over 200 pounds and for goodness sakes I will weigh over 200 pounds.
Eventually over the last few years I was finally able to bench press 200 pounds
for a few reps on a good day but to actually weigh 200 pounds? forget it. I was
always 170-180lbs. For some reason I wasn't ok with that. My body fat when I went
to collage was barely above 4%. I could always see every striate in my muscles.
I was ripped. I had no illusion of mass on my body but I was quick, and hard
from head to toe. My 40 year old self now looks longingly back
at these old school moments trying to remember what it was like to have single
digit body fat. I remember my waist was 29 inches when I was "fat".
Why are we never happy with ourselves?
Dark people want
to be lighter, Light people darker, Tall people shorter, short people taller, big people smaller, small people bigger, big lips smaller, small lips bigger, big
butts smaller, small butts bigger, small breasts larger, large breasts smaller, people would trade brains for
athleticism and healthy people would trade life for money. We are by nature
very hard to please. I am sure glad I am not God. I couldn't listen to all the
complaining that my unique creations make.
Now that my waist is 6" thicker, my weight can
easily crush 227 lbs and I just found out I can finish my 6th set of bench
press at 245 lbs for more than 8 reps. I have much of what I wanted but also things I didn't want so
much. I can't eat whatever I want without it sticking around on my body
somewhere I don't want. I don't have the same energy I had when I was 20. I
fall asleep on the couch watching movies like my dad would and I am ok with
that...sometimes.
I am going to return to the best of my youth this my 40th year God willing but there will be a few caveats.
- I will never sacrifice my health for appearances.
- Flexibility and functional movement are just as important as muscle depth and definition.
- Build (wellness and health) for the long term.
- I don't want to ever be a has been; sore, aching and miserable because I didn't take care of myself. I don't want to live long I want to live well...So my young me would tell my old me:
- You can eat too much sugar.
- Yes, 6000 calories a day will catch up to you.
- Don't let any 19 year old male drive a road rocket, donor cycle or whatever you want to call it. At least till testosterone gets in check.
- Enjoy your body, it may be the best it ever will be.
- Stretch everyday
- Sleep well...you'll wish you did later.
- Always keep a handful of friends close that would jump off a bridge with you.
- Risk it
- Love hard and all out
- A man is way more than muscles...but it never hurt to look good and be smart.
- If you're an overachiever and looking good and being smart comes easy enough...get rich too!
- Even if your ugly money makes you better looking...so don't sweat your averageness.
- Those hunks and hotties from grade school won't always look that way. become and emotional hottie.
- Your brain is the sexiest organ you will ever have. Protect it.
- If you want a hot wife...be a hot husband.
- Energy is precious. use it to pursue wellness.
- Don't spend your health on money...you'll only spend that money on your health later on.
- Example is powerful. Be the example...Be powerful...Just Be
- Wellness is more about persistence than perfection. Be your best don't worry about the rest.
So what do I want to look like now? Well, I want to look like the best me possible but if I have to show a body type it would be like a Michael Jai White or Mike O'Hearn
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