Team Beachbody Guest

I have been prompted by a friend to begin describing something that, for me,
on the surface, doesn’t really seem all that significant, given , given some of
the bigger issues looming before us - global warming, the state of the
economy, the fact that I am finding it ever more difficult to drum up work (I
am a carpenter / general contractor), the war in Iraq, the erosion of
traditional values and ethics, even the good ones, and other such critically
global and personal crossroads. But what came out of our discussion was
that by doing a physical workout program that really works, we are getting in
touch with and experiencing a kind of liberation that is defying a sometimes
subtle, other times gross affliction to the process of aging and the ways we /
I interpret what’s possible and what my mind and societal environment
interpret as inevitable.
In my own case, what came out of our talk was I rattled off a couple physical
issues that years ago I thought would be chronic and systemic for the rest of
my life: a knee meniscus that was always going to flare up under pressure
and exertion, and sciatica from a previously ruptured lower disc. I figured,
for quite a while, that I was just going to have to live with the intermittent
pain, discomfort and limitations and I found that what I was doing was
constructing a path to compensate and move within these limitations. “That
was the way it was going to be, and besides, you are getting old so naturally
you are going to have to adjust.” The adjustments, even though subtle and
justifiable, were forming structural pathways to view and experience my life.
It’s more obvious now when I look back that there is a lot more going on
then just my physical prowess or the inevitable sunset of the body. I was
giving in, or up. And that was helping to define who I was, what I was
capable of, and what to expect.
In a couple weeks I will be 60. In some ways it’s a pivotal benchmark. A lot
of people at this age are seriously planning for and talking about retirement.
I can’t really relate. It’s partly denial, no doubt, but the healthy side of a
nagging conscience that wonders at the world says that you can always be
prepared to be part of it. I think this is what stirred me, through my friend
and coach Laurie Carroll, to find out about Beachbody, P90X, and what Tony
Horton has put together in order to begin conquering the subtler and grosser
aspects of what could be called “the ageless inertia”.
I have been doing P90X and related workouts for about 5 months now, and
the results are not always those that would be so demonstrable or explicit.
Yes, I’ve lost a few pounds (I have never had a weight problem), there is a
perceptible shape and contour to the more overt muscles, and my abs are
showing some development. But what came out of our conversation I
realized, was in a way, much more significant. The chronic aliments that I
had been negotiating and beginning to accommodate had receded so much
into the background that they were no longer an inhibiting factor, in my
work, in my play or in my workout routines. The further I pushed myself –
and these workouts can take you from A to Z every time in terms of where
you are at and where you can go – the less I experienced the threshold of any
previous injury. And the more I just ignored the excuses, the less I
experienced my mind working its incessant mechanisms for inherent and
habitual limitation.
Lately I have begun riding my bike. This is something that has been in the
closet forever. I have never been an avid rider, but I joined a friend to ride a
100 mile race in early October to help raise money for an important and
inspired magazine publication. We have done several long rides, the last one
113 miles through the hills of western Massachusetts and Connecticut. My
goal is to do this race off the coast of Maine in 6 ½ hours.
I don’t know that all this is strictly a result of P90X. And when I hear what
other people are doing and the remarkable feats of endurance and strength,
especially in old age, I am humbled. There is so much opportunity out there,
and in here, for growth and goals at any age. What I appreciate about
Beachbody and P90X is it’s simple, it’s powerful, and, in pushing “play”, it
takes you through barriers and dimensions of yourself that, in some ways,
move you to a physical well-being and joyous rejuvenation that leaves you
wondering how that might have happened.