Bad day on the court.

The old boy looking good. My team was international The US,
India, France, Viet Nam, France, Mexico. I would learn to coach,
but this year I was learning. These kids would have been champs
otherwise. Very good players.

I have follow professional sports all my life. Overtime I am seeing my favorite players going strong and then starting to decline somewhere between 34 and 40. There is so much money in sports that athletes after into science and medicine in an attempt to extend their careers. Overall they have improve their performance to have the ability to play a year we're too longer. Regardless of the effort age kicks in and they lose their ability to play at a high-level. Rising stars soon takeover.

A sport that I picked up and played was tennis. I was never great at it but I love the game. If you like a game where it is just you against an opponent, the wind, the net, boundaries and fitness level tennis is a great game.

Well I'm out on the courts with my son who has come into his own with the game. I knew going that I was done with a competing effort. I hit the ball okay, but the side movement I was totally out of balance. For me it took on a scary experience. A big part of it is out of balance, too top-heavy order be specific too fat. So I’m retired from the game. If I do some serious weight loss, maybe it would be worth working on the balance or I may find my balance is gone. 

Jimmy Connors was a great competitor but he has since undergone various joint surgeries. After his career he is completed in senior events, but now chooses not to play. He remembers how he used to play and he doesn't like the pain and performance in his aging body. So he left the game and is moved on his life.

I know that I can never play the games the way  I used to with the reckless abandonment. And now I seriously think that I can play the game at all. A local doctor was playing in his 70s and fell backwards in his head which resulted in serious impairment.

We can never guarantee our safety or go through life without risk. We live it and hopefully survive our accidents, and move on is best we can.

What can I take away from this experience?

It gives support to the necessary idea to keep moving. Thank God I have a recumbent bike, but I also have to make strides to use in-home walking to build up my movement and challenge my balance.

It is just one more motivation keep my weight loss going down.

It's a good time to give my son my training equipment in tennis so that he can train his children. 

I took a day to say goodbye to tennis. There is no sense in getting into a bad mood about it. There are plenty of things to move on with. Loss is probably the biggest issue in aging. It's a big deal to lose something, but we have to keep growing, finding new things to love, new friends, new interests. What is something that you lost because of aging? What did you find the best way to get through it? I think it helps remind full I'm going through this with little things saw that we get a handle on it when we lose something big. Keep walking!

Is it time to clean the closet?

When it comes to health, we all have challenges. Please challenges are something like having an out of control closet where you've stuffed everything into it. It is gotten so bad you don't even open the door. The space and everything in it has become unusable. The closet takes a life of it's own. You don't even want to go there, I'll just keep it closed. The problem is the closet keeps growing. Stuff will grow in there and it'll move throughout the house. Have you ever been inside a hoarders house. The smell is so bad you can’t stay in there. There is no room to live.

Our health can be like that. If we don't take care of the challenges they can do us in. Health challenges do not go away. Our fear of them will make them larger than they seem. So looking at health from the point of view of the fat-man as a way of looking at challenges we have to meet. There are plenty of stories of courage of people facing life threatening challenges. I know it's scary but take a look at what challenges you. Our personal stories can often be very different. What I have learned or experienced maybe different from what you have gone through. But the principle of the fat Man is to first recognize that a problem exist. Then the next principle is to find out the best things to do about it. Not only are we looking for knowledge but practical strategies and expert support to give us a fighting chance. The third principle of the fat Man is to follow through and put the plan in action. The fourth principle is to make the plan of action work for you. Words like adapting, adjusting, making changes all except the idea that we don't live in a perfect place. Life will continue to happen and we have to be as flexible as we can in facing it. 

We have to take it a day at a time. If we are on the right path, For example if we are taking the right medicine there should be a reasonable time to see improvement. It may take time where we continue to struggle. Sometimes this is unavoidable. When our strategies involve lifestyle changes, what we're looking for is a change of habit. Habits take about five months to develop. Can you be real enough to give something five months. We all are wanting the 30 minutes solution. Life's not a sitcom in change never happens overnight.

If I can give a word of encouragement - last October I did a reevaluation of where I was at. My legs were still healing from injuries from a fall. I knew I had to rethink how to move ahead. I had to find ways that I can exercise without falling. I had to rehab my legs and get a sensible time frame. No more walking on the sidewalk without the use of a walking stick. Learn how to walk with a walking stick. Since my injuries now included back pain it was harder just to dive into something. Quitting or giving up would mean further declining in my heart health. Now this I really rethought. My cardiac doctor told me to go for it. This was not the time to give up. 

So, I introduced biking to my walking schedule. In the last few weeks I posted my online adventures to do interval training and I'm starting to see progress. Adding a recumbent bike is putting my fourth principle in action. The technology they put into the bikes today are a big plus. Learning about interval training in walking and cycling is very encouraging. 

Is it time to clean out your health closet. What challenges do you face? Keep walking

Always adjustments

Today I'm drawing upon things I've learned about walking. I have broken out my walking today in three 10 minute segments. This is given my back time to stay loose as I walk to an aerobic pace. In between my walks I have done my old man exercises and several exercises with suspension training. Working on the computer I get up several times an hour and move around. Right now I'm standing as I dictate this note. There's been a lot of attention lately in health literature about the benefits of standing over sitting and with the dictation software that came with my computer I'm able to write while standing. 

All these little behaviors actually benefit our health. This time of year is when we start thinking about driving to see the fall colors. If you have to go some distance take regular breaks from the ride and get out for just a little walk using your muscles get your blood moving. When you're sitting in the car or driving in the car and you're in cruise control move your feet and do toe raises, wiggling your toes, and heel raises. This is also good when you're riding in a plane. Helping move your blood to your extremities may help you not develop a clot. I know the little walks help us to stay alert while we're driving and helps a little gray cells as well. Walking helps rebuild the brain better than crossword puzzles. Walking can also help people delay the onset of diseases related to older age. For years I known the benefits of walking in relationship to stretching out my muscles. When I used to play tennis people who know me could see that I was getting more flexible. Regular walking can delay the baby steps we take when we get older. I see this all the time on the trail of people who walk regularly. They take nice long strides being in their 70s and 80s. 

Walking outside with my cane is helping. It has been a while since I have fallen. I am almost scared to tell you this because it seems like when I do, pretty soon I fall. But the strategy behind the cane is not for bearing weight but for giving me that extra point of balance. I think it also makes me just little bit more mindful to mentally pick up my feet. I can recall my father telling me that when I was just a wee lad. Walking though has its own natural pace and I really can't stay conscious every step of it. I mean there's a blue sky, the green grass and trees, the flowers, the birds, and cute girls to notice. But as I flow along with the cane, it is there to help me when my foot catches. In my mind I am Sherlock Holmes and Watson with the game afoot. As I walk the uneven ground in the frisbee golf course or park again definitely supports me very well. There is a timing to it and like a walking stick on a nature trail in a state park or national Park is very helpful. 

I hope in the cooler temperatures of fall you find time to take your walks. Short walks, 30 minute walks or even more are all good. Keep walking

A quiet Enemy

As we get older, there is an enemy that we can hardly see. That enemy is a sedimentary lifestyle. Reading one article from the New York daily news it's the most important contributor factor to heart disease in women between 30 to 90.

Writer David Matelot says "but is never too late to change your way of life and get more physically active. " http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/physical-activity-shown-important-life-article-1.1790363
 Get up and walk around every 30 minutes. Discover how household shores are good for you. Go for 10 minute walks or 5 minute walks. Use your counter to do push-up, dips which your legs are doing squats at the same time. Do lunges with a hand on a counter. It is amazing that these simple moves can help you get off the floor. Follow Doctor’s counsel but if your activity adds up to an hour a day you are on your way. I look at everything from dishes to mowing the grass as therapy.  Keep walking