The Paris Olympics are just three weeks away. In the current state we have found ourselves in, the Olympics are now our only source of national pride and achievement. There is a sense of redemption on a national stage that slightly makes up for the embarrassment we, Americans, have accumulated for the past four years and more. I would personally like to thank Simone Biles, Gabby Thomas, Katie Ledecky and Sydney McLauglin-Levrone and the many other athletes representing the US for making us look better than we are and providing a source of inspiration we so desperately need. It is where you can find endless examples of men and women all over the world overcoming all the odds, setting seemingly impossible goals, working hard, failing, winning and achieving personal bests.
For as long as I can remember, I have been glued to the Olympic coverage. I watch the games for the achievements, the amazement, the athletes; but I also feel this tinge of FOMO (fear of missing out) that understandably started when I was young and obsessed with volleyball but has never quite faded as I grew older. Peter Attia, MD reminds us that it is not too late to become Olympians of life. He proposed the idea of the "centenarian Olympics" in his bestselling book, Outlive, The Science and Art of Longevity. At its core, it's a list of physical goals you want to achieve in your later years. To achieve these goals, you begin intentionally training for them when you are in your 40s, 50s and 60s. For example: If you want to pick up a thirty-pound suitcase at the age of 85 while on your next world adventure, you need core strength, shoulder strength, leg strength, hip flexibility and spinal stability along with the cognitive function to get yourself on the right airplane. You need to be consistently lifting at least twice as much weight in your 40s and 50s to achieve your goal of independent travel in your 80s. We need to do more now to protect our body and mind against the natural decline in strength, cognition, aerobic capacity, stability and mobility that we undergo as we age. The old adage "if you don't use it, you lose it" rings true.
To inspire you to make your own, here is my own personal list of the physical and mental capabilities I would like to cling to far into my eighth and ninth decade.
Hike 2 miles with varying degrees of incline
Attend regular yoga classes
Garden
Read regularly
Pick up and run after young grandkids
Carry groceries and laundry up stairs
Travel by plane, boat and car
Walk 10,000 steps daily
Cook a meal for my family
Draw, paint and write
To learn more about how to train for your own Olympic games and track your progress, find the Healthspan Journal on Amazon.
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