2015

There's Life After 40 and it Starts with CrossFit

There's Life After 40 and it Starts with CrossFit

I wanted to look good naked and at 41 years old... things were not going in the right direction.


At 41 years old, the clock felt like it was ticking and I knew that this wasn't going to get easier by 51. I’m not tall. I didn't move well. I have no particular physical gifts and have never attached the adjective “athlete” to my self-identity. But I’m healthy and I had always wondered if I could be strong and fit. It was time to stop wondering. The time was now.

Lester Burnham Quote - look good naked

Our 40’s isn't known as the decade of free time.


Like many, I have a busy professional career, I was husband, I am a father of three, with a home to care for, a rental suite to manage… and did I give enough to my retirement fund this year? When would I find time for fitness? We know the answer to this... we need to make it a priority.

When there are so many demands on our time, many of us put our own name last name on our list of important people - we take care of others first and we get the scraps of time left over. Your 40’s can have you taking care of your children and your parents. It can be a peak time in your career. Marriages can have a rough period here too. In this challenging time in life, it’s important to make time for yourself.  With that in mind, I started searching for a fitness class.
“The saddest summary of life has three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have.” ~ Unknown

Strength Training, CrossFit and other reasons to keep moving after 40


CrossFit wasn't something I knew much about. To me, it was just the name of a class mixed in with a list of other fitness classes with ambiguous names. What’s a “ Tabata ”? “Detox” exercises? HIIT workouts? Spin classes ? Then I came across “ CrossFit ” and the title made sense - I wanted a mix of exercises to get fit. I signed up, completely unaware that it was very demanding and came with its own culture.

Mike H CrossFitThe intro-classes for CrossFit are called On Ramps. Your body needs these classes which teach you to move safely and efficiently. The classes help you avoid injury and keep up with the pace of the main class later. Your On Ramp classes will make you sore.  You will ache in places you didn't know you had. Your lungs will find new ways to burn.

Getting Comfortable with feeling Uncomfortable (and loving it!)


You will be uncomfortable, but you shouldn't feel hurt, ever. That discomfort is the feeling of the old ‘you’ leaving your body and metamorphosing into something new.

Starting CrossFit and sticking with it at 40-ish will encompass more than just the class. You will burn more calories and your body will crave more food and water. Setting time aside for a massage, physiotherapy and diet guidance will get you through those aches, strains and increased nutrition needs.

It’s difficult not to compare oneself to others in the class, and forget they are ten or twenty years your junior. They’ll muscle through movements that we’ll need a little more time and technique to achieve, but it comes.

[box type="shadow" align="aligncenter" class="" width=""]The following video is of the 2013 CrossFit Games, Masters Competition (Men Age 40 to 44)... awesome!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YovZnEbwdVo

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As a man over 40, noticing the change in my body, finding I needed to buy new clothes, and overall increased energy, I also experienced a boost in libido that I can only imagine was fueled by a rise in testosterone. In CrossFit, each person finds their own performance level, speed and lifting levels, and after six weeks I felt pretty good. After six months, the mirror and I started to really get along; things were going in the right direction.

Six weeks and six months can feel like eternities when just starting, but as a forty-something, we've got a perspective on time; it goes pretty fast. In no time at all, you’ll be glad you started in your 40’s rather than letting another decade slip by and wondering if you could have been more.

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Author Bio:


Mike H HeadshotMike Harrison is a father of three great kids, a globe collector, a history buff, and an amateur genealogist. He currently manages the motion capture and scanning studio for Electronic Arts. Mike started CrossFit in 2013 and took up an interest in healthy cooking shortly after. Currently he’s excited to be participating in the CrossFit Open, and is looking forward to his first ‘sprint triathlon’ in May. He lives in Vancouver and although he’s more comfortable taking his shirt off these days, he has been asked to keep it on.
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