I’m reading this book called “How Bad Do You Want It?” by Matt Fitzgerald right now. While the author is writing about endurance sports, the premise applies to anything: The perception of your effort during a task determines how you perform. So if you think something will be difficult, it will be. If you think getting stronger will be hard, it will be. If you think losing fat will be hard, it will be. If you think getting back to feeling like the old you is impossible, it will be. But what about the flip side? Believing you can get shit done is the first step.
Just remember this – guys over 40 need something to get away from the stress. The stress drives healthy hormones, the hobbies bring it back up. For me, it’s racing off-road triathlon (even if I’m not great at it). For you it can be whatever you want. But it does matter.
That’s me in the picture, running as fast as I ever have. You see, when I go in to these races, my main goal is to beat my time from the year before. And I knew it was going to be close that year.
That’s me yesterday, taking a break from riding my mountain bike in the 100 degree weather that we had in Denver this past weekend. The question is, “Why?”
For me mountain biking, and off-road triathlon are hobbies, and in the interest of full disclosure, I am not particularly good at either one. But I don’t care.
“Toss my cookies?”
“Yes”
“Doc, say it ain’t so.”
This tough conversation that I had with Ron yesterday was for his own good. Ron’s a 54-year-old who came to me for natural help with fatigue and weight loss.
As a 47-year-old guy, I know that too much of a good thing is a bad thing. One common misconception I hear often is the idea that lots of endurance training is good for you. For guys over 40, this isn’t necessarily true.
Prolonged endurance training, like long bike rides, will tend to raise cortisol levels. This can lower sex hormone levels in both men and women.