Pump that Iron

Sounds trite, yes, but ap.

What do Marjorie Newlin, Ernestine Shepherd, and Wendy Ida have in common?  They are all body builders, all women, and all over 60. They started after 50.

Marjorie Newlin

Ernestine Shepherd

These women, and some others, are my inspiration. Why am I so interested in bodybuilding? Well, I don't want to be a body builder myself, but that aspiration to work hard helps me with my motivation and goals to build lean muscle for great definition, strength, endurance, and to undo the arthritic damage in my hips and other joints.  Strength training makes it so I can walk. So I can run to do the mud runs I so want to do.

Consider this:

Of course, Ernestine is now in her 80s, but still walks/runs the 10 miles to her work (in a gym) and keeps up her training.

Several years ago, I was misdiagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and then bipolar and schizophrenia. I was put on various medications that made my symptoms worse and caused a lot of psychotic issues. I spent many years of my life going down unhealthy roads and allowing myself to be manipulated, controlled and abused by various types of unhealthy people, as I wrote about in my last post.   These problems kept me from being the person I could have been, but can be now, even at 54 and older. It wasn't me that failed. It was the voices of the people who never wanted me to succeed in the first place that screamed in my mind. CPTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) was the real basket that carried the issues and since being properly treated, and learning to steer clear of the negative influences and people (totally banned the psychopaths, narcissists and manipulators from my life), I can finally do what I need to do to be healthy and truly happy.

And now, I can make the changes I want for a healthy body. I believe in strength training. I believe in clean, healthy eating. I believe I can be the happiest, healthiest person possible for me by working hard and living life to the fullest, because the barriers are down.  Even with my disabilities, I can do more for myself.

I have set out (and been working for a month now) to determine and tweak my workouts for training and eating habits to optimize health. I have sought and delved into the works of people who speak sense. It may seem catty, but the added bonus is that my haters, and yes, I still have some, will not follow down this path, as many have mimicked much of what I have tried to accomplish in the past. This is something they won't do because it requires a lot of dedication and work, time and patience. I don't do this for them, nor for those who support and care for me. I do this for me.

There is a four-part series on YouTube that I really love that addresses the problem of obesity in this country. It makes perfect sense and squelches the societal excuses and myths people adhere to. Obesity saddens me because of the health issues people will face (not might, will) or are facing due to obesity.  It hit home when I discovered that four months ago I was 40 lbs overweight and technically obese with a BMI of 30.

Focussing on the positive. There are so many ways of losing fat, gaining muscle, toning, and other such healthy ways of living. Yes, it's a way of living, not a "fix". Fad diets don't work, and if it claims to lose the weight fast, it's a gimmick out to make money, not help you in your journey or goals. I've tried a bunch. It requires plain and simple lifestyle changes, no matter what your goals, to affect the goals.  Proper eating habits. Exercise. Period. Yes, you can. I did. I am doing. It not only affects your body, but your mind and moods. People will use excuses to stay where they're at because they don't want to put in the effort, don't want to give up the sugar and bad fats, or for whatever reason. They blame society, McDonald's, or whomever for their type-2 diabetes, weight, hypertension, heart issues, and everything else. Even with a genetic issue, you can be healthier.

When I was 48 (6 years ago), I was doing martial arts (mixed) 3 days a week. I was also doing kickboxing twice a week, as well as tai chi, weight lifting (5 days a week) and running 5 k. I was fit. I was eating healthy. I looked and felt great. Then I got sick, Then I got depressed. The end result was losing my muscle, flexibility, endurance, and gaining 40 lbs of fat. I couldn't run due to osteopenia in my hips (which, btw, is totally reversible).  It was realizing what I was doing to myself, as well as gaining a proper diagnosis for my mental issues, and making a change that is putting back on the right track towards health. And my dedication and decisions have brought my family on board to greater health.

Inspiration is a key help in getting healthy. Again, there are a lot of quick-fixes out there that don't work. Many people who just want to be paid for giving you a load of crap that won't work. Or, may work for a short while, but will come right back around again. No pill will do anything for your in this regard.

The ladies above are my inspiration. I won't be a competitive body-builder. That isn't my goal. But I can be inspired by these ladies who have gone down that path.

My help comes from other people and places. I don't live close enough to a gym to go to one of those. So I turned my dining room into a gym (we eat in the kitchen). It isn't huge, and doesn't have a lot, but it has the dumbbells, barbells, tubes and bands, and other equipment that is necessary to meet the goals we have made for ourselves. We plan to get more in.

My main help comes from this man: Michael Matthews. He's written books and has a ton of stuff on his website as well as You Tube to help with getting in shape.

Another source of great workout tips and how to correctly do things, as well as good-eating tips, comes from Athlean X and Athlean XX for women. I do strength training 5-6 days a week. And I lift heavy.

I'm not much of a cardio person, but I do things that I know works and enjoy. I walk along my beautiful road by my house in the country, with the goal of getting back to running (back to the mud run goal and have some training here). I do contradance once a week with my teenager.  I try to get some cardio in by doing some Zumba (I like some of the routines) and my old Jazzercise DVDs. I am working in some of my Tai Chi and belly dance DVDs as well. Slowly but surely. I hope to get back into martial arts as well. Short term get back to goals is the Couch to 5K as this will help with my goal of doing the Warrior Dash.

My other mid-long term goal is to get my physical trainer certification through ACE.  This way, I can help people with their fitness goals and hope to specialize in older folks and folks with disabilities.

And yes, there is time. My family and I volunteer and local places like the food bank and hospice. My hubby works, but the teen and I so love helping out where we can, and hub helps when he's off. Fortunately, he has a great job working 3 days a week and available during the week.

Developing healthy habits is hard. It requires motivation, dedication, hard work, healthy habits, focus, and keeping your eyes on your goals. It's all about progress, not perfection. It's never giving up. It's about improving yourself, and being better than you were before, not better than anyone else. Mentally. Spiritually, Emotionally, and Physically. No excuses.