United States
New Zealand
Isn’t it fun watching Olympic athletes in peak physical condition fight it out over a 10th of a second, a twist of an arm or a kilogram of weight?
We are not the ones who have had to spend hours face-down in a swimming pool or practicing drag flicks. We haven’t had to put our life on hold - long lunches, fine wines and sleep-ins not taken in a singular focus on a podium placing.
The glory and the despair of the Olympics makes for scintillating viewing - it also makes me marvel at the capacity of the human body and mind. And it’s never too late to strive - it might not be Olympic glory we chase, yet we all have mental and physical challenges to overcome.
I have carried too much weight for years and it was starting to affect my metabolic health. Slowly, I have shed some kilos (8 in total) but more excitingly, I have been able to commit to a gym routine – this week hitting a personal best in a fitness test (since I started), improving my VO2 Max,from average to the top quartile for my age, and yesterday I lifted a personal best in a back squat – if you message me, I will tell you what it was, but don’t expect a big number!
My personal best is relative – it’s not what I could have done at 18, it’s not what I could have done before having children - but it is what I can do now and that’s enough. I celebrated last night with carrot cake – I never said I was consistent!
As we put together our short documentary celebrating Darcy’s incredible health journey, it has made me think about what we leave on the table because we think it’s too late to change.
Darcy has improved his VO2 max lung capacity (from the late teens to the mid-forties), (read here), reduced his exhaled nitric oxide levels (a measure of respiratory inflammation) from 40 to 20 parts per billion (Yay Zestt Breathe+) and shed a whopping 40 kilos. He is improving his flexibility, strength and endurance across the board and is a shadow of his former self physically, yet larger than life in person - with an extra dose of annoying!
My brother-in-law, Colin Wilson, is similarly inspiring, he has shed 50kg over the past year and has recently run his first marathon in his mid-fifties – he has dramatically changed his health path and I couldn't be more excited for him.
If you line up 8kgs, or 40kgs or 50kgs in bags of potatoes – that’s a lot of extra weight we were each carrying around - no wonder we are able to start hitting new personal bests – even if those personal bests are only meaningful for us and not relevant on the Olympic stage.
It’s not too late to start your own personal Olympics – making small improvements in health, day-by-day, breathing better, lifting more, having a better garden.
In keeping with the Olympics analogy, I do think that aging-well is more of a marathon than a sprint, there are no shortcuts, just steady progress with the odd up or down blip and sadly, no adoring crowds.
All the best, Anna and Darcy.
If you would like to discuss any of this further, please contact Darcy or Anna (who you can contact at +64 27 599 2255 or +64 27 4861418 respectively) or via info@zesttwellness.com.