Getting Ready for Living, Not Ripped for Approval

A different way to think about fitness after 50.

For someone who has spent nearly fifty years in the fitness industry, my social media feeds have become…interesting.

Every day I’m served another parade of sixty-something fitness “experts” announcing, “I’m 67!” before launching into some circus act involving rings, kettlebells, handstands, or a movement that would make my orthopedic surgeon start filling out paperwork.

Good for them.

But I can’t help wondering: Who is this for?

This isn’t instruction. It’s performance.

The old message was, “Come exercise with me.” Today’s message is often, “Look what I can do.”

There’s a difference.

I don’t need an iron cross. I need to ride a century without my back giving out on the last twenty miles. I need to stand and teach a spin class for forty-five minutes and still have something left for the next one. I need my hands steady enough to play guitar the way I want to, not the way arthritis decides I’m allowed to.

Fitness should prepare us for living, not auditioning.

Whenever I see another reel featuring some astonishing feat of strength or flexibility, I ask one simple question:

If I learned to do this, how would it make my everyday life better?

If the answer is, “It would make a great Instagram video,” I keep scrolling.

Nearly five decades in, and I still don’t need an audience. I need groceries carried, a bike ridden, a set of strings that still ring true under my fingers. I need a beach in Capitola, lunch at Gail’s, and a long walk with a friend I’ve known long enough to go quiet with.

That’s the whole job. Everything else is just noise with good lighting.