Goals

It’s 2019. I’m nearly 40 years old. For years I was super fit, strong, and lean. I could eat what I wanted. I exercised twice a day every day. I competed. I felt invincible. I could metabolize a box of cookies or a whole pizza and several beers easily and then do a 20k row the following morning.

But those days are gone and my life is very different. I’ve got a full time and demanding job that stretches me daily. I have a sixteen month old son and a baby on the way in May. I’m married and have a big house to take care of and a multitude of other responsibilities.

The truth is an honest assessment of my physical health might seem pretty bleak. I wake up in the night and as I walk to the bathroom my feet hurt to put weight on. My hips are shredded and I’ve got one diagnosed torn labrum. My shoulders are tight as hell and I also have one torn rotator cuff (that I know of). My right big toe doesn’t flex all the way and pains me daily to bend and run or walk on and prevents me from doing a simple lunge properly. And I’ve been dealing with fluctuating back pain for almost 15 years.

But I’m not looking at these as negative things. They are goals. Things I can improve to make my life better. To move better. To unlock untapped freedom in my body.

So what I am going to work on this month is coming up with a plan to address all the aches, pains, and limitations in my body. And set some goals for where I want to be physically in 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. And my long term goal is to be able to be active and mobile and fit well into the next several decades of my life.

Here are a few goals:

Run pain free for any distance

Play basketball with Lou and teach him the “one, gooseneck” technique

Learn to butterfly and breast stroke

Touch my toes

Do a cartwheel

What’s one thing you want to improve this year?

3 down. 362 to go. Thanks for reading.