How I got here

From a sick COPD patient
to Elder-Beast . . .
a continuing story.

Getting old and unhealthy

To be honest, I never believed I would age and become feeble. Over the years, like a lot of us, I became increasingly sedentary. My survival instincts dulled and before I even realized how far I had degraded, a walk around the block became more challenging. I justified my fraility as part of the natural aging process. At 60 a landslide of personal setbacks took a toll and my stress levels exploaded. My physiologocal systems overloaded and began to fail. Inflamation began to attack basic functions such as my ability to breathe. Athough I have had mild asthma for a number of years, I was always able to fight through my attacks and continue to function. Now, my struggle to breathe kept me completely incapacitated. Ultimately, I ended up in my VA hospital emergency room. VA medical staff diagnosed me with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. Medical tests revealed hypertension, high cholesterol and high blood sugar. Per medical protocols, my doctor advise me to take a cocktail of drugs to alleviate my inflamation. I was not ready for a life of inactivity and constant medications. This was my wake up call to either activate my survival responses or endure a slow death.

Making a change

Since I was a kid, I have always thrived on solving problems and this was a critical one for survival. I needed a plan. Internet research was my first step. I began to realize that a myriad of fitness and health opinions were very confusing and conflicting. The common thread however, is that movement and nutrition stimulated your body's immune system. Wow, I'll start exercising and eating right to heal myself. It's not that easy. Thirty years of slow degradation is not overcome very rapidly. I had no real healthy habits or athletic abilities. The only thing I could do is begin small and see where it leads.

Perseverance and consistency

We are inherently creatures of habit and altering your lifelong behavior pattern is difficult for people. We all can achieve change, you just need methods that work for you. My psyche responded to mental scenarios for pain thresholds. I did this by visualising pain (fear) comparisons ("ie", "Is it more painful to face a slow progressive death or 30 min of strenuous exercise 4 times a week."), the answer was ovious to me and that is how I began. Now don't kid yourself, contistency is a learned behavior and as your physical and mental processes improve behaviors, your methods have to evolve as well. Our bodies are designed to constantly revert to a state of how we currently surviving. "If it ain't killing us don't fix it" is what we are progammed to do (homostasis). Change needs to be incremental and consistant.

My motives

I have been on my fitness journey for 10 years now and I continue to fight to overcome homostasis continuously. Fighting to survive is natural, but organisms must constantly adapt to overcome their ever changing conditions and stresses. As Beasts, we have evolved to adapt, for the best possible existance we desire. Every one has unique desires and needs but the Beast must always be stressed to keep survival processes functional in order to postpone extinction. As I rejuvenate, my Beast, my quality of life has improved exponentially. My mind, my body and my ambitions have made my daily experiences absolutely euphoric. I completed my personal training certification last year so that I can mentor others who desire to enjoy their best life experience possible.