— At the age of 50, I was a typical representative of a small business in Russia. Own business, lots of travel, delicious hearty food, moderate alcohol consumption, little physical activity.
Although I didn’t think so. I thought I was leading an «active lifestyle.» I loved hiking, biking, and beer barbecues. Now, looking at this activity, I just “I can’t laugh.”
What was my state of health at the age of 50?
I hardly walked. It is a 15 minute daily walk to and from the parking lot. If we went with my family, I always lagged behind my wife and children. I had a double chin, a size 48-50, a matching belly, and nasty sissy boobs. And I thought it was genetics. I couldn’t do more than two pull-ups. My forearms were very sore with any load on my hands, and I sincerely thought that it was some kind of serious illness such as polyarthritis. My father died from it, and I thought it was hereditary.
Started to hurt my heart. The pressure has risen. Nitroglycerin appeared in the car, I began to go to the doctors and for the first time I learned how to do a cardiogram.
Briefly speaking. The prospect was not encouraging. Life was coming to an end, and I felt it. Decreased libido, I just attributed to age. Finished me morally got out of nowhere hemorrhoids. I will write everything without embellishment. In the topic of health, there can be no forbidden chapters. The body has launched a program of self-destruction. And this is no exaggeration. I have studied this topic well. If the body does not need movement and it has many unclaimed functions, then they begin to fade away.
In gatherings at barbecues, I saw that peers were not doing better, we increasingly discussed not women, as is customary in men’s companies, but our sores. Public opinion supported the thesis that men do not live long, and at that age it is no longer worth straining yourself.
Here is such a schedule. I took my first step towards health in 2006. By chance. I was going on a mountain hike and the leader strongly recommended that I start running. Started. Ran with difficulty. No more than 20 min. It was hard. I ran for a month before the campaign and then scored.
In 2007, pain in the heart worsened against the background of high blood pressure. Again ultrasound, consultations, doctors. And here I got a good doctor. He listened to me for a long time, tapped, asked questions and gave recommendations.
- salt restriction
- Restriction of animal fats
- Physical training, weight loss
- Control of blood pressure in the morning and evening (keeping a diary)
In words, he added: «Change your lifestyle forever.» And he gave out a plate on the refrigerator — useful and harmful products for lowering cholesterol.
With this tablet began my study of healthy lifestyles. Then I did not yet know about the possibilities of our body to fight for life and defeat diseases without pills and doctors.
So, I started to act. Just don’t think that in the morning I started dousing myself with cold water, threw out everything sweet and floury from the house and started eating sprouted grain. This will happen a little later. My body is just as lazy and passive, and the subconscious works like all of us. An inner voice whispered: “Nothing needs to be changed, everything is fine, everything will be fine, everyone lives like that.”
Therefore, the process of changing the way of life was long and gradual. I’ve been going with the spirit of four years. I’ll try to remember the main points.
So, I am 54 years old, height 170, weight 78 kg. Pulled up 1-2 times, clothing size 48-50, pain in the heart, hemorrhoids and pain in the forearms at the slightest load on the arms, I eat a lot of fatty and fried foods, I sleep a lot. In the evening I constantly chew something in front of the computer. Sometimes I sleep during the day. Any physical activity is tiring and not pleasant. Sometimes I smoke while driving to stay awake. Every evening — beer, often — wine and cognac. Regular heartburn. Only Rennie saves.
At first, I started reading more health and fitness books. I have read them before. Now I re-read Amosov, Paul Breguet. I learned what coronary heart disease and stroke are. What causes hemorrhoids and how is it treated.
Gradually, the realization came that genetics and heredity are just a gun, and the trigger is a way of life. The gun may or may not fire.
I began to clearly realize that it is necessary to change the way of life until the end of days. Then I wrote for myself the slogan «The main thing is health, the rest later.» I relaxed my personal involvement in business and began to devote most of my time to the theory and practice of healthy lifestyles.
If it was more or less clear with physical activity (I was skiing and running at school and college and had an idea about training), then there was trouble with nutrition.
How to live without sugar, flour and fat? How to replace evening gatherings in the kitchen with a bottle of milk and gingerbread?
How can you live without fried, without vobla and beer? And cognac and barbecue on your birthday? There were more questions than answers.
Fortunately, I was not alone in my pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. My wife supported me completely. We only had conversations about nutrition and training in our 50s.
I must say that she began to change her diet before me. I took up yoga. And I watched her from the side. Some things I agreed with, some I didn’t.
I started physical activity with running, but quickly finished — my left foot hurt. Miller’s book, Walking Against Drugs, helped me a lot then. I started walking. I bought a pedometer and wound steps. The norm was 10 steps. I never performed it. It’s really difficult. But I started walking a lot more. I walked at a good pace — 000 km per hour. A decent load for a beginner.
Frozen vegetables helped me a lot. They could eat to satiety and not get better, but lose weight. The weight loss process has begun. This inspired me to take further steps. Bread was replaced with loaves. Sugar is honey. Meat — fish and squid.
I began to notice changes in the mirror. Waist and bust have shrunk. Slowly, the second chin began to go away. Now I only have it in my passport photo.
I decided to make myself a press with cubes. At first, the task did not seem very difficult. I had to practice 10 minutes a day. Now I see how wise it was. Gradually and without undue stress, I was drawn into physical education. I didn’t even imagine that I would go from the press to cross-country, ski and bike marathons.
So, I did the press. A few simple exercises. The muscles were getting stronger, but the press was not visible. I’ve watched megabytes of abs videos on YouTube. Finally it came to the point that it is necessary to connect cardio loads.
I chose running. This is the simplest year-round cardio device. Now I consider running one of the main sources of my current health.
Then there was a lot. I started running and training for a marathon. It took me three months to prepare for a marathon and run. Running itself made me pay more attention to nutrition. Already a purely vegetarian diet did not suit me. I decided to switch to a raw food diet. Especially since my wife has already started, and I still doubted. How can I run on raw vegetables? What will happen to the muscles? But what about in winter without hot water?
Again, the books helped. Here are the authors: Sebastianovich, Eret, Shemchuk, Stoleshnikov.
I read a lot, analyzed, compared. How many doubts and breaking habits.
After two months of switching to a raw food diet, we successfully went on a bike tour in Norway, eating only raw vegetables and fruits. This gave me hope.
It seems to many that a raw food diet is some kind of dogma and a complete limitation. I did not follow the path of prohibitions, but the path of satisfying natural desires. If I wanted fish, I ate it. I didn’t feel like eating salads and vegetables. And all this was not out of love for the animal world, but out of love for oneself. Although I also love animals very much and now I am glad that my nutrition has nothing to do with killing them.
And on a raw food diet in combination with physical activity, I was born again. Now I have already got used to this drive and lightness in the body, which appeared in me literally from the first days of the transition to a raw food diet. I began to sleep less, there was a lot of free energy.
I wanted to tell the whole world how easy and affordable it is to get so many bonuses just from changing the diet. I called all the relatives, went to my friends to personally convey all this to them. I thought that they would pick up my undertakings, and together we would be healthy and younger. It wasn’t there. I came across bewildered glances and twisting my finger at my temple.
What do I end up with today? Perfectly healthy organism. Baldness and not very healthy teeth are a legacy of the past. There are a few running injuries that don’t count either.
Resting pulse — 45-50 beats, pressure 120/80, weight 61 kg. I sleep 6-7 hours. Haven’t been sick for the last two years. Excellent performance. It’s hard to upset me. I can always find something to do anywhere. And, believe me, it will be beneficial for the body. I train every day. Running, horizontal bar, bars, weights, stretching. I spend about an hour a day on physical education. On one of the weekends — a long run of 2-3 hours.
To summarize the action plan for the transition to a healthy lifestyle, I would recommend the following steps:
Set yourself a simple but realistic goal. The goal should be specific, realistic and achievable by a specific deadline. Having a goal immediately motivates you to move forward.
Explore the topic of nutrition. What is, how much. What foods should be avoided and why. Definitely fast food, semi-finished products, fried, salty and fatty. It is better to eat whole foods with minimal processing. I will not be specific. Choose yourself.
Don’t take anyone’s word for it. Think, analyze. Learn from nature. Books, videos on YouTube, sites on the net can help here. I am not campaigning for a raw food diet. This is not a panacea. But I like it and I’m not going to quit. I never even counted calories. A raw food diet is a great way to lose weight without being hungry. Eat as many vegetables as you want and you will lose weight. But I also know a lot of strong people my age who eat traditional. Someone does not eat meat, someone — dairy products. The main thing, I think, is moderation in nutrition.
Explore the topic of physical activity. Physical activity is needed at any age. The older you are, the more time you need to devote to physical education in the broadest sense of the word. I would single out three components.
aerobic exercise, i.e. the loads are not very intense, without oxygen deficiency. The pulse under such loads should not exceed the value calculated by the formula: 220 minus age multiplied by 0,9. It is better to try not to raise the pulse above 120 beats per minute. Aerobic exercise contributes to the development of the cardiovascular system, reduces the percentage of fat, normalizes blood pressure, relieves stress and much more. My rating is: running, walking, cycling, skiing. If you are overweight, start by walking. Gradually add running. Biking and skiing are seasonal, while running and walking are all-weather.
Power loads. These are exercises with your own weight or weights. Must be done for sure. Same for men and women of all ages. At the same time, muscles, ligaments, bones are strengthened, the network of capillaries grows, blood supply improves, fat deposits decrease without loss of muscle mass.
Start by strengthening your abdominal and back muscles. These are very important muscles and, most importantly, they are relatively easy to pump up at home. Do exercises like crunches, planks, and hyperextensions.
Next — be sure to get involved and start doing exercises with your own weight. Squats, push-ups, pull-ups, jumps, lunges.
Flexibility exercises. Flexibility is an essential component of health. Here I would recommend any yoga complex for beginners. Find a video on YouTube to have a complex of 40-50 minutes and do at least a couple of times a week. Choose a few exercises from the complex and do them every day for 5-10 minutes in the morning or evening. And maybe during the day. Change exercises periodically. Gradually, you will feel how you become more flexible.
Set a goal to reach the floor with your palms in an incline without bending your knees. Only without fanaticism. Flexibility must be developed slowly but regularly.
Find like-minded people. It’s better to be near you. But you can also remote — in social networks. Communicate, exchange experience. Look for role models. Don’t let yourself stand still.
It is very important to do hardening. To do this, it is enough to take a cold shower every morning for no more than 30-40 seconds. Works flawlessly. Sore throat and runny nose are gone from my body.
Set yourself mini goals. They are easy to perform and add confidence. For example, such. Push up 10 times. Shower in the morning. Do 5 squats in 100 minutes. Etc.
I had these goals:
- Press cubes.
- Pull up 15 times in a row
- Do 100 pushups in a row
- Hold a plank for 4 minutes
- Learn to stand on your head
- Run 5, 10,15,20,30 km.
- Run a 42 km marathon.
- Ride a bike marathon 200 km.
- Run a ski marathon 50 km classic.
- Learn to ski and run a marathon.
I have fulfilled all the goals, now I am working on the splits, handstand and exit by force on the horizontal bar.
In all these undertakings, the main thing is gradualness and regularity. It is better to do a little bit every day than twice a week for two hours. With small regular loads, the body adapts better, it is easier to recover.
Sleep at least 7-8 hours. Growth hormone works in sleep.
You don’t have to go to the gym at all. Machines are designed to reduce injury and target specific muscles. We don’t need it yet. It is necessary to strengthen all the muscles and develop the functionality of the body.
I never went to the gym. I prefer fresh air and only in winter do strength training at home. For this, there are a pair of weights of 16 and 24 kg and a set of collapsible dumbbells.
Didn’t mention spiritual development at all. Here I am less savvy, but I also have something to say about this.
I am learning new details about training and nutrition all the time. The most pleasant thing in this business for me is that you set a goal for yourself and fulfill it. This brings great satisfaction. It becomes just nice to look at yourself in the mirror. Every morning you have an incentive to move on.
You seem to be getting older, and the body is getting younger. No matter how strange it may be. Nobody and nothing can stop you. Only forward to a new self.
So that there is no turning back, I post my goals and their achievements on the blog and on the YouTube channel. I post photos from training on instagram. At first it was scary what my friends would say, how others would appreciate my technique. And now I’m used to different assessments. I skip the negative and delete it right away, I shake constructive criticism and try to improve.
PS Do not think that I am so strong-willed and stubborn. Each person, talking about himself, tries to present himself in a better way than he really is. I am an ordinary lazy person, I just got into a situation where I had to choose between life and, I will not be afraid of this word, an early death. Think about what will happen to you in five years if nothing changes.