(aka 2 years of Contemporary Athlete)
Before CA – Way back when
Raising kids, daily lap swimming and watching sports can take up a lot of one’s day and even make one believes finding time for anything else seem unlikely. However, in the grand scheme of things, staying healthy should be high up on your list of daily priorities. As a parent this became painfully evident while watching my son rehab his way through a sports-related back injury. The upside to his journey into and out of competitive soccer was his decision to be a health and wellness major in college.
CA 101 – The early months
Based on my son’s incessant pleading and logical arguments to do something else other than swim laps, I drank his youthful Kool-Aid and entered the world of CA. Overcoming the fear to walk into CA was step one and step two was participating in my first CA session. Crawling, stretching, box pushing, running, twisting, jumping, squatting, inch worming, rowing, and burpees are not life threatening but they sure do make you question the logic behind completing steps one and two. If sore muscles and creaking joints are a sign of doing good work then I must have a perfect record. CA humbles you but it doesn’t knock you down. Everyone shares the same fun!
CA – The middle months
Some might say that drinking the Kool-Aid is easy and buying into the whole exercise regime isn’t rocket science and they might be correct. However, most of the fitness advertising touting a perfectly sculpted body through the use of this device or doing that exercise routine fails to mention that without a personal commitment you likely won’t achieve anything beyond a growing sense of frustration. Perceptible change isn’t achieved overnight but with continued work and CA helping me I can attest that it does happen.
CA Today – Believe
Although a medical issue created a three month gap in my routine, not returning to CA did not enter my mind. One problem with an exercise routine is not really knowing how long it will take before you start feeling fitter and looking better. Hearing those encouraging words during sets of burpees or kilometers of rowing made me a believer in the CA experience.
CA Tomorrow – keep doing it
If life is just another terminal disease, you can either let it slowly kill you or you can get out of your chair and do something positive for yourself. I am about to turn 62 and my CA adventure is certainly not over. I survived the early months, the middle months, today and I will be there tomorrow!