I love this image.  There a lot of “words” floating around lately that I despise…like this one: “triggered”. (eyeroll) It’s trendy so let’s use it!  I was “triggered” (honestly, I feel stupid using this word!) when I heard a news anchor recently identify as  “a survivor” (because it’s October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month). Ugh. Of course you are, because if you weren’t, you’d, like…not be here, right? My view is a little warped, and sad. It’s kind of pointy, but true, and obvious.  And it’s meant to lead into my focus on “labels”.  Re: “Survivor”, wouldn’t it have been better to say “I had breast cancer”. “Had”. Past tense. I don’t have it anymore so I’m no longer label-able? I don’t have cancer and let’s focus on the future. Boom!

What does saying “I’m a survivor” do for us? Let everyone know we had cancer and maybe went through treatment so….well…maybe it’s “I did something hard, be proud of me?” Could be.  Or, “I did something hard, so feel sorry for me?”. Or simply draw more attention to the fact that you had it and beat it? Which would be good.  I’d just rather say “I got to see what being bald was like and while I rocked it, I prefer having hair”. I don’t know a single person who hasn’t been through some sh#t in their lives and if I know one things that rings true all the time, it’s learn from the past, live in the present, plan for the future. Not live in the past, live in the past, live in the past.

I don’t know what I think about all of this labeling, and it’s much beyond my little example above, but it’s bothersome, as it’s brewing in this new trend of collecting labels. Labels are the new hobby and our hobbies are waning because managing all of our “labels” is taking up much of our time so there’s no time FOR hobbies! How many labels do you have? Man, oh Man…what a waste of time. Especially for us – the older ones – who have less time ahead of us than behind us!

Forgive this as it been building and will come off as some type of a rant. Maybe it is. Or maybe it’s us noticing that the quality of our communications with our athletes (and even friends and family) is focused more on their labels and less on their lives…their labels now consume their lives.

We coach seniors and by stereotype, seniors like to have labels. They’ve earned them! Retired. Grandparent. World Traveller…THAT’S what we want to hear. Not arthritic, osteoporotic and bone-on-bone.  The latter labels aren’t good because labels come with limits.

We already know that older we get, the more limits are imposed on us. Our mobility, our strength, our brain function, and our radius of life all shrink and get smaller – how many of you think Tampa is a hike to drive? I do! And Ed and I used to seek Tampa every single weekend for stuff to do. Now Tampa….IT’S SO FAR! LOL! Limits exist in every phase of life. For the young, they may not be old enough or they many not have the experience or the means (or the interest) to do some things. For the middle aged, time is their thief! Work, kids, schedules…go, go, go. Time-freedom is missing in this phase. And in the later phases of life where time and means (or money) may be more well established, the physical ability to travel, play sports, get around may now seem limited. It’s all relative, right?

No, this isn’t a political post AT ALL, but rather, hopefully, a wake up call that your words, your thinking, your scrolling, your influencers and your sources may be getting in the way of your overall health – your ability to wake up and tackle the world!  “Wait, I can’t tackle the world because I have here.”  Yes, the world is sicker, and more unhealthy. But why? Which came first? The decline in health or the labels that describe the decline in health… because they feed off of each other. Frankly, the frequency of doctors’ appointments probably contribute to this…you’re sick or “something’s off”, so you call the doctor, right?

We’ve been gathering labels for a few months now. And then Ed came across a blog post from Live Long Media called “The New Language of Health“. They call it a Language, we call it Labels, but we’re speaking the same language.

While we’re hyper focused on the volume of labels we’re hearing, they were focused on the change in language. It’s VERY INTERESTING! If this doesn’t pique your interest I don’t know what will! Yes, someone could argue that diagnosing these problems have led to solutions. You’re going to be hard pressed to show us how meds for senility, T2D, and “hyper kids” have resulted in meds that have lessened these conditions. On the contrary – we still have all the conditions…they’re just medically managed with medication – not resolved. So it started with a problem, the problem was labeled and the the symptoms were addressed, not the problem…but THAT’S for another conversation!  Oops!  This was simply a great read to looking at labels!

Obviously, we run a gym so what we hear more is what our athletes HAVE, and lately it’s becoming a defining title, or a label. Having arthritis (which, by the way more than 50% of people over the age of 65 show evidence of OA on an Xray) isn’t a big deal in our gym. Most of you have it and have some symptoms…some don’t. Ed and I have it. Sometimes we’re symptomatic, sometimes we’re not. You’re probably in the MAJORITY if you have it or are symptomatic. I guess I’d ask if you talk about it at dinner with friends or your spouse? Do you talk about it with your kids? How about when you’re at the dentist? Or when you’re taking a walk with the dog? If you do…AND you’re talking about it in the gym too, then DANG!, you’re pretty consumed, and dare I say, “yup, you’re using it as a label….I. AM. ARTHRITIC”.  Now…what do you want us to do with that label? Dumb your programming down? Take it easy on you? Feel sorry for you? High five you because you’re in the majority? LOL. Nah…we know you don’t want any of these and I hope you know by now our job is to acknowledge the issue and work around it (or through it if possible). Allowing you to fester in label stew just wastes your time and your money as you’re paying to train, right?  In fact, we know for a fact that if you work out in class, and you come in with a little pain or discomfort, that 9/10 times you’ll leave feeling better.  Especially if you didn’t focus on the fact that you have arthritis or “arthritic”. Am I making my point? There is a physiological reason that after you train, your joints and your body feel better. It’s called Exercise-Induced Hypoalgesia (HEI). But THAT’S also for another chat!  The gist? Motion is lotion. It. just. is!

Ed and I love to joke about this. What’s the ailment of the day? It’s often what came across your FB or IG feed, right? We get a kick about what follows the label too! Check this out.

• I’m arthritic – be nice to me when I can’t squat below parallel.
• I’m diabetic – see my new CGM? The tape is new! So colorful! Now I can see what’s causing my blood sugar to rise (um…it’s the sh#tty carbs, guys!)
• I have stenosis – I can’t walk that fast or long, so stop telling me to.
• I have a torn meniscus – I can’t …proceed to scratch head.
• I’m afraid…but let’s expand on that. Basically, I live by myself and I can’t get hurt because there’s no one there to take care of me. Good one, although the flip side is that if you don’t work harder, you’ll need help to live by yourself so you’ll no longer be able to live by yourself. Make a choice.
• I’m “sedentary”. They used to call it lazy, but OK…if sedentary makes you feel better…
• I have autoimmune disease – what Ed would liken to the catch all/garbage bag term in orthopedics like IDK: internal derangement of the knee. It means something is wrong but we’re not 100% sure what’s causing the problem. And the bugger here, and above, is much of this can be managed by lifestyle changes…changes that many of you just. don’t. want. to. make. (yikes, I said it.  Sorry…not really).

So what if we re-wrote the list above using lifestyle to solve it (or resolve it)…or make it positive so the outcome isn’t, well, sad… bad… like you’re the victim of this “thing”…maybe it would look like this:

• I have OA in my knee(s), but when I move it feels better…now I get up in the morning, do some stretches and go for a walk and I’m pretty good all day!
• I have Type 2 diabetes, but I’ve started leading all my meals with high quality protein, loading up on veggies, and some fruit, and limiting starches (good ones like oatmeal, potatoes and rice). And I refocused my nighttime routine so I go to bed at the same time, turn the TV off a half hour before, read right before, and keep the thermostat at 70 (yikes!). I try to stop drinking fluid a few hours before so I don’t get up all night to use the restroom. I sleep better and my blood sugar benefitted from that too!. Also, I’m working harder at the gym and getting stronger so I have more muscle, which is the main user of blood sugar in the body. I started walking midday and after dinner.  I’m on my way to getting off meds!
• I have spinal stenosis, but I learned that the stronger my core the more support I’ll have and the less the pain. The more I move the better I’ll feel….the more I sit, while sitting relieves the pain, the weaker I get. I made my mind up that I’m not going to let this beat me so now I’m beating it! (oh, and I PR’d my deadlift! high five!).
• I have a torn meniscus, and I know that many of the athletes and my coaches do too, and many have worked through it and are recovered or on the way. I know it can take up to a year to see resolution and I was patient, avoided surgery and am so happy I did!
• I’m afraid I’ll get hurt – but I communicated that to my coaches and they’re working with me on a slower progression and promised they’d never put me in harms way. Being strong is the solution for independence in our older years and I need that!
• I’m sedentary. I admit it and I need to change. I just signed up to volunteer which will get me out of the house. I signed up for open gym so I can work out 5x a week. I got a dog (or am going to borrow my neighbors dog) so I HAVE to walk the dog multiple times a day. I limited my TV and screen time to an hour a day! I did this for me!
• I have an autoimmune disease and I’m sick of chasing the solution dujour from all these practitioners. I decided to find an autoimmune diet (pretty basic) and commit to it for 6 months – no exceptions. No drinking, less eating out…my health is important to me and I’ve decided to fix it! It may not resolve it but I haven’t attacked the angles that I am reponsible for so why would I think an outsider is going to have an effect when I haven’t corrected the lifestyle factors that need to be remedied first!

Wrapping this up, I think we made our point about embodying labels and starting to identify with them.

I had a friend who used to say: I wish you could see yourself through my eyes. It’s the same with us. We see so much potential. We see what’s in the picture above…aging brings so much life experience, wisdom and the ability to critically think though so much more than when we were 30, 40 or even 50! Embrace it. Lean into the hard stuff in the gym. Reap the health benefits. It’s freedom.

Labels create limits. Drop the label, eliminate the limit.