What Does "In Shape" Mean?
Like every 50ish guy at the gym, I've been trying to get back "into shape" for years.
People ask me what "in shape" means, and since it's such a subjective term, I always fumble for an appropriate description. Sometimes I bail entirely and just say that I've been trying to get back "in shape" since the 24th of October, 1993, that being when I ran a 3:08:10 (negative splits) and qualified for Boston.
But that's not entirely true, because at that time - although I was in great cardiovascular shape then - I wasn't able to bench press anything over, say, a loaf of French Bread, and Ethel was of the opinion that my rear end had gone AWOL. So in October '93 I was in pretty good DISTANCE RUNNING shape, but that was about it.
When I was training for the Pikes Peak race in '04, I did a lot of strength training, and I really gained a lot of muscle mass, but I lost all leg speed - so that, by the time I actually did the race, I had too much muscle and not enough lung (actually, the cube-square law of animal proportions kicked in). So I wasn't in good running shape.
The next year, in mid-July, I almost benched 300 - I managed to drop it and lift it, but I didn't touch my chest with the bar. And then, for the next two months, I got weaker and most exhausted, and I've never gotten close since.
So I suppose that, for want of a better all-around fitness standard, I'll go with "the shape that I was in in thne summer of1997, when I was doing a good bit of lifting, and I beat Scott Larcher head-on in the Butte to Butte 10K, and I also ran my half-marathon PR in San Diego". Somebody at the DRS conference that year in Eugene took this picture of me while running around Hayward Field:
Running a halfathon PR shows me that I was in fair cardio shape; my logs at the time show me that I was running as much volume and intensity as I've ever managed, and my weight and bodyfat at the time show that I must have had a rear-end of some volume (this seems important to Ethel). My arms look sort of anemic, but at least no major body parts were caught jiggling in this photograph.
So "in shape" means ELEVEN YEARS AGO.
As I mentioned, I was in pretty fair shape up until I actually ran Pikes Peak in '04 (except for being unable to run or scratch my behind). In the summer of '05, when I almost benched that 300, I was almost back into shape - I spent that year trying to get back into the shape that I was in in '04, and just barely missing.
I spent '06 trying to get back into the shape that I was in in '05 when I was out of shape, and I failed miserably.
I spent '07 trying to get back into the shape that I was in in '06, when I was in terrible shape, and I almost succeeded.
Now it's '08, and I'm staring the big 5-0 in the face (well, I can see it out there, in January, coming at me like a frieght train). I've been trying to get back into the shape that I was in last year, when I just missed getting into the shape that I was in the year before, when I failed miserably at getting into the shape that I was in the year before that, when I just missed getting into the shape that I was in the year before that, and - well, do you see the pattern?
I've reached that point in my orbit where age is a bigger factor than volume, intensity, rest or diet. Nothing that I can do, during any period of training of any real length, will compensate for the amount that I'm going to age during that training.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics has come home to roost. The sins of my youth - being that I did, indeed HAVE one - have come to visit.
For a good while, after I started this silly fitness-oriented, outdoorsy lifestyle in my early 30s, the fact that I was doing something (anything at all) meant that, for some time, I was getting in BETTER shape, faster than age was affecting me. So all of the curves were going UP.
Of course, that can't keep up forever. What goes up, must come down.
Even me.
Maybe the next time that somebody asks me what I mean by "in shape", I'll say something performance-based such as"able to run a 20 minute 5K and bench 250 on the same day". Or I might say something defined in health-conscious terms such as "weighing 175 with less than 8% bodyfat and a resting heart rate under 48". Or I might use aesthetics, like "fitting into my skinny pants but with the hollows in my cheeks filled out".
Unfortunately, it's starting to look like I'll only be able to use a definition along the lines of "...able to walk to the mailbox and pick up my copy of the AARP newsletter without requiring defibrillation".
Would seem only proper for you to include a NOW picture for us to compare to the THEN if you want substantive comments. However, lacking that, I'll offer this. I had an organic chem prof who had the correct answer to every question. "It depends", he always said. I imagine that would also apply to the query of "what's in shape." It depends.
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I went cycling with my 13 year old daughter for the 4'th time in the 11 days we've been here.
On days 1 and 2, I'd go out at a relaxed pace and have to come back for her. On day 3 I found I didn't have to go back for her as much. On day 4 she actually LEAD for the first couple of miles or so.
Her age: she improves with each workout. My age: my workouts actually do little more than slow the rate at which I am deteriorating.
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Actually, Ollie, I sometimes wonder if our workouts really are slowing the descent into the abyss.
When I meet older, active, spry folk, I can't tell any difference between the ones who were athletes all their lives, and those who were couch potatoes.
We may just be fooling ourselves competely!
Oh, well - at least it's something to do : )
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I am in shape I guess because I can get to the mail box and back sans defibrillation. Of course, I had to move the mail box closr to the house.
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Jim,
I think "being in shape" means "back when you had hair on your head."
Just thinking...
Damon
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