Shed Your Skin!

Everytime I have wished to change an aspect of my life, I looked at what I was doing and sort of shed my old skin for a new one. Like a snake sheds it’s skin. I have always been conscious of my health at one level or another, but at age 63 I knew I want to step it up. Looking around at other people older than me, I knew I wanted more than they had. To be healthier, stronger, more driven, to have a passion that I had when I was young and foolish but now I wanted to be smarter, wiser but with that younger drive that seemed to be missing.

My dad taught me many years ago to feel lucky about my life, that I was special, and could do great things. To do great things though, there was a price you had to pay and that price should always be broken down into changing your activities.

 Back in 1996, I began to really explore physical training, through my new business in personal fitness training. Performance Training Inc. was a studio where I taught people how to become stronger, more flexibly and take care of themselves physically which, in turn, helped me to take better care of myself physically.

So now, I was 63 years old, in good shape, working out, running, stretching, strength training, but still, I felt something was missing. Over the previous 5 years I had gained about 10 lbs., one of the consequences of getting older, I told myself. One of my friends Tom, was working at my training studio teaching Pilates, had been doing martial arts for most of his life and for the last 5 or 6 years he was practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This was of great interest to me. I thought to myself, “At my age, could I do this!” I went back to what my dad always told me, you can do anything whenever you want to, think of it as a challenge and an adventure, then just do it.

Let me go back a little, because back about 20 years, I had a dream. My dream placed me in the future. The world was totally different. I was very old and was looking at a calendar on a wall. The calendar date was December 2075. When I awoke, I thought, that is very cool, I would be 131. I’ll take it. That means when I'm 65, my life is only half over, but I had better start taking better care of myself, because it would only be cool, if I was healthy and still active.

Now few of us really know, how long we are going to live, but that dream changed the way I looked at my life. It told me to make changes to my daily activities. So, each time I made a small change, I shed my skin for a new skin, and I did so by doing it actively. So on January 15, 2008, at age 63 only 2 year away from being halfway to 131, I shed my old skin for a new skin, a new challenge to see me through to that dream, no matter how far fetched it seemed to be.

On that day I went to Gracie Barra Jiu Jitsu, met the instructor, Eduardo de Lima and told him I wanted to sign up for classes. I bought a gi that day, the uniform you train in, because I did not want to back down, I wanted to commit. I wanted to commit myself to this training, not really knowing what to expect, what would be in store for me, and not knowing how making this commitment would change my life.

It did change me, not only physically but mentally and spiritually, in all aspects of my life. My instructor, Eduardo de Lima was amazing. He was a true teacher but not only of the sport, but of life. I remember when I came home after the first day of training, I could barely get out of my vehicle and walk into the house. My wife, Ellen looked at me and did not say a word. Ellen is great that way, always supportive, never negative in the activities I participated in. She just gives me what I need, encouragement, empathy, love, comfort and support.

That first year was hard. Most days that first year, I had to talk myself into going to each class. Many days I doubted myself, but I always attended classes. Even when I was injured, I would go just to watch. I really became to have a passion for this. Jiu Jitsu is different from the other martial arts. It's called the gentle martial art, because there is no striking or kicking. It is a ground game, but one that involves technique, and the techniques are what makes this art, like a chess game matching your wits with your opponents. It is also what takes you many hours, many lessons and years to master. After 7 months of learning basic techniques, learning how to fall, roll and fight, I was awarded my blue belt and began attending the more advanced classes. I also became friends with some of my other classmates.

One activity, outside of the dojo, Ellen and I participated in, was watching MMA, the mixed martial Arts competitions on television. Sometimes we would visit a local bar to watch them and sometimes we would invite people to our home to watch. I remember the first time at our house, Ellen commented how polite everyone was and after the fights many of our guests stayed to help cleanup. It truly was a great statement about the quality of the people who practice Jiu Jitsu at our dojo.

Eduardo, our professor always stresses the importance of a good diet and educated us how the American diet was different and less healthy than the Brazilian diet. He often mentioned the books he was reading and how they related to our lives, our freedoms, our health, and our food. This helped me begin my personal journey to an even better lifestyle.

I thought I was eating pretty well, but truly, I was not. The next November in 2009, Ellen and I made our annual Thanksgiving trip to my sisters home and she gave us a book entitled "The Primal Blueprint" which lead us to a completely different approach to our diet. After reading that book written by Mark Sisson I began to research the whole aspect of the Paleolithic or Primal Diet, Loren Cordain's research, Nora Guedgades's book Primal Body-Primal Mind and just about anything on the subject.

I told all my clients, family and friends about it. I told Tom O'Brien on Tiger Financial News Network about it. Tom had been a client of mine for about 10 years at Performance Training, my Personal Training Studio. He suggested I go on his show, as a guest, to talk about exercise and diet. After a number of guest spots on The Tom O'Brien Show, I was offered a show of my own, which I called "Living A Primal Lifestyle" to incorporate the full idea I had adapted, the diet, exercise and philosophy of the lifestyle I was experiencing now. Along with doing the show every Friday I wrote a newsletter twice a month highlighting the results of my research.

Shortly after beginning my show I became a purple belt in Jiu Jitsu at Gracie Barra in Clearwater, FL. This was totally unexpected, I had been a blue belt less than 2 years and it was truly an honor. I felt however, I wasn't ready for that. Ellen said that Eduardo sees something in me I did not see yet, and to just keep working and I would see it too! Ellen was correct. Slowly I began to see, how receiving that promotion helped me with my technique. Things became more instinctive and I improved my Jiu Jitsu game. Eduardo was a guest on my show a little while latter and during our conservation after that show he suggested I participate in the PAN Jiu Jitsu tournament (Pan American Nationals) in California in March of 2011.

I thought to myself, a challenge, an opportunity, a chance to better myself again. I discussed this with Ellen and at the next class, I told my professor I would go. I lost the match last year to a man 20 years younger and more skilled, but it was a win for me personally.

This week I will compete as a 67 year old Brown Belt. I don't know how I will do, but it really doesn’t matter because, I do know what it's doing for me now. New challenges give me the inspiration to keep investigating and finding new information on how to live better and put more quality in my life. It will do the same for you. So go out and shed your skin, renew yourself and you will find passion and adventure along the way. It really works!

Getting Old And Loving It!