I’m going to piss off a lot of readers with this one …
But I’m hoping you’re not one of those people that chooses to get offended.
Because I’m hoping you take what I’m about to say as motivation and not me bashing you.
I recently wrote an article called “5 Keys To Survival Fitness: Can you save your own life?” … and … it wasn’t that popular.
In fact, the only couple comments I got were from some of my older readers lamenting the fact that they were not 20 years old anymore.
The truth is that most people are using their age as an excuse, and I’m about to prove it to you:
You’re Not Too Old. You’re Too Lazy.
Life is tough, there’s no doubt about it.
And one of the toughest things to do is keep moving forward … because we are ALL lazy. It’s the human condition.
It’s easy enough to rest on your past accomplishments (if you have any) and make excuses for not achieving anything now because you’re “too old” or “not 20 years old anymore”.
But while there is some truth to that — Yes, neither of us is 20 years old anymore — you are not too old to improve.
Even if you ARE too old to improve, you can still WORK at improving and you will improve in some way.
So don’t use your age as an excuse. There are multiple examples of some very old people totally outworking and outperforming much, much younger guys and girls because they WORK at it.
Today, I have proof …
Example #1: The Original American Patriot, Captain Samuel Whittemore, The Oldest Combatant In the American Revolutionary War At 78 years old.
Samuel Whittemore was an American farmer and soldier that was 78 years old when he became the oldest known colonial combatant in the American Revolutionary War.
(Before that, he had fought in King George’s War and even the French and Indian War at the age of 64.)
On April 19, 1775, British forces were returning to Boston from the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the opening engagements of the war. On their march, they were continually shot at by colonial militiamen.
Whittemore was in his fields when he spotted an approaching British relief brigade under Earl Percy, sent to assist the retreat.
Whittemore loaded his musket and ambushed the British Grenadiers of the 47th Regiment of Foot from behind a nearby stone wall, killing one soldier.
He then drew his dueling pistols, killed a second grenadier and mortally wounded a third. By the time Whittemore had fired his third shot, a British detachment had reached his position; Whittemore drew his sword and attacked.
He was subsequently shot in the face, bayoneted numerous times, and left for dead in a pool of blood. He was found by colonial forces trying to load his musket to resume the fight.
He was taken to Dr. Cotton Tufts of Medford, who perceived no hope for his survival. However, Whittemore recovered and lived another 18 years until dying of natural causes at the age of 96. (Edited from Wikipedia)
That’s the last of the historical, awesome older people. Let’s focus on modern awesome older people.
Example #2: Former Delta Force Operator Ed Bugarin, Still Ruck Running at 63 years old
Ed Bugarin is a former Delta Force operator. These days he still keeps in shape. In an interview with him at ITSTactical.com he had this to say:
ITS: You’d stated that you’re still doing weighted ruck runs these days (at age 63). What paces are you hitting on these rucks?
Ed: I turned 63 on January 9, 2013, not too long ago. At ASPOC (Assessment & Selection Preparatory Orientation Course) where I’m currently an instructor, I did the following with the students carrying a 45 lb ruck. That’s not including water, radios and other items that I was required to carry.
4 mile ruck run (temperature 32 degrees) = 39:29 (9:52 minutes per mile). One week later we did a 6 mile ruck run (37 degrees) = 55:11 (9 minutes 5 seconds per mile). Five days later we did a 10 mile ruck run (64 degrees) = 1:47:18 (10 minutes 43 seconds per mile).
I overdressed for the 10 miler. Notice how the temperature played a part in my performance? In the last course, I finished the 10 mile ruck run in 1:42:00.
That is some seriously impressive stuff.
Example #3: The Ultimate Survivor: 60+ Year Old Navy SEAL “Rudy” Boesch Outrunning Young Navy SEAL Recruits Half His Age
I’ve never been much into the whole reality TV show thing, so I didn’t realize that one of the first guys on the Survivor TV show was an old, retired Navy SEAL named Rudy Boesch.
More impressive is that before his retirement, Boesch was designated the “Chief SEAL” (a.k.a. “Bullfrog”), a title identifying the longest-serving SEAL still on active duty.
According to Wikipedia, Boesch was a physical training fanatic whose dog tag listed “PT” as his religion and who through the decades gained a reputation for leading grueling runs that men would look for ways to get out of by faking injuries or hiding in bushes.
In former SEAL James Watson’s 1995 memoir Point Man, he states of 1964 training that, “We had to be physically fit to perform what was expected of us. And for all our trying [to get out of the runs], Rudy Boesch made sure that we stayed in condition.”
Kevin Dockery’s 2003 work Navy Seals: A History Part III – Post-Vietnam to the Present includes three different SEALs relating how, when Boesch was 50 to 57 years old, he could keep up with or surpass trainees less than half his age in five-mile runs, obstacle courses, and open sea swimming.
In his 2011 memoir, SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper, former SEAL Howard E. Wasdin tells of being assigned to SEAL Team TWO in the late 1980s, where Boesch, though nearly 60 years old, nevertheless ran with the trainees over an obstacle course; he then made every person who finished behind him run it again.
In short, Rudy Boesch is a great example.
Example #4: Retired Green Beret, CIA Contractor, Billy Waugh Was Hunting Terrorists in Afghanistan at 71 Years Old
Billy Waugh is a retired Special Forces and CIA operator who served more than 50 years between the Green Berets and the CIA’s Special Activities Division.
He did Vietnam as a Green Beret and a bunch of other stuff working for the CIA’s Special Activities Division. He also tracked Osama Bin Laden in the early 1990’s.
Waugh says, “Jogging was my cover to get around the city [Khartoum]. The police follow you for a while, and after about a year, they leave you alone. I jogged by his [bin Laden’s] frigging compound every day, and all his Afghani guards would fake throwing hand grenades at me, and I’d fake throwing hand grenades at them. Pull the pin on nothing and sling it.”
At the age of 71, Waugh participated in Operation Enduring Freedom as a member of the CIA team led by Gary Schroen that went into Afghanistan to work with the Northern Alliance to topple the Taliban regime and Al Qaeda at the Battle of Tora Bora.
Example #5: 55 year old John Taffe – Possibly The OLDEST Man To Graduate ARMY Basic Training
Sgt. 1st Class, John Taffe is 55 years old and he just graduated from ARMY basic training. He’s a former sailor, having served 14 years with the U.S. Navy before being released from active duty in 1991 and then decided to join the ARMY Reserve recently.
To prepare for BCT he said he ran five miles at 4 a.m. and did CrossFit six days a week, as well as participated in outdoor activities like rock climbing, skiing, snow camping and climbing Mount Whitney in California.
“It’s mind over matter. Failure is not an option. This is the EOD motto I used to remove thousands of anti-personnel and anti-tank landmines from 147 linear kilometers of the border between Kuwait and Iraq after the first Gulf War,” Taffe said.
Example #6: Sonny the 70-year old bodybuilder (who started when he was 44)
All that I know about this guy is the description for the following video on Youtube, “Sonny the 70-year-old bodybuilder”
He tells you a bit about himself in the video below:
Example #7: Herbert, the 60-year old guy from the lower east side that does 700 pushups a day
This guy is super impressive. What’s impressive the most to me is that he just does his exercise as a daily thing it seems like. 60 years old and claims to do 700 pushups a day (by the looks of him I don’t think he’s lying)
Don’t Use Your Age As An Excuse.
No. I’m not saying you are just as good physically as your 20 year old self …
No, I’m not saying you don’t have legitimate health issues.
No, I’m not saying that you don’t have legitimate problems to deal with (of which getting older may be the least of) …
But what I am saying is that you can choose to NOT be lazy.
You CAN choose to get in better shape.
You CAN choose to improve.
You CAN choose to get tougher.
You should do hard things. You should challenge yourself. You should try to keep improving no matter your age.
It’s fine to acknowledge the reality of your years on this planet, but don’t use it as an excuse. Take it into consideration and then get on with the task of improving yourself.