I said: Right, but if you are somebody who is seeking excellence or peak "aliveness" in realms other than physical fitness or sports, what then would constitute good enough practice in the realm of exercise?
Ego said: Why are you framing them as mutually exclusive? I see them as building on one another, as elements of a positive spiral. I guess it depends on how you define "aliveness".
I agree that mutually exclusive is over-statement, and positive spiral does apply, but still, there are only so many hours in the day, and only so much discipline/attention towards mastery in anybody's pocket, and everybody needs some variety or balance. For instance, I can go out and haul my cart to my garden and shovel compost in the morning, or I can go out and take a bike ride down to the river in the morning, and then I can read a 19th century novel in the afternoon, or I can study Javascript in the afternoon, and then I can go to a concert in the evening, or I can have conversation over dinner with a good friend in the evening. Or I could choose to bike in the morning, swim in the afternoon, and run in the evening, but I wouldn't, because that would be boring compared to a more varied lifestyle.
I said: so somebody who was one of the first middle-aged guys out there wearing little short-shorts with stripes down the side, could just now be about 90.
Ego said:Yep, those are my role-model friends I mentioned above. They are (and were) the outliers. California is chock full of them.
Lol- Okay, first cut me some slack, or adjust for the fact that I am in the less-fitness-centric realm of the Midwest. Now let's pretend that we have been teamed up on an assignment for some publication such as "Men's Health" to do research and write an article that will be entitled something like "Vigor and Vitality Forever!" The piece of the puzzle, or data file to be included, that I possess and you do not, is that in the last 10 years, I have had sexual relationships inclusive of a great deal of open conversation on the topic, with many (more than 10, at least) very intelligent, affluent enough to afford any sort of health or fitness resource, men over the age of 50. Human beings are healthiest at age 10. Then puberty begins a cycle that will eventually end in death. You can't really go back to being 10 again, although there are some aspects of health/fitness/longevity that can and should be addressed in the same manner whether you are a 10 year old child, or a 57 year old woman, or a 81 year old man. BUT...as with any sexually-reproducing species, there are other aspects of health/fitness/longevity that are more directly correlated with extension of sexual life-cycle, and this requires thoughtfulness about hormonal production/maintenance and function, and sometimes, for some people, what might be the healthy-for-10-year-old-you thing to do is not the healthy-for-50-year-old-you to do. Actually, that's not exactly true. It's more like if you only keep your eye on the metrics that would apply to 10 year old you, then you may be f*cking-up when it comes to some metrics that apply to 50 year old you. Simple example, only one of many I could offer, would be if you are a man who is 57 years old, your BMI puts you in the healthy range, and you can bike 20 miles with ease, but you have a little bit of a hard paunch that you can't easily move when you grab it, and you have noticed that your desire for sex has really fallen off in the last few years, then you are likely going to die sooner than your simple metrics are informing you. Purchasing the services of a 22 year old Vietnamese mail order concubine actually will help, but that's a pretty expensive fix, and doesn't really address the root problem.
Okay, you didn't literally say that people used to have better health habits, but you did say that standards have fallen. I would argue that it is tragically true that standards have fallen for young people, even very young children, but standards have actually increased for affluent middle-aged and up people. I offer as evidence Ms. Christie Brinkley, who remains eternally 10 years older and 10X as fit and attractive as moi, except for the fact that I do not yet need to make use of hair extensions - Hah!! I should probably move to your neck of the woods where I might actually have to compete for my share of good-looking men, but then I wouldn't be able to afford garden space. (She types from the hotel room where she was abandoned for the morning after being brought coffee and large cinnamon roll. Even the ones who would prefer me skinnier feed me too much-sigh.)
