A Fibonacci Number of Grandpa Truths

One. I care less about what I look like as a result of my physical activity than in how I feel and what I can do. It’s not like at 62 years old I’ll be entering any physique competitions. I’d be much more about Senior Games. Or just fun and fulfillment.

Two. Why shouldn’t it be fun? I’m running out of time for fun. When it comes to regular work, I’ve often said, “If it ain’t fun, don’t do it.” Or, if it’s not fun, find or make the fun. I like to be playful. Grandkids are fun. Playful. They bring joy. I’ve been learning from that. For me, staying fit for grandkids should be those things as well. Check out Ginny Maccoll on Instagram; she’s working her butt off day in, day out, and having a blast doing it. She smiles!

A Grandpa End-of-Year Movement Assessment

Hey, sorry it’s been a while. I didn’t run out of gas; I ran into more life. I also ran into a revelation about this blog, courtesy of my wife. The “more life” largely means more work and more stress and more sleepless nights and no care to blog. The revelation was that my wife noted that this blog shouldn’t be about me and whatever it is I’m doing with movement and exercise (boooring); it’s about the being a grandpa part, about being a grandpa . . .who also moves! As it happens, all of that got a recent end of year assessment during some family time over the holidays.

Over the course of four days I underwent the “Grandson Physical Fitness Challenge” (v. 23 mo.). Below are the event descriptions and my scores. All events occurred multiple times per day over the four days. All challenges are scored Pass-Fail.

Acting Like an Adolescent

I was at a church event a couple of months ago. It was a social and activity event for youth in the process of preparing for, or considering, confirmation. One of the activities for the youth was to blow up a balloon and see who could get it the biggest in a certain amount of time.  Beyond the 13-year-old boys-with-13-year-old girls dynamic, it was interesting to watch each of their approaches to the balloon challenge.

Some kids blew up their balloon sort of big but didn’t want to pop it so they stopped early; they didn’t at all approach pushing the capacity of the balloon or using the time they had to work with; they blew air into it, tied it off, and then spent the rest of the time in awkward posturing the way 13-year-olds might do when in the presence of some of the opposite sex.

A couple of other kids went too far and too fast in blowing up their balloons; their balloons popped. And then there was The One Girl.

Rebalancing the Portfolio

Last post I talked about the different components of fitness that I integrate into my weekly movement account. Driven by the accountability of writing this blog, I know I have been pushing things a little bit hard; so this past week, I began to rebalance my portfolio of movement investments.

I previously explained that walking my dog twice a day (with some enhancements, such as running, skipping, or rock hopping) is my daily foundation; it’s going to happen and I give it significant time. Along with that is yoga, although yoga has not been daily this past while. That is because I’ve been doing two days a week of more traditional bodyweight strength training, and THAT has further resulted in needing some walk-only-days to recover. So, my week was looking like this:

For the love of a dog

See the stream?
It’s flowing and fresh.
If you drink the water,
it’s the best!
See the puddle?
It sits there still.
That stale water
will make you ill.

I learned a fighting principle from my Taekwondo Korean great-grand-master a decade and a half ago, which he expressed in this adage: “Flowing water is alive; it never gets rotten or dies.” Short explanation: keep moving, don’t just stand, or lay, there.

As I aged I began to apply that adage to fitness and life activity. Keep moving! Stop moving and I will get rotten or die. So how do I keep moving? As it happens, a lot of my moving is walking. I walk a lot in the scheme of things. Which keeps me moving and also gets in the way of moving in other ways.

What do you say when a three-year-old asks, “Why?”

I imagine my 16 month old grandson in about year or so, approaching age three, seeing me skip or pull up or frog hop. He likely will simply relish the play of it all and want to follow along. Or, he will do something silly and different than me and say, “Grandpa, do!” And, there is just as much chance he will look at me and ask that magic three-year-old question: “Why?”

In my blog introduction I implied that my reason for training has to do with my grandson. That’s true. And yet, it’s not totally true. Many a grandpa lives for their grandchildren, physical status aside. They enjoy their company, they are present to and immersed in them when they are together. They share joy and love them unconditionally. I could be inactive and also live for my grandson in that same way.

I strive for something different.