A 24-year-old's experience with aging

I used to skateboard in high school. I was able to just skate for hours, fall down a ton, get back up, keep going, and still play some other rigorous sport later in the day. It was awesome! Since then I have gone to college, got married, got a job, and now I sit down for several hours every day.

I recently got back into skateboarding (still got it 😏) and I thought that I was medium active, but I have had the fear of God put in me regarding my own athleticism. I now get extremely tired right away. I got runner's knee (pain in my kneecaps from tight + weak muscles)! Falling at the skatepark makes me ache later in the day. I have been hit with reality. It was such a strange feeling to not be able to do things I easily was able to do. That helplessness, that inability, I hate that feeling.

Since then I have been thoroughly motivated to regain an active lifestyle. We all know that when you get older, you get weaker and weaker, and eventually you can't do anything active, you can't go up any stairs... ...wait, is that how it has to be? I should be able to play a game of soccer when I'm 80, or to pick up my grandchildren without any difficulty.

After my "extensive" research (and life observation) I've learned that our bodies are "use it or lose it". So because the (average) American lifestyle is working at a desk, we eventually lose all our strength and mobility. And I mean all of it. Atrophy doesn't care who you are bro. Doesn't that sound like a horrible life? A lot of us are probably like "oh no I don't want to end up like X", but what are you going to do about it? I used to say that too, yet not making any changes in my sedentary lifestyle.

My current gameplan:

Active hobbies (skateboarding, sports)
Lift weights (even just a little bit)
Run with Kiden (that zone 2 cardio brudda)
Stretching (haven't started this one...)

With this simple gameplan, I will become a superhuman 😤💪! Haha not really, but I do want to live a default human life. Default should be active, humans are made to be active.

I don't really have a fully thought out "theology of fitness" but I do feel a sense of worship whenever I exercise. There's something so amazing about pushing my body to its limits (very weak limits right now haha). In Romans 12, we are called to offer bodies as living sacrifices. Our bodies are made for God and they are made well. We aren't to just ignore them. It's cool that in a way, by being disciplined over our bodies we can represent an inward discipline of the heart.

The first Christian heresies were about the body. They were saying that Jesus didn't rise physically. But he did! Our bodies do matter! We will have bodies in heaven! By keeping our bodies healthy and living to our fullest potential we glorify God. Doesn't he deserve it all?! Mountains glorify God by being so awesome in their nature - in the same way we humans glorify God by being awesome in our character, yes, but also in our bodies! There's a whole level of worship many of us are missing out on!

I am thankful to have a body I can exercise in, and I will not take it for granted. I will offer it back to him! Please keep me accountable! These things sound cool written in a post but it's hard to live it out.

Thank you for reading. I'm trying to write shorter and more frequent posts. Would love to hear your own reflections on fitness 😊