I bench press 420 lbs.

No joke.

At least I recently could bench press 420 lbs..

I could also dead lift 520 lbs and leg press 970 lbs.

The amount of weight I was pushing, distances I biked and ran, hardcore activities I stayed active at never bothered me in the past.  At 35 I could work harder and longer than most 25 year old men.  At 39 the same held true.  I spent 2 hours in the gym everyday, worked two full time jobs, took care of my kids (although I think I should’ve spent a lot more time with them), and still repaired things around the house, wrote four books, podcasted said books and still kept my wife maritally satisfied.  All that with an average of 4-6 hours sleep every night for nearly twenty years.

Then all of a sudden the fountain of youth spigot from which I have been imbibing all these years ceased to flow.

In a six month period starting last spring things quickly unraveled.  I couldn’t stay awake at night.  I got confused and missed appointments.  Then my back went out while doing a heavy dead lift.  My knees got really stiff after every leg press session.  I couldn’t squat anymore, even without weights.  My shoulders started to ache. 

Then to cap it all off, I went skiing with my teenaged son and came home with a busted shoulder.  Torn ligaments from the armpit to the top of the shoulder…really bad.

About the only thing that still works as well as ever is the marital duty (if you want to call it a duty…like how breathing is a duty)…but the pain killers from the shoulder surgery are starting to cause even the continuance of that to be called into question.

What happened to cause all this you ask?

Simple.

I got older.

I’m not complaining now.  I am certainly not saying I am old by standard means. I think I am merely starting to act my calendar age instead of running like a man with half as many years.

My dad told me that after 40 everything starts to fall apart.

I just didn’t realize he meant it would happen the day after my 40^th birthday.

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