Get Your Mojo Back After 40!

DVRT Master, Amanda Thebe, (DVRT Over 40 Creator) 

Have you lost your MOJO?

Why does this happen as we age?

Remember the days in your 20’s? Too much energy. Not many responsibilities. Endless time in your days. Do they seem like a distant memory to you now right? I know a lot of my clients, usually starting in their mid-30’s, seem to have less energy, more responsibility, and absolutely no time in the day. So the idea of finding time in your schedule to start exercising again, probably feels out of your grasp. So when did our mojo cup stop overflowing?

I remember reading an article by strength coach, Dan John, where he said, “One of things that starts to mellow out is the “passion” to train. Honestly, I don’t have the answer there. So, whatever it takes to reignite the spark, do it.”

Most of my clients are aged between 35-55 years old so I see this on a daily basis, with middle-age comes a fear sometimes an unwillingness to step out of their comfort zone. The activities of our youth suddenly feel overwhelming, the belief that you can do things again has left you – unfortunately this it will translate to loss of lean body mass. The impact of not exercising increases as we age, our decreasing muscle mass directly affects our overall health; metabolism declining, increased weight, fatigue, joint pain…..the list is endless.

What is important to remember is that the challenge is where the magic happens – where we make progress. There are so many advantages that come with the challenge rather than doing just what you can do. A huge part of this is the exercise protocol you decide to do and the willingness to be uncomfortable to face or overcome fears and real athletic challenge. Also what happens biochemically is that when we stress the body it rebounds stronger – physiology that is how we recover.

Enough about why we need to find out mojo again, let’s talk about how we reignite the spark?

Have Fun Again
When was the last time you did something silly and fun. I encourage my clients to pretend they are 11 years old again and let their guard down. Think of something that makes you step out of your everyday existence and makes you thrive. For example recently I went trapezing with my youngest son. It was both a little scary and exhilarating, but it was also FUN and we left feeling on top of the world for a few days afterwards. The main takeaway from this is that when you step out of your everyday existence you thrive.

To me, sharing the love of DVRT and seeing people smile and have fun is the biggest reward of teaching!

Manage Stress
Few things in life are worse than the physical and emotional turmoil of chronic stress. A little bit of stress can be good for the body, in fact it is where a lot of your best moments in life will happen. Yet in this day and age the level of stress most of us experience is far more than our body can deal with and should not be ignored. Including movement and exercise in your life can be one of the things that helps to relieve some of this stress.

Get Physical
As we age, if you are not moving forward, then you are just moving backwards.

Fitness doesn’t have to be boring, it doesn’t have to be the “same old”. When we focus on movement we get something so much more than just burning calories or building muscles. 

Getting physical as we enter our 40’s will add value to your life, but understanding where to start is a little more challenging. The fitness industry is full of gimmicks and quick fixes that push the body to the extreme when it is not necessary, that often promotes rather than provides resilience against injury. This is something that I am strongly in favour of changing. Moving in whatever form you decide to do should be safe, effective and yield you results. You should know why you are moving and what the purpose of the program is for. This is another reason I decided to write the Strong Over 40 Program because it is not only fun and effective, more importantly it will help your body become durable, build lean muscle, lose fat, increase your cardiovascular output, change your strength, all in a fun, functional way that directly translates over to the movements you do in the real world.

My goal is to inspire people that think they “can’t” into achieving things they never thought possible! That only starts though if YOU really want to make a change in your life. I hope you will take the adventure with me in my DVRT Strong Over 40 program HERE