I walk and skip and hop.
I twist and bend and squat.
I bear walk, cobra and crawl.
I handstand on the wall. (Well, I’ve tried it a few times.)
No, that’s not Dr. Seuss. That’s me at 66 — moving in ways that make my wife say “don’t hurt yourself” and my son say “You know, you are an old guy now, pop.”
If you’re a guy somewhere past 55 who still wants to move — whether you’ve got grandkids underfoot or not — this is for you.
Maybe you’ve got a grandchild who says “your turn, grandpa!” and you want to be able to say “Ok, here I go!” Maybe you just want to carry the Christmas tubs up the basement stairs without your back staging a protest, or to get up off the floor without a 20 second narration. That’s the whole idea here: not chasing a six-pack (if you don’t have one already, it’s probably not gonna happen now), not training for a marathon (unless you really want to), not deadlifting your bodyweight (not a bad goal) — just staying capable, staying game, staying in it.
I didn’t grow up and live as a big fitness guy. I’ve never been able to do a bunch of pushups. I don’t run races. I was the kid picked last in schoolyard games, the skinny weak teenager, the couch-potato, dad-bod adult. I grew up twenty minutes from the ocean in Massachusetts and still can’t swim; if there’s a 66-year-old triathlete inside of me, I haven’t found him yet.
Here’s the twist: I practiced and taught Taekwondo for nearly 30 years — starting at couch-potato dad-bod 33 (because my then-four-year-old son needed an adult class partner), earned a 5th-degree black belt at 50, and was teaching students from age 6 to nearly 70, right up until I was 60 years old. Not because I was gifted at it, but because I just kept showing up to do something. That’s really the only qualification for moving into Grandpa Mode; it might be the only one that matters.
This isn’t about me, even if I do share about what I’ve done and still do. Just like when I taught Taekwondo, it’s about you: what you need, what you want, what you can do, how you can get to the next belt or whatever’s next for you. I might not have your answers. Someone else might, though. Or, you might have some answers of your own.
What you’ll find here:
- Real talk about staying active past 55 or 60 or 70 — no gym-bro nonsense, no supplement pitches, no magic bullets
- Stories from my own stumbling attempts to move well and be stronger (some of them genuinely undignified)
- A place to swap your own version of this — your reasons, your wins, your struggles, your “I can’t believe I just did that” instances (let’s get at a few more of those!)
This only works if it’s not just me talking. So — tell me what moving looks like for you. What or who are you trying to keep up with? What’s your version of the basement stairs or of getting up off the floor? What do you do — or might you do — to stay active, mobile or fit? Comment, reach out, join in. Yeah, even if you’re a Yankees fan.
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Grandpa Mode 