I am in my 40s and have a passion for sports. I play football and handball. I cycle and run. I take pride in my ‘speed ego’, which essentially means I enjoy being faster than anyone I know.
For all this, there’s a somber and inescapable fact looming over me that I’m unwilling to fully acknowledge: my sporting competitiveness and precious speed won’t last forever.
Yes, middle-age is engulfing me like a black hole that appeared out of nowhere. It’s pulling out my hair and slowing down my recovery times.
To counter this, I have set myself two goals:
Goal 1: I want youngsters to eat my dust for as long as possible.
Goal 2: I aim to win the Dad’s school sports day races as a grandad!
Now, you might find goal 1 reasonable while considering goal 2 lame, but to a competitive person like me, there’s logic to it. Currently, my kids are 14 and 15. It’ll be at least 15 years before their kids start school, which will take me well into my 50s.
Of course I understand that decline is inevitable, but can I delay it? This is a question I’ve been pondering for a couple of years.
This has led me to another question: what’s something new I could do to stay in good shape and have a chance at reaching this seemingly absurd goal?
There’s more than one answer but I think the most significant one is this: yoga.
Consider athletes like Ryan Giggs or Novak Djokovic, who have enjoyed long and successful careers. A consistent yoga practice has played a crucial role in their achievements.
While they are far superior athletes to me (though my competitive spirit would still enjoy challenging Novak to a race), I believe we can gain insights from them.
Knowing the answer is one thing, but putting it into action is another. So, another question I kept asking myself was, how am I going to fit yoga into my already busy life? I had my excuses lined up – family, a job, other interests.
Knowing that time is limited and willpower fades by the end of a busy day, I tried attending classes but it didn’t work for me. Spending 30 minutes getting to and from a 60 minute class felt impractical. Unless it’s your main hobby, dedicating 90 minutes, even once a week, is not always a practical time commitment.
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine was learning to play the piano. He made good progress despite dedicating only 10 minutes a day to it. Is that all, I thought? Interesting. What if I applied this to yoga? I decided to give it a go.
I created a personal, ‘not-very-Zen-den’ space in the garage. Every evening, before bed, I used YouTube to search for “10-minute yoga,” picked a class I liked, and followed along.
When the class finished, I marked the day using an app called Way Of Life. Last year, I accumulated 324 marks, which translates to 54 hours of yoga. Very satisfying! It’s more time in total than an hour-long session each week, and I believe it’s more effective.
While I may not be physically challenging Novak (except for that sprint race – bring it on, ND), I’ve become noticeably more flexible than before.
Other improvements have occurred as well. Neck stiffness from whiplash that hindered me for years has significantly improved. My dodgy knee is stronger. And most importantly, yoga is reversing the hunchback effect caused by sitting at a desk for hours each day.
For me, 10 minutes of daily yoga has been a raging success.
It took me a while to realise that the same approach could work for other activities. Now, before my 10 minutes of yoga, I dedicate 10 minutes to weight training. It may not be a lot, but it makes a difference. In two months, my arms have gone from skinny spaghetti strands to a bit thicker like linguini — still slender, but a bit less so.
Sometimes before my 10 minutes of weight training, I’ll do 10 minutes of rucking (walking with a heavy bag uphill). That’s three things missing from my life that I now do consistently.
It feels good. It feels like, in 15 years time, I’ll be the fastest grandad in town.
So, here’s to lowering barriers — the crux of the 10-minute method.
What’s something you should be doing but haven’t started? Can you find 10 minutes a day for it? My bet is yes, you can.