Train for your older person’s body

Last December, I shamelessly admitted that there was a big hole in my Nerd belief.

I grew up drawing cartoons, took AP art in high school and was always fascinated by hand drawn animation…

But I had ,never seen a single second of Studio Ghibli cartoons,!

Studio Ghibli is the Japanese equivalent of Disney, with Hayao Miyazaki being Japan’s Walt: the studio has won multiple Academy Awards for its beautiful hand-animated films, and Miyazaki has achieved legendary status for making these films over the past 40 years.

Luckily, the amazing Threads community provided me with hundreds of supportive comments and helped me decide which movie to start with!

Ever since he made that announcement, I’ve seen it ,More than 20 films from Studio Ghibli,, ,He fell in love with Japan,and was constantly fascinated by Hayao Miyazaki.

(My favorites are Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Whisper of the Heart, and The Wind Rises.).

After watching all the movies, I moved on to watch documentaries about Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli because I needed to know more.

These documentaries gave me a fascinating look into Miyazaki’s creative style and experiences while making these films with his colleagues.

The running joke has been that Miyazaki is an “unstoppable man” and cannot retire.

Something stood out to me in each documentary:

In The realm of dreams and madness, At one point, the entire Studio Ghibli staff got up and moved through a series of mobility exercises and calisthenics, including Miyazaki.

Later doc, I observed ,Miyazaki showing a very deep squat, with perfect form and no support. How many people do you know in their mid 70’s who can do a deep squat unassisted!?

In The Endless Man: Hayao Miyazaki, It’s Miyazaki ,he was filmed chopping wood several times, with an ax in the courtyard of his studio.

And inside Hayao Miyazaki and The HeronMiya-san (her nickname), now in her 80s, is still chopping wood, walking in the forest, climbing over fallen trees, doing office exercises and working hard on the film that would end her life’s work. .

(Yes, I know. Miyazaki also has a cigarette in his mouth for almost every minute of every documentary! He’s lucky he hasn’t developed lung cancer yet, and I remember he’s not the perfect picture of health!).

I bring this up because I think it shows another side of exercise that we might normally consider.

Train for your older person’s body

Watching this documentary on Hayao Miyazaki keeping active and keeping his brain sharp into his 80s…

I remembered this ,Wonderful post from Elizabeth, (@ThisGirlLifts on Instagram):

As we age, it becomes easier for us to move less, which gives us less energy, and it is harder to find the drive and mobility to keep moving. This will prevent us from spending time with our family or our friends because we cannot muster the energy.

Teddy Roosevelt once said “we’d rather risk wearing out than rusting.”

In other words: use it or lose it, bub.

For me, it’s not at all the case that Miyazaki’s ability to be an “infinite man” is not only due to good genetics (and luck), but also because he actively chose to wear it down rather than rust it.

Reflecting on why he chose to push himself to complete another animated film in his 8th decade on this planet, he replied that it was all he knew how to do, “I’d rather die doing this than die doing nothing.”

Fitness is more than just losing weight

At Nerd Fitness, we encourage all rebels to think about their “Big Why”:

Why bother exercising and building new habits and pushing yourself to level up when the couch beckons?

What’s the point of putting yourself through the effort and learning to deal with discomfort when retreating into comfort is easier and less appealing?

A very strong “Big Why” can help us stay on target, especially when life turns into a dumpster fire or when we feel like giving up.

For Miyazaki, he has decided that “bringing out what’s inside me” is worth using his time. He has found peace and fulfillment by creating things instead of consuming things, which means he needs to take care of his body enough to survive to make these things!

My grammar (who ,I visited him in the hospital last month,), his goal is to help his community and help those around him. Being active allowed him to do this until he was 90!

If you’re struggling to find a reason to do something…

You could do worse than “training for my old self’s body.” This is the only body you get, and the only life you get, so now is as good a time as any to start treating your body with a little more respect.

It doesn’t have to be dramatic either. We can start easily:

• We can go for a short daily walk.
• We can stand all day and do mobility work like squats and arm swings.
• we can ,start strength training, build strong bones and avoid the need for help as much as possible.

It’s up to us to keep our bodies active, and it’s better to wear out than to rust out of disuse.

As a chaotic creator who spends a lot of time in my head, Hayao Miyazaki has given me a lot to think about:

I hope that when I’m 80 years old I’m still writing this newsletter and helping people and chopping wood and going on hikes and spending time with loved ones.

I know I can’t control what happens and accidents happen and so much of life is out of my control, but I’ll do my best to give myself the best chance to keep creating and wearing down instead of rusting away!

I’ll leave you with a final cheeky quote from Miyazaki that closes the documentary Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron:

“Stop whining and move.”

Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to train for my old man’s body!

-Steve

PS: Original title in Japanese The boy and the heron is how do you live. This is a much more interesting (and appropriate) title for the film; It is truly an encapsulation of his life’s work, his influences and his deepest reflections on the meaning of life.

PS: Need guidance and accountability to reach your fitness goals? Nerd Fitness has helped 10,000+ people over the past 8 years with 1-on-1 online fitness training. ,Click here for more details,.