I just finished reading an article from the Crossfit Journal, one of the absolute best articles I’ve ever read. It exemplifies everything that Crossfit is about. Crossfit took an 80 year old grandma from not being able to do much at all, and today she’s doing slightly scaled versions of the WOD. This ISN’T a free article from the Crossfit Journal, you have to be subscribed, which for $25 a year, is a bargain. You get access to all the old articles, and read the new ones as they come out. There’s enough there to keep you busy reading for months.
http://journal.crossfit.com/2009/01/the-80-year-old-guinea-pig.tpl
Now, as we get older, yes, our bodies start to deteriorate, but why do some elderly folks slow down to less than a crawl in life, while others are out playing tennis, speedskating (I’ve met ’em), and even doing just “plain” things like reaching to the top shelf in the grocery store without worry? Similarly, for you young “older” folks, why are folks in their late 30’s constantly whomping on 23 year olds at the Crossfit games? And why are folks in their 40’s constantly outperforming some of the most fit people at affiliates around the country?
The answer is simple; they use what they’ve got. In one sense, our bodies work like a down escalator, if you’re not moving up, you’re going down. They say if you completely immobilize a joint for as little as four hours, you begin to lose some functionality in that joint. If you’re 45 years old and haven’t pulled yourself up onto something since you were 15 and climbing on a tree limb, THAT is the reason you can’t do a pullup anymore, not your age. Similarly, if you’re 75 years old and haven’t pushed yourself up from laying on your stomach for almost two decades, that’s why you can’t do a pushup, not your age. And young folks aren’t immune to this either, I’ve seen 15 year olds who can’t easily use their hips to drive movement. But kids who jump, run around, and play all day long, they have no problem using their hips.
Just know, any time you compromise movement in an activity because it’s difficult for you to perform, within a short time, you will *never* be able to do that activity properly again, unless you set out with a clear, concise training program that is geared towards helping you re-learn, or re-strengthen, or re-flexible (if that’s even a word) your body as necessary.