Rest in peace Bessie, the world's oldest woman died yesterday at the age of 116 years and 100 days! She was one of the 10 oldest people to have ever lived. She lived on her own till she was 105, she worked on her own garden, walked by herself, and took very few medications. She is part of a small group called supercentarians, I didn't know what this word meant till yesterday, this is someone who has surpassed 110, Bessie was one of them. She said she didn't eat junk food and minded her own business. It was also rumored but not confirmed that on her last workout in the gym December 3rd, 2012, Bessie did a leg work out, 3 sets of squats with 95lbs for 20 reps, followed by lunges, some light calf work, and a 15 minute ab routine, hitting all 4 quadrants.
Too often we come up with excuses for being too tired, or too weak, or too busy to go to the gym, too often we have people in their 50's, 40's, 30's and even 20's saying they are too old to be as fit "as they used to be", simply getting older does not mean life needs to slow down to a snail's pace, there are many senior citizens out there that still hit the gym, and still want to maximize life instead of waiting for death to take over. Jean Calment rode her bike until she was 100 years old!
Now as much as I love the gym, I must give credit to the other aspect of longevity that most supercentarians preach, no stress. In the fire department we have had a few times where we encounter people over 100 (I think 103 is my high), and I always ask their advice for longevity, common answers are obviously nutrition and fitness, but the most common is to not have stress, easier said than done, but make it a part of your life to decrease stress, and remember the gym time and time again proves to reduce stress.
So don't be too old to skip today, shoot to be like Bessie and to live life as long and as wonderful as you can! Thank you Bessie for living your life so well, and thank you for being a motivation for all of us non-supercentarians!
Enjoy this blog? Need some protein? Click on the amazon link and suppor this site, I get a small commission on anything purchased thru the link, thanks for reading!
Feel free to email or facebook me with any questions!
Arizona Fitness at Inbox dot com
i want to freeze myself, but rumors are with cell stems we will be able to keep rebuilding....especially our livers...
ReplyDelete