I finally found a new passion that i hopefully can enjoy for a very long time.
Hybrid Athlete
As I grew up in Europe, I naturally played soccer in my youth. Although I manage to play on the highest level you can play as a teenager and even been the captain of my team, I was not really talented. My success was purely due to my strong determination to win and my endless will to fight like a dragon in every match.
Soccer can be very much fun and I was also very passionate about it. Yet, once you get older, you search for a sport that is less prone to injury, at least then you use the right technique. Some people start golfing, I became an hybrid athlete.
I run, I lift, I compete.
Most healthy Sport
The combination of running and lifting is exactly what health scientist recommend, in particular for people at my age. It is not only about getting as old as possible. The ultimate goal should be to stay as healthy as you can, as long as you can.
How will you enjoy life, if you are sick?
The health benefits of endurance training, such as in regard to diabetes, heart disease and stroke, are quite obvious to many people. However, also regular resistance training is of most importance for us. Although it is very difficult to build new muscle mass after the age of 35, we can maintain some of our muscle mass or at least reduce the rate of decline of our muscle functions. As a consequence, you should built a reasonable amount of muscle mass when you are young, so that you have something like a “depot of muscles” that you can draw on, once you get older.
As I like to compete, I now regularly participate in hyprid competitions. Being very serious about this, helps me to stay healthy, as I am forced to pay a lot of attention not only to my training, but also to my nutrition, stress level, sleep and recovery.
Another nice benefit is, you just look good :-).