For All You Dad’s…

Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there. Dad 80th bday

For me, I have many reasons to celebrate. Allow me to share and then I’d like to tell you about something called ‘Never Grow Old Fitness‘ – not necessarily for you! Read on…

As many of you know, my Dad suffered a stroke in January. He was in rough shape and we were all very concerned.

We weren’t sure if he’d ever be able to return to his ‘regular’ life of self sufficient living – especially when he was working on basics like swallowing.

The strange thing with strokes is that everyone experiences different deficits depending on how the stroke affects the brain. I have to hand it to my Dad for his consistent hard work with regard to his recovery.

Luckily for my Dad, he’s been able to make a great come back.

In the beginning, he was embarrassed with his inability to do simple things. He hated the silly foot work drills he had to do at a bar in occupational therapy. We’d sit and go through four syllable words and work on enunciation to help his speech. Eating was no fun to say the least – being spoon fed at first, then gradually moving from baby food to increasingly solid food was a long process.

The point is, he never gave up.

He got up and ‘did the work’ with only small increments of visible improvement daily even though he was (and still is) exhausted through it all.

He is a champion.

The good news is that he’s doing quite well now and is back on his own. He’s decided to move into a retirement home where he’ll have a little easier life. He won’t have to cook or clean for Dad retired HQ trophyhimself and he’ll have access to more community and fun activities than he did in his own house.

He’s pretty pumped for the move July 4th. I’ll get to be there to help get him settled.

<====As an aside, it’s funny how NO ONE expects to get old. This ‘trophy’ is in my Dad’s shop from when he ‘hung up’ his work boots and officially retired.

Elderly people (my Dad is 80) are surprised themselves that so much time has passed. I can totally relate; I can’t believe I’m over 50 myself. I’m sure I’ll be just as surprised at my age when I get over 60 or 70 or hopefully 80 too.

My Dad has been active all his life. This has been his saving grace and has increased his overall quality of life. It’s also helped with his recovery from this stroke.

Being active is key.

I had opportunity to speak at the Functional Aging Summit last weekend. It was an amazing event focused on helping an aging population. It was a big eye opener for me…

The fact is, people are living longer and they want more life in their years. And it’s NEVER too late to improve fitness and health.

As one of my readers, I’m sure that your own fitness and health is a priority, but maybe you know someone who could use a starting point?

Maybe it’s your dad…(or some other special someone).

Dr Dan Ritchie and Dr Cody Sipe created just the thing. They have a entry level fitness program that addresses ALL fitness parameters to improve and address healthy functional aging. I know because I’m their fitness model in the follow along videos.

If you have a loved one in your life that needs a little help, please share this program with them.

==>Never Grow Old – Functional Fitness Solution

dan r functional fit 3

I’ll be setting my Dad up with this program so that he can ‘train’ along side me in his new apartment. There are four levels to progress through the Never Grow Old Fitness program so he’ll be set for a bit.

 

 

I’m excited for this next chapter of my Dad’s life.

Dad lazy boy chairSide note: we got him a new lazy boy recliner for Father’s Day, I know he won’t be sitting much in it and that’s just fine by me.