I first met the human Dynamo that is Joseph, 10 years ago.  He was 74 at the time and working in a convenience store on Commercial Drive.

I walked in to buy some mix for a party I was going to down the street and did not expect to be offered “$1000 to anyone who can verbally upset me!” Suffice to say, Joseph has never written that cheque.  Imagine my surprise three years later when he came to work with me at Fitness World in Kitsilano, specially hired to spread his message of “zero stress and happiness!”  At this time, he joined my thrice weekly 6am Kettlebell class, and right from the get go inspired people half his age with amazing physical feats, intense work ethic, and the ability to do some things they couldn’t do, despite the almost 4 decade age difference!

After I left Fitness World, we stayed in touch and I continued to help him with his strength training.  The key word here is ‘help’, as Joseph did most of the work on his own, including his to-this-day 5-6 days a week of Karate training.

After flying by himself at 82 to South America to help the less fortunate, I’m happy to say he’s back in Vancouver and training with me again.

This time, he came to me because he feels his Karate performance is declining slightly and he absolutely refuses to let that happen!  He’s noticed his ‘bandwidth’ of strength and mobility has decreased, so it’s time to nip it in the bud!  If only all Senior Citizens felt this way, there would be a lot of them out there with a far superior quality of life!

The studies have shown, it’s not the ‘genetically gifted’ that continue to thrive physically as they age, but rather those who REFUSE to give up! Even if it takes them an hour and a half to warm up every morning, they DO IT and get on with their day, strong, healthy, and happy!

Listen to this man. Admire this man. Emulate this man!

…And make sure you can get up and down off the floor this easily when you are 84 : )