Use It or Lose It

[shanmonster]

When I was in my mid- to late-20s, I remember reading an article on strippers. One of the things that caught my attention was that a stripper's prime career years were short, because as the body aged, her earnings would decrease because she wouldn't look 19 anymore. I remember feeling genuine surprise at this revelation, and I took a look at myself in the mirror and tried to see what looked so haglike about my body. And I just couldn't see it. And even now, pushing 40, I still don't see the hag. In fact, I think that as the years pass, my physique has been improving rather than going downhill. Not that I have any intention on pursuing a career in exotic dance, mind you.

I know that some day, despite my training regimen, my body is going to start hagging out on me. It's pretty much inevitable, unless I die young and leave a good-looking corpse. And I have no plans for that, either. But you know what? Hagging out might not happen for a long, long time.

Look at the physiques on these older folks:

Dave Draper


Charlie Boxall


Marjorie Newlin - age 86


Now, you might look at all these pictures and think that they've been working out all their lives. That it's too late for you. But guess what? That last one? Marjorie Newlin? She only started working out in her 70s. And look at her!

So it seems pretty obvious to me that if you take damned good care of your body, you just might not hag out, after all.

I share the same belief about my brains. If I keep working the grey muscles, keep learning new things--stuff that challenges me--I might just keep my smarts going for a long, long time, too.

Comments

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

The thing that hags is not the body, it's the face, and that's even WITHOUT working out etc. If you are smallish busted especially, and haven't had kids or were one of those people who ping back well, your body can look very youthful and trim. Our body skin is usually WAY better than our face's.

For sure, we lose that youthful juiciness and we get more cellulite etc and bingo wings but they're not necessarily bad. Look at Delilah (two kids, about 56 I think) and Hadia (no kids, probably closer to 60, has breast implants but other than that naturaltastic). If I woke up with Hadia's body tomorrow I wouldn't be complaining one bit. Apart from the fact nothing would fit me any more.

Also, I have a friend who was a stripper and she would argue that age thing is bullshit. Soft flattering lighting, a good shtick and some nice curves and you're good to go for quite a while. I'd say it is the lifestyle rather than the ageing that would knock women out of stripping before 40.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I hear ya. My face no longer looks like it's just a couple of decades old. That's for sure. My eyes are starting to get all wrinkly.

And yes, pregnancy and the inevitable effects of lost skin elasticity on boobs can take its toll. But stretch marks and sagging breasts are not what makes someone unfit.

Someone sent me a video the other day of an elderly woman doing some sort of bizarre stripper dance. I think I was supposed to be grossed out by it, but I wasn't. I was impressed at her level of fitness.

I agree with you about the lifestyle thing and strippers.

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

Yes, feeling or being fit and fitting a narrow definition of "looking good" are not always the same thing!

I have a curious thing happening. I've started using a gym, though only fortnightly (not enough I know, but I work with a PT and it's all I can afford right now), am currently dancing less but that's going to change shortly, AND have seriously cleaned up my eating for the past two months. Minimal bread/pasta, unlimited fruit/veg, much more (fish, eggs, some dairy) protein. I eat when I want to eat, but I seldom if ever eat crap, and I'm not drinking a lot either.

I am most definitely leaner, and my butt in particular is showing the deadlifts, and squats/lunges with weights, which tells me that if I did this seriously, I'd muscle up like WHOA.

But my measurements remain as big as they've ever been. Even though I quite like how my body is looking, apart from the ubiquitous pooch that I have to be VERY thin to lose.

I suppose I'm just eating too much, but at least it's all good.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Awesome! :D

[dark-phoenix54.livejournal.com]

Yes, working out can keep the hag at bay in most ways- look how great dancers who keep dancing look, even in their late 70s! But the guys who hang out in strip clubs still won't want to slip bills in their g-strings, because there are still signs of age, like tits that will succumb to gravity and skin that will lose tone. You can't look 19 at 60, but you can look damn fine, and, as you say, look better than you did earlier if you are working out more. And, a bonus for being goth- we have less skin damage than the average person!

[zydee.livejournal.com]

My ex's mother was a stripper for a while--at 40. She was in fantastic shape (and was at 55, when I met her). She told the owner of the club she was 25 and danced for several years--till her teenaged daughter, who'd moved out and needed spare change and most relevantly didn't realize where Mommy got hers, applied to work at the same club. The club owner wasn't super bright, but even he could do a quick burst of mental arithmetic. Nobody'd realized she was older than her claim till then. I reckon she isn't the only person who's done that. I suspect a lot of these pretty, taut young women won't take really good care of what they got and will age very quickly and very unpleasantly. I'm afraid I wasn't very good about taking care of my own good fortune, but I'm trying to make up for lost time now.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

If I keep working the grey muscles, keep learning new things--stuff that challenges me--I might just keep my smarts going for a long, long time, too.

Thank you for the reminder.

[silverfae.livejournal.com]

That Marjorie Newlin is something else.
.. and I'd do Charlie Boxall (oops, objectification moment there, sorry).

Hell, *I* can't carry a 50lb bag of cat food. I think this is a challenge to find out how much of my weakness is the condition I have, and how much is laziness.

[forestmaster.livejournal.com]

I wanna look like that or at least have a similar state of fitness when I am in my 80s... off to a good start in my 30s now... time will tell. :)

Still trying to work on my mom to get her similarly inspired. Baby steps...