Twenty years ago I was unstoppable. About 160 pounds, lean, mean and could run all day. I could eat an entire pizza and not even feel full. I just ate two peanut butter cups and feel bloated. Life at age 41 is much different than it was at 21, as I’m sure many of you fellow Generation-Xers can attest to. Just getting out of bed sometimes involves a series of slow movements and creaks in joints I didn’t even know I had. Sometimes I feel like the Tin Man after that brief rain shower in “The Wizard of Oz.” “Oil! Oil!” Ok, maybe I’m being a bit dramatic here, but you get the point. Staying in shape as you get older certainly is a challenge. In my early 30s I was running about 50 miles a month. Now that many miles seems more like a car ride I don’t really want to make unless I have to! Welcome to “Sully’s Life”, a new acglorydays.com blog in which I will chronicle my attempts to regain the athletic prowess I enjoyed in the 1980s and 90s. I like to consider myself pretty athletic. I played baseball in high school and in college at the Division II level, and was a switch-hitter my senior year of high school. Grew up as a middle infielder, had pretty good speed and was blessed with a better-than-average arm for a second baseman. Even into my early 30s I could run many miles with relative ease, even clocked a 26-minute 5K and that was after taking it easy and running the first mile in about 11 minutes. Mike Dillon, owner of Life – The Evolution of Personal Training, in the Acme shopping center in Somers Point, says I’m going about it all wrong. At the age I’m at now, pounding the pavement of the bike path will put a hurting on my body, he says. Dillon and his staff have been big supporters of Glory Days Magazine since we put out our first print edition in September, so I said to myself, OK, let me hear him out. Mike is, let’s just say, older than me, has been through hip replacement surgery and still looks to be in better shape than I am. Proof is in the pudding. If I want advice on how to build a sturdy house, show me a guy with dirty jeans and rough hands with a few hammer marks on them. That’s a guy who knows what he’s talking about. So when you see Mike and fellow owner Hesh, who looks like he could crush every bone in your hand with a simple handshake, tell you hoisting up reps on the bench press and logging miles on hard pavement isn’t the answer, well, makes sense to listen. So as we were talking last week, Mike issued a challenge to me. Join up with Life’s “Back to Life Challenge” for the month of November and let’s see what kind of athlete I really am. Challenge accepted. I report to Life’s training center on Friday morning for my weigh-in. Let’s just say the first number won’t be a 1! My legs are already starting to cramp up just thinking about it, but mentally I’m preparing myself for the challenge. By next summer I won’t be embarrassed to get sunburned on the Ocean City beach! (I’m 100 percent Irish. I get sunburned in November. When it’s raining.) Now, let’s make it clear, it’s not as if I am huffing and puffing getting out of this computer chair. I’m not that far out of shape. But clearly a guy who is 5-foot-7 (in shoes) shouldn’t have a 2 as the first number when reporting his weight. But that is all about to change. Life offers advanced personal training techniques as well as nutrition advice during its Back to Life Challenge. Not a bad $50 investment. I am interested in learning about new ways to work out that will benefit me as I stumble headlong into my 40s. You’re not going to get all swoll with a workout at Life, but Mike promises that if I stick with it I will be a lean, mean fightin’ machine in short order. The basis of Life’s training philosophy is developing a strong core and flexibility, two things that are important as athletic people move beyond their playing days and into the rest of their lives. I am looking forward to feeling better and becoming more energized, starting each day with an invigorating workout that will put me on the path to success, not only physically but mentally as well. We all know when we look better and have more energy we feel better, and that’s a breeding ground for a positive attitude and a better lifestyle. So follow me on this blog I as attempt to erase several years of bad workouts, bad nutrition and bad habits! (If you would like more information on what Life has to offer at its Somers Point location, call 609-975-2454 and ask for Katie.) Dave O’Sullivan Publisher Glory Days Magazine