... of going over the hills

When Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) was in his teens, eer...many years ago , Charles Atlas was his idol. Y S had a newspaper cut out black and white picture of this massive piece of beef stuck right in front of his study table to facilitate fantasizing. This was a 97-pound weakling who turned "The world's Most Developed Man."

There was also this cartoon of a skinny kid on the beach who lost his girlfriend to a sand-kicking muscular bully. This kid resolved to develop his muscles like Mr Charles Atlas so that " Nobody's gonna to kick sand in my face anymore !!! " Coming from a small kampong / village, gymnasium was never heard of those days in the 1960s. So, Y S could only resolve to lifting bricks and metal chair. No wonder no muscle was built at all.

Mr Charles Atlas in most advertisement was fond of lifting beaus , not weights. LOL

Going down hill at 50 plus, out of the blue, Y S is hooked on exercising and iron pumping. This was one activity which Y S could never form as a habit when he was younger. But now, somehow it has become a habit, and provides Y S the BEST reason to get out of bed early in the morning.

Having discovered exercise late ....oops... err.... later in life, it is no illusion that when Y S glances in the wall mirror of the gymn and sees this gray hairer pumping iron, it is hard to keep smiling.

Habit formation ( both the good and bad ones) is intrinsic and in the case of exercising, your body simply misses it like the poor drug addicts who longs for his fix. They say that a natural chemical "endorphins" is released during rigorous exercising. It makes one feels good - a feeling of euphoria. It is a mood stabilizer. It is "runner's high." And this is what Y S finds out to be absolutely true.

Of course, Y S never dreams of a body like Mr Charles Atlas or " Rambo" but when you are going down hill in age, you somehow have to cling on to any trunk, branch, twig and glade of grass to slow down the process. Y S have seen retired friends who lose their body mass and also their stature too fast for they are not yet living out their bonus years . ( Life is 3 scores and 10. That is 70. Bonus years meaning the years after 70 !!!) On the contrary, the active ones are still golfing away. There is one Y S met at the driving range, 82, and he could drive 200 yards !!!

" If I 'd known I was gonna live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself. " Eubie Blake, composer and pianist said at 100 !!!