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Summary
On episode 45 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with Nelson, a former three sport high school athlete and college wrestler who found himself putting on weight in his 40s and 50s and went looking for a sport he could do every day.
Nelson explains how years of half marathon training led to hip pain that doctors diagnosed as arthritis bad enough to need a hip replacement, and how he found CrossFit instead.
The conversation covers scaling workouts to any fitness level, and why the community at his gym has become like a second family.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- Pure treadmill running and gym routines rarely stick because they aren’t fun. Nelson wanted a sport he could do every day and enjoy, the same way he’d burn calories without noticing during a game as a kid.
- Heavy half marathon training led to hip pain doctors diagnosed as arthritis. Nelson was told in his early 50s that a hip replacement was his only real option.
- Nelson chose to keep working on mobility and strength instead of getting surgery right away. His doctor told him he’d know when the pain got bad enough, and years later he still hasn’t needed the replacement.
- His CrossFit baseline test, a 500 meter row, 40 air squats, 30 sit-ups, 20 push-ups, and 10 pull-ups, exposed exactly where he’d lost mobility and strength. He couldn’t complete a single unassisted pull-up despite being a lifelong athlete.
- Scaling lets everyone in the room do the same workout at their own level. Nelson explains that scaling means using less weight or an assisted version of a movement while still getting a real workout, without risking injury from bad form.
- A hard, honest workout counts even if it’s scaled down. Nelson tells new members that feeling exhausted and knowing you got a good workout is what matters, not whether you lifted the same weight as someone who’s been training for years.
- Regular squatting below parallel seems to have helped his hip rather than hurt it. Nelson says his hip rarely bothers him now, even though a follow up MRI showed the arthritis had gotten worse on paper.
- The community at his CrossFit gym became like a second family. Nelson moved to Minnesota without many friends outside of work and his wife’s family, and CrossFit gave him a support network that socializes together outside the gym too.
“You’ll never hear me say that I’m too old to do something.”
Nelson