Don’t Wait Till It’s Too Late
Larry Tolbert is a financial advisor and client of NBS Fitness. He was an athlete in high school where he played tennis and raced Motocross. After college, Larry stopped being physically active and instead focused on building his career for the next 30 years. He didn’t fully understand how deep he had neglected his body until Christmas of 2005 when he had two heart attacks and an emergency quadruple bypass.
When Larry’s wife passed away in 2009, everything got even worst. He had to have a coronary stent put in place and he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. At the time he was 60 lbs over weight as well. “I was simply living, waiting to die. My rate of death was accelerating. I just didn’t know it because I thought I was still 30 years old and relatively bulletproof.” Finally, Larry’s doctor told him that he had done everything he could do for him and if he wasn’t willing to start exercising and eating better he was going to die. But more importantly that he wasn’t going to really live.
“I don’t believe in motivation because motivation is a short-term thing. You can’t scare somebody into coming to the gym by telling them that they’re losing their health or their mobility. So I just remind myself consistently that I made a commitment and when I go back to the commitment, I come in motivated.”
What would you say to that person starting their career, who doesn’t have these habits established and is putting it off? What would your recommendation be to them?
“So if I were to give the knowledge that I have now about my health and my training regimen to the twenty-five-year-old me, I would have said to do something every week even if it’s very little. Do something so that helps you maintain your mobility and your strength. Train like an athlete even if you aren’t competing in anything. That way, I wouldn’t have had to pay such a high price to learn that lesson.”