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Abs at 60 – a conversation with elite sexagenarian athlete Greg Damian
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Greg Damian is an elite senior athlete, with an impressive list of achievements.
That was not always the case. As a teenager he was overweight. His life changed when he realised that a few lifestyle changes could positively impact his health and well-being.
In this episode of Fit For My Age, Greg describes his wake-up call that motivated him to make those changes.
Greg explains to host Michael Millward the signs that men and women might notice that could be their wake-up call.
He has developed a four-step approach to achieving a better level of fitness.
Most people, explains Greg over estimate their activity levels and under-estimate their calorie intake. The starting point says Greg is taking ownership for your own health and well-being.
Greg has a matter-of-a-fact approach that demonstrates his understanding of the health and well-being challenges that men and women face as they age, and explains his straightforward supportive approach to improving fitness at any age.
Fit For My Age is made on Zencastr, the all-in-one podcasting platform, on which you can create your podcast in one place and then distribute it to every platform.
Zencastr really does make making content so easy.
If you would like to try podcasting using Zencastr visit zencastr.com/pricing and use our offer code ABECEDER.
Thank you to the team at Matchmaker.fm for introducing me to Greg.
Matchmaker.fm is where matches of great hosts and great guests are made. Use our offer code MILW10 for a discount on membership.
Travel to California
Greg Damian is based in Florida USA. Members of The Ultimate Travel Club can book travel to Florida or anywhere else in the world at trade prices. Use our offer code ABEC79 to receive a discount on club membership fees.
Visit Abeceder for more information about both Michael Millward, and Greg Damian.
Proactive Positive Ageing.
It is always a good idea to know the risks early so that you can take appropriate actions to maintain good health, that is why we recommend The Annual Health Test from York Test.
York Test provides an Annual Health Test. An experienced phlebotomist will complete a full blood draw at your home or workplace. Hospital standard tests covering 39 different health markers are carried out in a UKAS-accredited and CQC-compliant laboratory.
A Personal Wellness Hub gives access your easy-to-understand results and guidance to help you make effective lifestyle changes anytime via your secure, personal Wellness Hub account.
Access York Test and use this discount code ABECEDER1.
Being a Guest
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If you have liked this episode of Fit For My Age, please give it a like and download it so that you can listen any time anywhere.
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Remember, the aim of all the podcasts produced by Abeceder is not to tell you what to think, but we do hope to make you think!
Until the next time, thank you for listening.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Fit for My Age'
00:00:05
Speaker
Made on Zencaster. Hello and welcome to Fit for My Age, a series of conversations between Abisida and people who think outside the box about health and wellbeing, with the aim of helping everyone live a healthier life.
Meet Gregory Damian, Author of 'Abs at 60'
00:00:22
Speaker
I am your host, Michael Millward, the managing director of Abisida, and today I am joined by Gregory Damian, the author of Abs at 60.
00:00:33
Speaker
As the jingle at the start of this podcast says, fit for my age is made on Zencaster. Zencaster is the all-in-one podcasting platform on which you can make your podcast in one place and then distribute it to the major platforms so like Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and YouTube Music.
00:00:52
Speaker
Zencaster really does make making podcasts so easy. If you would like to try podcasting using Zencaster, visit zencaster dot.com forward slash pricing and use my offer code ABACEDA.
Podcast's Unique Approach to Health
00:01:06
Speaker
All the details are in the description. Now that I have told you how wonderful Zencaster is for making podcasts, we should make one. One that will be well worth listening to, liking, downloading and subscribing to.
00:01:20
Speaker
Very importantly, on Fit For My Age, we don't tell you what to think, but we do hope to make you think.
Greg's Journey to Health and Confidence
00:01:28
Speaker
Now that I've paid the rent, it is time to make this episode of Fit For My Age. Hello, Greg. Hello. Hi, Michael. Thanks for having me on.
00:01:39
Speaker
It's a pleasure. i'm I'm really looking forward to ah discussing how we get our abs at 60. But please, could we start by you telling us a little bit about your life and how you came to write abs at 60? Well, thank you for this opportunity to to share a bit of my my my my story. You know, in high school, i I'll go all the way back, right? And I'm 60 now. I was the 118 pound ah kid and And i you know I didn't want to be un-included in sports and activities, but I was. At that size, I couldn't compete in any of the sort of the the sports that were available at the high school level. um So I sort of disappeared. I didn't have much self-confidence.
00:02:29
Speaker
And you know for me, fortunately, and I was able to to to make an education in a and living with my with my brain, studied engineering, and I was working down in Florida in the United States, and a friend of mine invited me to go run with him.
00:02:49
Speaker
and And I did. and And I was able to go run for three miles with him. and And he was very excited because he said, hey, most people don't come out to run with me when I ask them to go run. And secondly, they can't run for three miles.
00:03:07
Speaker
um At the same time, I was beginning to deal with or I was dealing with some alcoholism, some alcohol had become an important part, too much of an important part of my life. And I had seen it what it had done to
Marriage, Fitness, and Competitions
00:03:21
Speaker
my to my father specifically. There was an event where I was driving home from work um being very, well, reckless is kind of a strong word, but Driving aggressively through traffic and ah that that voice inside me said, what are you doing? Just slow down. And right when I did, I ah turned by my head and I saw law enforcement staring right at me in another vehicle. And I was very fortunate that that I wasn't pulled over because I likely would have been over the legal.
00:03:52
Speaker
limit And I made a decision at that point, so I'm in my mid-20s, that um I want to focus on on health and and fitness. I was making subconscious decisions then. I still didn't have the level of confidence that I needed, let's say, to um to date the kind of women that I wanted to date. But I had a belief. I had a belief that said, you know, if I take care of myself one one day,
00:04:21
Speaker
You know, my day is going to come. I ended
Personal Growth Through Divorce
00:04:24
Speaker
up getting married in my 30s and I also so embraced, so I really embraced a and fitness lifestyle. um I not only ran, i ah I started to cycle and swim and I competed in both running races as well as as triathlons, um up to a half half marathon and eventually, and actually I was in the UK when I asked my
00:04:54
Speaker
My ex-wife, because we're not together anymore, on a date. We were both working for a car company and um we were on a business trip together and our first date was in London.
00:05:06
Speaker
about 15 years into that relationship, but that voice came back to me and said, you know, you've got some more growing to do, and it's not going to happen in this relationship. i I struggled with that for many months, and I eventually got the courage to talk to my ex-wife about that, and and she said, yeah, you want to get divorced? That's fine with
Why Write 'Abs at 60'?
00:05:25
Speaker
me.
00:05:26
Speaker
so you know i think I think she must have had some growing to do as well. ah When I was moving out, though, is when I saw the pictures, when I found the pictures of me in my 20s, and I'm in my 50s now, this was six, seven years ago, and I'm like, you know this is this is amazing because this guy, who's me, I'm looking at,
00:05:51
Speaker
he He wasn't a bad-looking guy. He had nothing wrong with him except what was going on between his head. He simply didn't have the confidence to to believe in himself. and And that was, I guess we could say, an epiphany right of of of of awareness. And even more things began to happen. So you asked, how did I get to write this book?
00:06:12
Speaker
So when I turned 60, six months ago, I had some pictures taken. And and I was like, wow, this is, um if I can't share my story now,
00:06:29
Speaker
and I share it,
Can We Influence Aging with Fitness?
00:06:30
Speaker
right? So I really decided that this was the time of the moment to um pull together the experiences that I've had from ah from a health and fitness and a mental perspective, right, to be able to share the message that um we're not victims, right? And we can influence the way we age.
00:06:50
Speaker
And life is fleeting. we we want I want to encourage everyone to make the most of of their lives. and And health and fitness is an important component of that.
00:07:01
Speaker
It certainly is. The whole attitude towards health and fitness, I think, is changing and has changed um over a long period of time now. But I think as I was growing up, and we're a similar sort of age, you're a little bit older than me, but I think as I was growing up, and there was almost like an expectation that as a teenager, ah in your and in your 20s, you would be a teen, you'd be skinny in your teenage years, you'd be ah well-formed in your 20s, but as you approach middle age, there would be this thing called middle age spread. That was just something that happened and there really wasn't anything that you could do about it. But I think you you would disagree with that, wouldn't you? I would have absolutely disagree with that. and
00:07:49
Speaker
You know, there's um unfortunately in the United States, and I think it's happened all over the world, wherever sort of modern technology is spread, that um the prevalence of obesity and lack of movement and poor dietary choices has has really become, you know, and epidemic.
00:08:13
Speaker
and And it's a choice. that's that's the I think the key message is that we don't have to follow that path. um We can choose any number of paths. And as I say, we're not victims. And so I'm very willing to be, if you will, a model of what is possible. Sometimes that's that's what some people need and it gives me great pleasure when I hear people hear a little bit about my story and say, you know what, I've i've decided that I'm going to walk a little bit more or I'm going to change my diet some.
Practical Health Improvements
00:08:51
Speaker
I'm not going to drink quite as much as as I was. It gives me great pleasure when I hear people say that. So so that's that's that's part of what drives me.
00:09:03
Speaker
Yes, and I think I will say that now. I'm going to ah review my diet and I'm not a big drinker of alcohol at all, but I think I will be reviewing the small amount that I do drink and changing away as well from so many sugary fizzy drinks that I might consume and reducing that because the thing is,
00:09:23
Speaker
When you read Abs at 60, there is an element of it where you read it and you sort think, yeah, I know exactly what Greg was feeling in his teenage years at college, or you know i wasn't the I wasn't the overweight one, I was the extremely skinny one at school, and and that led to all sorts of various different things. But the the experiences that you have where you you don't realize perhaps that there is nothing wrong with you. there's like there's Some people do actually sort of say things to you that you're thinking like, why have they said that to me? Why has that woman just said that really nice thing to me? Oh, she must like me. you' you'd get you don't get um It's a surprise when somebody else compliments you on the way in which you look because you ah so you lack the confidence to see how good you look yourself in those years. And there's an awful lot in Absot 60 that
00:10:20
Speaker
you can relate to, but also an it's a really practical. You don't need to go down the route of entering the bodybuilding competitions that that you have done and been very successful at, but it's a very practical guide to being
Engaging with Health Systems
00:10:38
Speaker
healthier. And one of the things that jumped out at me from the book was this, there are two things really. One was you've got to decide what it is you want to do, how you want it to be, the level of fitness you want to achieve.
00:10:50
Speaker
But then also the thing about you've got to interact with your your health. You've got to understand your health and be aware of the issues of the things that you do that can have a negative impact on your health and interact with your healthcare team, your doctors. And in the UK, we would say the NHS to make sure that you are healthy rather than waiting until you are ill. And as we know,
00:11:19
Speaker
many men refuse to accept that there might be something wrong and too many men are dying of inactivity by not recognizing what is wrong with their bodies, with their health, or their mental health, but their physical and their mental health. And it's like, how do you go about making that shift to being aware of your health? What are the things that um people, a man, anyone I suppose would need to do in order to get a level of positive engagement with their own health. but i The way i would I answer this is look at it at your ah ability or any sort of loss of function in your body and
00:12:06
Speaker
um and you And you can also compare yourselves to your your peers. right Are my peers having similar kinds of you know dysfunction? you know one of the One of the really good bits of news is that the biggest gains and in health are from sort of the bottom 20% to the next rung of 20%. So if we can move ourselves, our you know our families, um out of that bottom 20% which doesn't doesn't take a lot, right? So a little bit of exercise, a little bit of walking, an improvement in diet has by far the most incremental benefit
00:12:57
Speaker
and So that's that's the good news is that even for folks that have let it slip, right? And and what what I say is you know a lot of men in this age bracket have have either given up or let it go. It's still not too
Ownership of Health and Challenges
00:13:13
Speaker
late, right? And there's some so really small, simple things that can be done.
00:13:18
Speaker
and it is ah you know i talk um in the book um ah about diet exercise, of course. But i as you mentioned, I talk about mindset as well. And and what drives us and in in life, there's things that we want to do. um When I see and i'm on various groups, people will make a comment, hey, i might my weight loss has stalled. And my first question to them is, what is your goal?
00:13:52
Speaker
in why, right? Because if we don't have that upfront clear, we're just sort of wandering around, right? And yeah, we might make some progress, but I'd sure rather make 80% of a goal than right? And 80% comes from, you know, be clear about what I want to do. Hey, I want to be able to interact with my grandchildren, right? I want to be able to go up the stairs.
00:14:22
Speaker
right um or or ride the subway, right or whatever it is, it's functional things. And and we have that ability to extend our our useful time on this planet by doing some fairly simple by by doing fairly simple things.
00:14:40
Speaker
um And yes, I and make a very strong point about owning your health. and there's the the four-step process is the second one, is on your health. And there's a gentleman here in the US and in the military, and he wrote a book called Extreme Ownership, and he said, look, we're responsible for everything in our lives. And I i take that i take that seriously. right If something went wrong, what what was my contribution to that? And what could ah I have changed it?
00:15:15
Speaker
and And so the good news, even though all of the healthcare systems around the world are are all similar in many respects, um they're but they're there to help you and they all they all have their flaws, right? But the bottom line is there are people in those systems that that are there to help.
00:15:36
Speaker
and That's the good news, right? Our responsibility is to be clear about what we want and to communicate our our goals and and objectives to those folks so that they can help us achieve them.
00:15:49
Speaker
but You have to engage with them first. That is when then this idea of taking ownership of your health, rather than just fitting in with what might be considered to be the norm, is is more difficult to to do than I think it is.
00:16:08
Speaker
Well,
Calories and Simple Math for Health
00:16:09
Speaker
difficult to do than sometimes first appears likely, but once you make that decision, once you give it a why, I need to get healthy because the reason why, the reason why you put everything else into context and it all becomes an awful lot easier. One of the things that jumped out at me from the book was that if you eat 500 fewer calories a day, you can start to see quite rapid, I suppose, improvements in your health. That's right.
00:16:38
Speaker
Yeah, and 500 calories a day is not an awful lot kind of calories. Exactly. And especially if there's some, what we might say low hanging fruit, you mentioned sugary drinks, right? I mean, that's, that could be a couple of hundred calories in in just one serving.
00:16:56
Speaker
and And yeah, so the math is is pretty simple. um A pound of ah fat equates roughly to 3,500 calories. So divide by 7 is the 500 mark. And so you can um nominally lose a pound a week by by in implementing a 500-calorie reduction. Now, if I've been on a trajectory where I've been 500 calories over my stable weight, I might have to do a little more than that. And I also mentioned, and and the one of the challenges with this is, how do we know? How do we know what 500 calories is? And the the reality is that people are very prone to overestimate their activity levels and underestimate what they actually consume.
00:17:53
Speaker
But the scale is is really a you know a a good um checkpoint here, right? The scale, and and if you have access to any sort of body fat measurement device like a DEXA scan or calipers, we can get really good feedback as to how we're progressing. but and And again, it's it's actually far simpler. So and you mentioned I've done some bodybuilding you know, for men to get on stage, it's the the professional gentlemen are getting down to minute levels of body fat, right? Where you can see everything. And that's like two or 3% body fat, which is very unnatural.
Visible Health Improvements as Motivation
00:18:37
Speaker
And it's very um actually, well, it's certainly not healthy and and it's probably not even really safe.
00:18:43
Speaker
it's far easier to go from, say, 25% body fat to 20% body fat than it is to go from 8% body fat to 4% body fat. The body set point and its it's control mechanisms right are in protection mode. right And it's all almost the opposite when we first start out. The body's like, yeah, I know I'm not healthy, so I'm happy to give up this weight.
00:19:08
Speaker
right ah so yeah um yes and if yeah it's It's like when somebody starts to lose weight, the first pounds will drop off really quickly. And then it starts to get a little bit more difficult as things go go on, but you have to stick with it. You have to start looking for the signs of improvement. I mean, one of the things when you talk about the body weight and body fat, and and the I learned a really interesting fact in this book is like,
00:19:41
Speaker
If you have 15% body fat, you will be able to see the muscles of your abs. That's one of the things that jumped out at me from the book is like, you have 15% body fat or below and your abs, which we all have abs, but most of them are covered with a layer of fat, um but are more likely to be visible.
00:20:02
Speaker
And then you also raise the point in the book that, you know, if you're living in Florida, then you could be on the beach every day and you you will have your shirt off so people can see the abs. But for most of us, we're not in that situation. For most of us, there is an element of vanity about having those abs.
00:20:25
Speaker
But in reality, having good abdominal muscles will actually help you stand up straighter. It will help you to sit in a better posture. It's not just about the visuals. It's about things which help you to be healthier. So the focus on merely the the visual is perhaps not necessarily what should be the why. It's like,
00:20:51
Speaker
I want to be able to stand up straight. I want to be able to get get out of the chair a lot easier. and Each one of the muscles that you work has an impact far beyond what they just look like. The muscles help you to live a healthier life because of the job.
Diversified Fitness for Longevity
00:21:09
Speaker
They're better able to do the job that they're intended to do. We talk about, in financial terms, we talk about a diversified portfolio.
00:21:18
Speaker
But I believe the same principle applies from ah from a fitness perspective as well, is that we should have a diversified portfolio of of movement and in exercises to really bring optimal results. I started running, I mentioned, in you and Most runners end up being injured at some point in their running career. Fortunately for me, as I mentioned, i I had also picked up swimming and cycling. So I was able to transition and move over to some other sports when I was dealing with those injuries. I also started to include ah weight-bearing exercise um in my mid-40s after a rather fortunate a diagnosis of osteopenia, which is low bone density.
00:22:10
Speaker
and And so I've been a consumer, if you will, of of all of these different modes of exercise. And it doesn't make me a terrific triathlete, right? I would actually be a better triathlete if I were not weightlifting in in a triathlon season.
00:22:33
Speaker
But I'm willing to make trade-offs. And I think that at this stage of of of life at 60, I'm really playing the long game. I want to be functional. And those are the sorts of things you were just talking about well into my 80s. I want to be able to lift up a suitcase bag into an overhead compartment on an airplane without needing assistance, I think is ah is a really functional example.
00:23:01
Speaker
Yeah, quite simple things that when you can do them, you take them for granted. But part of being 20 or 30 is understanding how our body will age and and what it may no longer be able to do.
The Kilimanjaro Challenge at 80
00:23:15
Speaker
And then I suppose taking the steps in your 20s, 30s, 40s to ensure that you are more likely to be able to live healthily as you get older and also independently not be dependent on somebody else
00:23:32
Speaker
to do your lifting, not be dependent on someone else to wash your car or whatever it is, simple basic little things looking after your body will enable you and looking after your health, your physical and mental health will enable you to maintain those abilities and consequently your independence for longer. Indeed, I also mention in my book that I have a We'll see, it's a stretch goal, but I think it's helpful to have some ambitious goals of summoning Kilimanjaro when I turn 80.
00:24:09
Speaker
I've done a number of high peaks in and the Rocky Mountains of the United States, but there's a number of different components about that goal, the travel, um food, right, in in a foreign country and high altitude that I think is up for me.
00:24:29
Speaker
is a really good motivator right to say, hey, I want to be able to do this. Why is it right? Is it a really good question? And as I mentioned, um I think for two reasons. One is to be able to to be that that role model as well as to two prove to myself right and and just to be able to experience um everything that I can.
00:24:51
Speaker
Yes. I think keeping your options open is the consequence of being aware of your own health and managing your health, your fitness, your physical and mental health, and your fitness enables you to have those sorts of ambitions and to actually put in place the plan so that you can achieve it as well.
Conclusion and Book Recommendation
00:25:13
Speaker
Yeah, indeed. Yeah.
00:25:16
Speaker
There is so much in the book that is, you talk about so many different things, and it really is a very comprehensive guide to anyone, but specifically to men, I think, about the aging process and taking ownership of that process. It's really very informative.
00:25:37
Speaker
very easy to read guide to aging better in a healthy way and enjoying um life to the full ah regardless of what age you are. Greg, I really appreciate the time that you spent with me today explaining this and giving us a flavor of how we can get towards the point where we have abs at 60. I'm going to go ah away and review what I have in the cupboard.
00:26:05
Speaker
Now, and because it's not all about crunches, is it? Well, Michael, thank you so much for having me on. I i and know that just be optimistic and say I'm i'm um pleased that we've had this opportunity to have a positive impact on and other folks. And thanks again for having me on. It's been my pleasure. Thank you very much. I've learned a lot.
00:26:30
Speaker
At fit for my age, our aim is proactive positive aging. Knowing the risks early, it's an important part of maintaining good health. That is why we recommend the annual health test from York Test. York Test provide an assessment of 39 different health markers, including cholesterol, diabetes, vitamins D and B12, liver function, iron deficiency, inflammation, and a full blood count.
00:26:59
Speaker
The annual health test is conducted by an experienced phlebotomist who will complete a full blood draw at your home or workplace. Hospital standard tests are carried out in a UK AS accredited and CQC compliant laboratory. You can access your easy to understand results and guidance to help you make effective lifestyle changes anytime via your secure personal wellness hub.
00:27:25
Speaker
There is a link and a discount code in the description. The description is well worth reading. I am Michael Millward, the managing director of Abisida, and I have been having a conversation about how to be fit for my age with Gregory Damion, the author of Abs at 60. You can find out more about both of us at abisida.co.uk. There is a link in the description. If you have liked this edition of Fit for My Age, please give it a like, and to make sure you don't miss out on future editions, please subscribe.
00:28:01
Speaker
Remember, the aim of all the podcasts produced by Abracida is not to tell you what to think, but we do hope to make you think. Thank you. Until the next episode of Fit For My Age, thank you for listening and goodbye.