Fitness = Midlife Crisis?

According to this article, that's the case:


http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/fitness/fitness-or-midlife-crisis-20100811-11yng.html

I read this and get kind of a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't feeling. I'm in my mid-30s and in probably the best shape of my life. I weigh less than I did in high school. My heart is in great condition. I've worked my ass off to get into shape, because I don't want to be the stereotypical pot-bellied American dad.

Then I read something like this that pisses all over it.

 

Perhaps mid-life crisis isn't the best term, but I agree.

I was 36 and we had just moved. I had gotten into a sedentary lifestyle and stopped most of my physically active hobbies. I wasn't fat, but I was soft and getting love handles. I stepped on the scale and saw 200 for the first time ever in my life and it was kind of a wakeup call.

I started hitting the gym and working out more. I became addicted and started training for bike races and triathlons. Now I'm deep into it.

I'm not the only one. According to USA Cycling statistics, the fastest growing segment of cycling racers is the 35-50 group.

IMO, if jumping into fitness is a mid-life crisis, it's a good one. Much better than a corvette or dumping your wife for a 25-year-old girlfriend

 

The 25-year-old girlfriend seems like a damn appealing option.

 

Yeah, I guess to me it seems like the "crisis" is that you better shape up or you'll die.

That seems like a legitimate "crisis," whereas the stigma of a "midlife crisis" is that it is some sort of psychological panic/lack of acceptance about aging.

 

The articles not really about fitness. It's about obessessing, which is the mid-life crisis bit.
Wanting to be healthy and fit is one thing. Buying top-line cycling gear as an entry-level cyclist or deciding to run your first marathon at 45 is another. The latter scenario smack a little of mid-life crisis.

 

I don't know if I agree regarding the marathon thing. It provides (1) Structure; (2) A very tangible goal; (3) Fitness.

I don't think anyone should have to justify taking one on.

 

My question would be: At one point does it count as a mid-life crisis? I'm 35. What if I decided to spruce up my wardrobe a little? Mid-life crisis? Or just maturity? What if I wanted to explore American blues music because it's something I'd like to know more about? What if I found it really interesting? Mid-life crisis? What if I ran for city council? Mid-life crisis? Or is 35 still young enough to take on new challenges or interests without people rolling their eyes at me?

 

I guess I'm less concerned about what the general public thinks than what my wife may think.

When you start Googling some of the terms from that article, you start finding a lot of snarky columns and such by wives about their idiot husbands who are heading over to the gym or doing something else to better themselves. Very "American Beauty."

 

The whole concept of 'midlife crisis' is such a dopey cliche. At some point, you will in fact be of an age that would put you in the middle of your life, and unless you're a complete dullard, you'll do things you haven't done before. You might have more time or affluence or interest or desire or wisdom, whatever. Every 'new thing' doesn't translate into a desire to remain young...it just means you want to get something out of your life other than trudging to the grave as a boring aging person.

The fitness point is just idiotic. You work out so the 'midlife' portion of life doesn't become 'endlife' prematurely.

 

I don't see working out at an advanced age as a problem, and buying expensive gear is probably just hubris/overeagerness. The main problem is when people at any age see themselves as superior because they work out.

 

There is plenty that comes back the other way, though. Walk into any building where almost exclusively women work, and you are sure to see cartoons taped to the bulletin boards and walls making fun of all the "skinny bitches" who go to the gym.

 

I'm pretty sure most marriage counselors and others of the psychiatry ilk consider a newfound interest in working out/losing weight to be a telltale sign of an affair.