Fit and Fabulous over 50

Do you remember when you were 18 years of age and the world was your oyster?  Do you remember how strong and invincible you felt and how you could literally party for days?  I do; and do you know what?  As I rapidly approach my sixties, I still feel the same way.
How can that be so?  I know many of you reading this will be scoffing at the idea that someone in their fifties or sixties could even conceive of being as healthy or as strong as they were when they were a teenager.  The reality is, we get 'old' because popular media, our contemporaries, families and, the world in general, tells us that by the time we reach, the so-called, middle-age we are getting old and should "act our age".  I for one refuse to accept that point of view and have proven them wrong.
I am a Fitness Professional and have a, better than average, understanding of nutrition and how the body responds to exercise stimuli and good quality food.  My health is amazing, I do heavy weight training 1 -2 times every week, I teach karate for a minimum of 90 minutes once per week and ride my bicycle (race training) 2 - 3 times per week.  How I manage to do that is easy, but I have not always been as healthy, lean nor as strong as I am now.
From age 14 years until I turned 31, I smoked cigarettes and drank heavily.  My cholesterol was through the roof and I was on the fast-track to cardio-vascular disease, despite playing football every week and teaching karate three times per week.  Even after giving up the cigarettes, I continued to drink heavily and although my cardio-vascular health improved, I was overweight and very unhealthy.
In my forties, I decided to do something positive about my health and began competing as a triathlete and road cyclist.  It seems like a strange thing to take up in your forties and to be honest, there were many days when I questioned my own sanity.  Nevertheless, I persisted and achieved a level of fitness that allowed me to re-enter the military as an Army Office Cadet at age 49.  I graduated from RMC Duntroon shortly after my 50th birthday and was awarded the QURA Award for Excellence in Military Studies.  This is not so remarkable on its own, but when you consider that all of my cohort were under 30 years of age, it paints an entirely new picture.
I am not an extraordinary person, nor do I have any special powers (or drugs), I simply refuse to accept that I should grow old gracefully and simply fade into the background.  Neither should you.  I am living proof that ordinary people can be Fit and Fabulous over 50.  Even if you have yet to reach the magical "Big Five Oh", it is still possible to be fit and lean at 50, or before.
Make the biggest decision of your life right now, make the decision to leave old age to the old people and join me in a Fitness Revolution.