Alessandra Ferri shows us how to stay hot at 50-something
January 27, 2017 Ashley 0 Comments
Ever look at famous folks in their 50’s and think…
“I hope I look that young and slender still when I’m that age”…?
And then promptly pause and add to yourself: “Um… wait. I’m not even that fit now.”
You might be thinking exactly that as you obsesrve the 50-someth year old ballerina Alessandra Ferri (pictured above). How is it that she looks so much better than most five-decaders we know? Is this just a “the struggle of the common man/woman is real” issue? Is it because she’s famous and got nada else to do with her life? Not so. ’cause this prima popped out a bunch’ve kids and has a family. So, onto the next excuse based on hateful envy.
Or, instead’ve that, we could just think about it for a moment. What exactly’s enviable here? Well, Miss Ferri’s still a BILF at middle age. She’s slender and graceful – and she doesn’t hobble around, does she? She’s not got those two massive adipose pillows for a posterior that many a lady her age possesses. Alright. So, let’s assume you’re a decade or two her junior. That means you’ve got plenty’ve time to invest in your own version of that. Are you gonna become a ballerina too? No, prolly not. But, if you take up something you love, it’ll reel you in, until real doesn’t describe the struggle anymore – but your passion for your new favorite hobby. And, the moment you go lazy and take a day away from it, you’ll suffer. It’ll draw you back. And that’s exactly what happened with Alessandra. She took a ballet sabatacle for a bit (or at least she tried). And she did it for the sake of her family – thinking she was retiring, and thinking it’d be better for them. Then, she realized the opposite was happening. Her body started rebelling. Then her mind. Half a year later, she was in thoroughgoing pain, both somatically and spiritually.
“My body didn’t feel energetically at its best (…) I started feeling lethargic, which I’m not. From moving and training hard, like an Olympic athlete, to suddenly nothing, it was very difficult for my body. I suppose it’s like if you have a Ferrari and only drive it at 10mph. I’m a trained machine. (…) I think because the muscle and joints were so used to being moved, they almost felt as if they were going rusty.”
(*Insert dramatic metaphor about locking herself out’ve her life-giving passion…*
Even though, if she just pulled the bottom rod right-ward, that badboy’d pop right open…)
Before long, depression set in too.
Her family was even on the verge of unraveling.
After a stint of pining for her creative and active passion, center stage sucked her back in within a few years.
And this sits at the center of how I myself (and anyone I know who never “lets themselves go”) stays in shape. When friends tell me, “You work so hard to look like that!”, I feel this kind’ve shame wash over me. Sure, I put in the actual hours. That’s true. But it’s not hard. Not in an unpleasant way, at least. For example – think about something you love doing. Is it gobbling down popcorn? Watching movies? Playing video games? Think of anything that makes the hours fly by in seemingly seconds. Well, that’s how I felt at the conclusion of two hours of muay thai and krav maga this morning. (Whereupon I was drenched in my own sweat.) I’ve fallen in love – passionately – with certain sorts of exercise. And, because I love excelling at them, I’m also religious on the diet end of fitness too. (Because I want Spartan force inducing fuel, not non-food that’s gonna get me punched in the face because my brain’s taken a sugar crash hiatus, depleting my energy.) When your activity becomes your passion, you cater everything else toward it.
But – make no mistake – it didn’t come super easily. I had to find food that’s both healthy and delicious. I had to acclimate to not dousing my meals in disgusting buttery sauces or oversalted seasonings. I had to get used to moving my body again before I could fall in love with any sort’ve sport. I had to give that process time. And the fact that it just comes naturally to me now made that difficult initial bit so worth it. Think of that period as an investment that’s gonna pay off big time later. Not just with your body’s appearance, but inasmuch as how easy it is to keep that; inasmuch as working out and eating right runs like a program you’ve installed. A program that maybe took a month or two to install… but a program you’re passionate about doing and feel spiritually eviscerated without, nonetheless. Give that process time and variety. I myself had to try on a bunch’ve them like Cinderella slippers before deciding which one won out.
And, that’s the same reason why Alessandra Ferri ultimately put back on her literal slippers. Because ballet fit her world like a slipper. She didn’t return to center stage ’cause she wanted to burn off her holiday fat or avert her expiration date. (Though obvi that’s the fantastic result we’re all going to enjoy here.) She didn’t resume it because of how she wanted to look. She came back to ballet because she couldn’t not. She worked hard to make ballet a beautiful routine that happened to keep her fit early on, got hooked on it, and subsequently couldn’t imagine life without it. That graceful, taut body so few other fifty something year olds own was always just a nice side effect. Those youthful movements she has are too. And her draw back to performance demonstrates that weight loss can be easy – if you just pair a clean diet with finding a passion that makes you perspire.
The trick’s to find a hobby now that keeps you from hobbling around by age 50.
Do that, and your metabolism (and adolescent-esque energy levels) will be as on fire as Ferri’s.