A couple things, regarding lifting, listening to your body and good health.
In a way I do listen to my body, I do understand that I can no long physically cope with the workloads used in the past. This is a very difficult process for an elite athlete to adjust to. As an example depression, drug and alcohol addiction and suicide is not uncommon for former elite athletes in the last couple of weeks here are just 2 high profile examples
http://www.2oceansvibe.com/2017/02/...ts-suggest-suicide-called-friend-just-before/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-...p-with-mental-health-pleading-privacy/8291138
however the question is should I just give up lifting completely ? the answer is no
Firstly, there are many studies showing that meditation is great for general and mental health, however, meditation is not just things like yoga or sitting down chanting om. Lifting is a form of meditation, when you lift everything else is blocked out, the world and you other life problems don't intrude. You become one with the bar and nothing else matters.
Physical health is important as you age, and part of that is a requirement to do weight bearing exercise, for both bone and muscle health, this lifting does not need to be competition level but is still needed.
With bone health in particular, I do not produce Vit D from sunlight, I must supplement every day so as not to lose bone strength, for that supplementation to work most effectively in maintaining bone, I must be lifting, I have a very heavy, strong bone structure which has not be affected as yet, but I am under Doc orders to maintain my lifting. People with light bone structures who do not lift, are at a massive risk of osteoporosis as they age, it is hard to be around the elderly who are at risk of shattering bones from running in things or having a minor fall, when it could have been prevented through the right exercise.
Without the injections I cannot open a tight jar lid or even lift that jar up to the top shelf of the pantry without pain on some days, I do not have any specific injury, I still have the strength but I have got a lot of "wear" and inflammation which causes pain but not further injury.
My elbows are not my only problem area, I also have had past surgery on my right knee to have calcification removed which had formed after tearing all the ligament in that knee when I was 16 (Judo training accident in lead up to Olympics trial), however without proper rehab and heavy lifting, I would not be able to do many normal activities now.
I also have a calcified shoulder, this cannot be fixed, the removal of the calcification would remove too much soft tissue to maintain shoulder integrity. the original shoulder injury was a subluxation of the shoulder (Partial Dislocation) during a tackle in a rugby union game. Lifting allows for increased strength around the shoulder to compensate for the injury and protect the shoulder from further problems.
Lifting is not just important as you age, as many of you will have seen, I am very proud of my youngest sons lifting achievements, however, what is not mentioned is that the heavy lifting is critically important for his good health. All of my sons joints are hyper mobile
http://www.medicinenet.com/hypermobility_syndrome/article.htm
without a complete structured lifting program to maintain perfect muscle balance, he would be needing physiotherapist treatment every week for joints that simply just move out of place from a simple bump. His strong balanced muscle structure prevents major injury. At his last appointment the physio said he should apply to circ du soleil lol
now it is time to pick him up from work lol