🏒 My Story: The Hockey Player Who Refused to Slow Down 🔥
By Richard Weber
The Moment Everything Changed
There’s a moment every lifelong athlete hits — sometimes quietly, sometimes all at once — when your body reminds you that time is passing.
For me, it happened during a hockey game last winter.
One wrong stride, one sharp turn, and suddenly a ripping pain shot through my left side. I tried to shake it off the way I’ve done since I was a teenager, but this time my body wouldn’t cooperate. I could barely finish the shift. By the time I got off the ice, I knew something was really wrong.
Up until that moment, I always thought of myself as bulletproof. I’ve been lifting weights since I was thirteen. I’ve played hockey, golf, kickboxed, skied — movement has always been the thing that grounded me, the thing that made me feel like me.
But now I was limping to my car, wondering whether this was just an injury… or the beginning of the decline men my age whisper about but rarely admit:
“Maybe I’m getting too old for this.”
Physio helped, but not fast enough. My mobility stayed limited. Every week I wasn’t improving, that quiet fear grew louder.
And somewhere in me, a different voice finally said:
“There has to be another way.”
The Limiting Belief Most Men My Age Accept
If you ask most men in their late 40s and 50s what’s happening to their bodies, they’ll shrug and say:
“Breaking down is inevitable. That’s just aging.”
I used to believe that too.
You hear it everywhere — in the hockey dressing room, on the golf course, before warmups. It becomes a quiet resignation.
But I wasn’t ready to accept it.
I didn’t want hockey — something I share with my son — to slip away from me sooner than it needed to.
So I went searching for real solutions.
Mobility. Stability. Longevity. Pain-free performance.
That search led me to Qi Movements.
Walking Into a Place That Felt Different
The first time I walked into Qi Movements, I joked that it felt like stepping into an Olympic Village — not because of how it looks, but because of the energy. Strong people. Friendly faces. Real community.
You walk in in a good mood and leave in a better one.
And then I met Kyle.
Within one session, I realized this wasn’t the kind of personal training I’d experienced before. The detail he saw in my movement, the intelligence behind the programming, the way he corrected things I didn’t even know were compensations…
I’ve lifted weights for over 40 years —
but I had never trained like this.
This wasn’t “push harder.”
This was “move better.”
And that shift changed everything.
Results That Reversed the Story I Was Telling Myself
Slowly, and then suddenly, everything began to improve.
The adductor injury that lingered for months?
Gone.
The knee pain I thought was just “part of aging”?
Gone.
My mobility?
Better now at 55 than it was at 45.
My performance — hockey, golf, everyday movement — didn’t just return…
It improved.
I see guys my age retiring from hockey because their bodies can’t handle it. Meanwhile, I feel like I’ve gained years, not lost them.
It’s the closest thing I’ve felt to aging in reverse.
The Truth Most Men Don’t Want to Hear (But Need To)
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that strength training is non-negotiable — just not the kind most men were raised on.
For decades, we hammered the bench press, pushed through pain, ignored our structure, and assumed effort alone would solve everything.
We were wrong.
What actually works is simple:
Move well.
Breathe well.
Build stability.
Create a strong base…
then generate force on top of it.
This approach extended my athletic life more than anything else I’ve ever done.
Honestly, I don’t know why more men — or more trainers — don’t train this way.
Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is get out of your own stubborn way and train intelligently.
I’m Proof That Decline Isn’t Inevitable
The belief that we’re supposed to fall apart in our 50s is nonsense.
I’m skating better.
I’m golfing better.
I’m moving better.
I’m living better.
And most importantly:
I’m still doing the things I love — without pain — and I plan to keep doing them for a long time.
If you’re a man in your 40s or 50s who feels your body slowing down, or you’ve convinced yourself that decline is unavoidable…
I promise you — you’re not done.
Train the right way, and your body will surprise you.
If you want to stay active, capable, and pain-free for years to come…
Book a free discovery call to choose which Qi Movements program is right for you.
Yours in wellness,
Richard Weber
Still getting better at 55
Qi Movements Ambassador
Move well. Live well.™