Dara Torres, Abdominal Muscles, And An Olympic Work Ethic
This week’s CBS Doc Dot Com features 42-year-old Dara Torres, who has been in five Olympics and won every kind of medal a swimmer can win. She juggles motherhood (her 3-year-old daughter, Tessa, is a gold medalist in being cute), a career, and philanthropy. And to top it off, as she proudly displayed during my interview with her, she has serious abs – world class.
But it wasn’t her abs that impressed me the most. Not nearly. It was the pride she took in her work. She understands that there’s no free lunch, that every one of her achievements has been paved by hard work and attention to detail.
I am always moved by a person who rolls up their sleeves, committed to doing a good job – whatever that job is. When I first started dating my wife, Kate, I took her to one of my favorite Italian restaurants. As we sat at our table, I suddenly saw her eyes well up with tears. She explained that she had been observing a bus boy carefully set a large, round table across from us. Seconds from finishing, he had noticed a small stain on the tablecloth. Rather than hide the spot by covering it up, he had painstakingly removed everything, replaced the tablecloth, and begun setting the table again. She was touched by his work ethic and I by her sensitivity and powers of observation.
Ponzi schemers may hog the headlines but I’ll bet most people still believe in the value of an honest day’s work.
Which brings us back to Dara Torres’ abdominal muscles. They didn’t just appear. She swims for two hours every morning and then does about seventy five minutes of core exercises. The take-home lesson from Dara Torres isn’t about her abs; it’s about the work ethic that lies beneath them.
Click here for the video of Dara Torres discussing how she’s kept fit physically and mentally after turning forty.
Click here for Dara’s blog about her priorities now that the World Championships are over.
Also check out her new book: “Age Is Just A Number“.
Learn how you could win a chance to meet Dara Torres in the “BP Younger for Longer Challenge.”
