It happens every year, the same exact time of the year. Some people look forward to it, and some people dread it. Personally for me, it’s not that big of a deal but it is for my kids and I enjoy my time with my family.

What I’m talking about are birthdays and it presents a good time to reflect on whether or not your life is trending in the right direction. With some of the lifecoaching I do for my personal training clients in Boonton, I give them a life assessment wheel and ask them to rate various parts of their lives so we can figure out what needs improvement for a balanced and fulfilling life.

For me, I like to use it as a time to reflect my health and fitness year to year.

Even though I identify as 27, only partially jokingly btw, the truth is chronologically I’m actually 42 years old. A couple years back, I picked up a tip from Dan John, who picked up a tip from Clarence Bass who takes physique pictures every year on his birthday. I decided to do the same when I turned 40 since it’s generally known that you lose muscle mass every year. That is unless you do something about it.

So I started taking bathroom selfies every year on my birthday ever since I turned 40.

drumroll please.

I want to point out a couple things with this, one is I’m no photographer but that’s probably pretty obvious.

Second I want to point out, you can see my physique is comparable year after year. I may be leaner some years and that’s ok, but my muscle doesn’t appear to be decreasing like everyone thinks it will.

Another thing I’d like to point out, at least for the one this year. I didn’t diet down to peak for this, and I didn’t do a pre-photo shoot pump up or anything like that. In the pic all the way to the right, it’s literally at the end of a weekend where I…

• went out to a cocktail bar drinking lots of bourbon based drinks while eating alligator sausage and short-ribs followed by chocolate souffle.

• Had company at my house where I ate a whole bunch of cheese, crackers, chips, Thai food, my mom’s cheesecake and ginger snap cookies from Trader Joe’s.

Definitely not ideal conditions but that’s ok, it’s my walk around physique, the one I live in 24/7.

And yet, I think I look pretty good. Which I want to use for the last point. As you can see, I had a weekend full of debauchery and good times. Why because what’s the point of all this if you can’t enjoy yourself? Life is for living and we should all have the physical capacity to live it to its fullest.

And yeah, its easier to maintain a house than it is to build one, and I built one a long time ago and continue to maintain it into my 40’s and beyond. The best time to start was 20 years ago, but the second best time to start is now.

If you want to get started, I offer a free trial at my personal training studio in Boonton. Just text me at 973 476 5328 and I’ll try and squeeze you into my already busy schedule.

Eric Moss is a personal trainer in Boonton and moonlights as a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, and motivational speaker. In the tradition of the strongmen more common during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a live show and travels across the country doing presentations on goal achievement for corporations, associations, nonprofits, and government entities as well as for schools and universities. His personal training studio is located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, Montville, Butler, and Parsippany New Jersey.