Aging Badasses

 Julia Hubbell is a writer on MEDIUM and one of the few I follow regularly.  She writes about a lot of topics and one of the ones I enjoy a lot is her fitness material.  Today, (11-20-21) she was ripping into a person who pranked a gym by pretending to be an old person-weight lifter.  She took the prank very personally because Julia is a weight lifter and she is over 60. 

I wanted to share her writing because she provides example after example of older people who keep on keeping on.  As she states, there is no problem in finding older people who are examples to all with the way they continue to build and use their bodies in the gym.

The other day at the Hartsville, SC YMCA I was on the what the Robbie calls the Hamster Wheel track (one mile equals 17 laps) and there were two other people there.  All three of us were over 70 and I believe I was pulling up the rear.  They gave me something to shoot for. 

If you are thinking about staying in shape despite the calendar -- Julia Hubbell can give you a lot of tips and in the article linked above a lot of examples of people who push the plates (weightlifting term)  every day.

Celebrate what your body can do

Brendan told us he had prepared "a little different" class for the Hartsville YMCA Spin hour this past Wednesday.  Brendan seems to spend a great deal of time working on appropriate play lists for his classes and he said the play list would also be "a little different." 

What was most different was the theme he shared for this class -- Celebrate What Your Body Can Do!

I am appreciating that theme as the week progresses because as I find my body not moving as quickly as it has, or being able to do as many reps as it did, or not lifting as many lbs as I think it should I have noticed I am not giving it credit for what it is doing for and with me.

This week I have been coming off a more than 10-day best.vacation.ever and as part of that vacation the only real exercise was trudging through the sand to and from the ocean. A few days that trudging included pulling a heavily loaded wagon and maybe a walk or two with the three year old -- but it was not exercise filled.  (Okay I did manage some daily beach push ups,) 

So this week I decided on trying a variety of workouts. It began with an early morning walk on Sunday that went just under an hour and covered a little more than three miles.  A short trip to the Y on Sunday afternoon included a set of 500 crunches on the Red ball and four sets of chest pulls on the machine. Kept the resistance  down around 40 for three sets and did try 40 for the fourth set.  Monday was back to the Robbie YMCA Bootfit for a brutal 30 minute AMRAP. Tuesday I went back to the core and did combined sets of dumbell flies with 20lbs with 25 reps four sets while doing scissor kicks; then 25 pound bells for chest press with 25 reps at four sets while doing leg lifts 

So as not to bore you with more of the specifics I will note that while I was castigating myself for the reduction in weight over the past few months -- I was not congratulating myself for what this body was still doing.  I listened to the Spin music and tried to keep up with the others as we increased our work loads and speeds as we were celebrating what the body could do - except I was not celebrating -- I was wondering why I was not doing more.

  So Thursday I decided to do the night Bootfit class -- which was a 20 minute challenge AMRAP that included 100 meter farmers carry ( I used the 25lb plates) 10 clean and jerks with the plate and then 10 squats with the plate. 

 

My knees rebelled at the squats so then I did a mixture of reclined chest presses and reverse crunches or chest rows.  I was not able to carry the 45 lb plates the other guys in the class were moving, nor could I do those sumo dead lifts but I was able to modify that workout and get in 20 grueling minutes that moved the heart rate and stressed some muscles.  And as that class finished and I was feeling some of the soreness in muscles throughout the body I finally got the message and on the way home gave myself a proverbial slap on the back. While I am not fast enough, strong enough, or flexible enough to earn any medals I have a body that can and does push - It was time to celebrate.

 

Thinking that working out requires a lot of daily motivation

 I have identified as a physical fitness person for a lot of years.  For example, at one point in my life I did have a running streak of more than 10 years without missing a day (10 years, two months and 12 days). And, I have said it before, each of those days was a conscious effort.  And, some times these days as my body does not always have a great desire to be pushed, I notice that fitness for some of us requires motivation.  

1 -- One of the ways I get motivation is heading to a bootfit class at the Hartsville YMCA that is headed by Robbie McLendon -- a great motivator for people of all ages and all fitness levels. He has a 20 minute EMOM workout planned today that I know is going to kick my butt.

2 -- Another way I work to get some motivation is read about some of the good ideas for fitness in older individuals.  I try to write a periodic blog that show cases people over 60 who work out regularly and I do that because I see it as motivating to others. This morning on Medium there was an article investigating the question of weight training being important to older people: https://medium.com/in-fitness-and-in-health/is-muscle-training-really-important-for-aging-well-d4d58880012

3 -- Now, what do you do that gets you the motivation to do the hardest exercise of the say - put on the work out shoes and leave the house?

Goal Has Been 100 Push Ups A Day

 The first of March was day one of trying to get 100 push ups a day.  A year ago this would not have been a "thing." At that time I was in some sort of shape and doing push ups was not a major challenge. The pandemic, a couple of cataract surgeries, some other excuses had pulled me away from my regular routines. The goal for March 2021 was one way to kick start back into exercise. The other goal starting that day was 10 sets of 100 ball crunches a day to see if I could bring back some core strength.

Well, today is March 21, 2021.  18 of those 21 days I have managed the 100 push ups and the push up challenge is still there though I have gotten obviously (to me) stronger. My proof of that is that instead of only sets of 10, I throw in some sets of 30 regularly and a couple of days ago after some warm up with other stuff I managed to hit 50 in one set.  So, while I have not totally achieved the daily goal, the overall strategy is showing some success.

As to the crunches. I have hit the thousand mark 17 of the 21 days so muscle memory kicked in pretty quickly and though I feel them at around 600 hundred, there is not usually any lingering ouch throughout the day. 

This morning on MEDIUM I saw a post by someone else who decided on 100 push ups a day and he made a better study of it than I have. His question to start was do these 100 push ups replace a gym membership. His answer and my answer are the same -- NO.  As part of my push for moving back into shape I have made a few of Robbie's Bootfit classes at the Y. 

This is the photo after the March 21, 2021 bootfit class that was a 30 minute as many reps (AMRAP) that incluced 400 meters - run (in my case walk); five body builders; ten weighted hollow rocks; and 15 goblet squats.  I include this photo because while it was not pretty, I was able to accomplish four reps and then still do the core work following.

I have also done some curls, some bench presses and chest stretches to begin getting back.  March has also seen four spin classes that are helping a bit with cardio, which is needs significant work at this point. While I have tried F3 at Revolution, I am still letting rain, cold and limited knee mobility keeping me from regular attending.

Conclusion -- been doing some work to get back -- but need to step it up. 

Good Advice from people who continue to build their temples

 My own fitness journey has been one of fits and starts over the past couple of months. That is something I am not proud of and mention it because - It happens.  As has been mentioned so many times in this blog over the years, the hardest exercise I do is opening the door of the YMCA (or gym), Once it is opened, the journey is happening.

Julia Hubbell is a writer whose work I have been following on MEDIUM and recently she talked about the ideas that Steve shared with her about how he is building strength well into his seventies. She wrote about that feedback.

Many of the blog posts that make up the content of this blog are about people over sixty and their fitness journeys.  Often, I wonder if the content is worth it and then I read an article like Julia's this morning and know that we all can benefit from seeing what others are pushing themselves to accomplish.

Personally I have been trying to rebuild my routine though if honest, I will admit it has been with less vigor than when it stalled. My March goals are to put push ups and core work back to pre-gotlazy levels. So I am working on 100 push ups a day and using the exercise ball for crunches - ten sets of 100. Today is March 10 and I have 700 push ups (not all regulation) and 7000 crunches so far for the month. Slowly I am adding a bootfit class and have about four spin classes. So this new journey is beginning to take shape. While I did make the Hartsville F3 six-year convergence, my knees make any semblance of running a fantasy and I have not been back often because of my inability to keep up with the work.

Hartsville F3 Revolution -  they will let me hang out with them even when I can't hang with them.

Keep Reminding Yourself - Motion is Lotion

 Exercise is one of the most potent medicines that people who are aging can take for their overall health. (By the way -- ALL of us who can read this are aging.)  And, for those who have aged a little more than others it continues to be far more true than we might like.

So, in this case the blog is to remind me that despite sore knees it is important to get out and walk or to get to F3 or Robbie's Bootfit class at the YMCA to make those muscles work.  Yesterday, for only the second or third time this year, I got to an F3 workout. We call this workout Revolution because instead of being at 5:30 a.m. it is at 5:30 p.m. and the guys were nice enough to let me hang out for a pretty challenging 45 minute workout.  I am too slowly getting back into a workout routine. 

Head took this photo that included Scout and Powder Boy and then me, Radar. I have missed that peer -led working and it was fun to be back. It was a blue sky afternoon though the breeze did keep us from overheating but it was nice to be outside without the continuing rain we have been not so much enjoying.

This morning looking at my email inbox I discovered a new publication from the NIA and it has to do with excercising for older people. The publication is free: https://order.nia.nih.gov/publication/get-fit-for-life-exercise-physical-activity-for-healthy-aging?utm_source=nia-mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=exercise-20210210

This blog is often a story of people who have reached the aging process talking about their workouts. I hope to share several more of those soon.  As it turns out, at the end of the Revolution workout on Tuesday afternoon we were talking about a Hartsville legendary runner, Arnold Floyd who is now ranking second in his age group 75+ in the state of South Carolina.  Sometimes it is fun to see how others do this "exercise thing" to keep their bodies moving.

Working out keeps him feeling young

 

WORKING OUT KEEPS JEROME GRAHAM IN YOUTHFUL SHAPE

 60 is the new 40

“I do pray that I continue to feel as young as I do,” says Jerome Graham in between sets of 10 reps of 25 lb barbell curls. The 61-year-old works out four or more days every week so he can represent the meaning of a common meme in today’s world,  “60 is the new 40.” 

During his workouts he stays focused moving consistently and quickly among his various exercises efficiently getting in as much of a workout he can in his limited time in the gym.  While Jerome is retired from a 30-year military that combined active duty, National Guard and Army Reserves, he will be celebrating a 40-year anniversary with UPS next June. So he schedules most of his Hartsville YMCA workouts in between his overnight driving as a UPS feeder driver inside South Carolina with his daytime sleep and all the others jobs of regular living

Life-long fitness focus

Jerome has been staying physically active in sports and recreational activities for pretty much his entire life – at least since he first went out for the Rosenwald High School (Society Hill) junior varsity team when he was in the seventh grade back in the mid-1970s.  While he has crossed the 60-year mark his workouts will challenge the majority of thirty, forty and fifth year olds.  “My goal is to stay fit so that I can stay healthy,” says Jerome. And, his philosophy and his work has been paying off as he follows some personal rules about seeing his doctors regularly, watching his diet, getting plenty of exercise and trying to get plenty of sleep.  “My health is one of my top priorities because it helps me ensure I can take care of those other priorities like my family,” he says.

So, where is the motivation coming from?

It also does not take too long into a conversation about lifting and working out before it is obvious that even though his competition may be mostly with himself, Jerome is competitive. “One of my early motivations for getting and staying in shape was so that I would score 300 on the Army PFT. The 300 is the top score and was always his goal. One of the few times in his life when he was not working out as often as he wanted has been the most recent pandemic, which closed the Y and other workout opportunities. 

Bench pressing is probably Jerome’s favorite heavy weight exercise. “I am now trying to get back where I was and it taking longer than I might like,” he notes.  Before the pandemic we was benching 205 in three sets of five. Being away from the regular lifting for several works he is now working back toward 205 by benching 185 in two sets of ten. If your watch him work you would know it will not be much longer before he is back.  “For me, weight lifting is about as much psychological as it is physical,” observes Jerome. He says there is a great deal of personal satisfaction and personal comfort in knowing that he is doing his part to take care of his body and his health.

He is long-term YMCA member

Jerome has a family membership at the Hartsville Y and he has been a member since the Y moved into its present location in the former Coker Department Store in downtown Hartsville. And one of the benefits he enjoys about this membership is getting to know and make connections with people from all over the community.

 He is a self-proclaimed sports fanatic and can often be heard discussing the merits  of professional, college and high school teams and athletes. He is a long-time Pittsburgh Steeler fan in the NFL and he may run into a little problem with who to cheer for with Clemson and Carolina as his son  Desmond is getting ready to graduate from USC and he just took his daughter Alyiah to Clemson a few days ago.  His oldest daughter, Lenesha earned her medical coding  Associates Degree at Florence-Darlington Tech.  He and his wife Jenelle and their family live in the Dovesville Community of Darlington County.

He is inspiring and also a mentor

In addition to talking sports, Jerome can often be heard answering questions from younger guys who are interested in his time in the Military or sharing stories with other veterans. While he did not serve overseas, he was mobilized as an Army Reserve training evaluator for an extended period of service in January 2003 as part of “Iraqi-Freedom.”

So, while Jerome says it is in his DNA to work out and stay in physical shape he also takes advantage of the social connection that can also become part of the overall YMCA experience and fitness experience.  “It is important to me to be in the gym because working out keeps me physically strong and mentally strong.”