Envious, I finished reading yet ANOTHER article about a 50/60/70-something woman who just completed her first marathon/triathlon/whatever – and let out a big sigh. How is that even possible?!
Girlfriend, I honestly just couldn’t relate. She MUST have been an athlete when she was younger … she MUST have really loved working out … she MUST be just naturally strong and athletic … she MUST not have client deadlines … she MUST have some other secret success factor that I didn’t have. That’s right, her genetics or her upbringing … nothing like mine, I’m sure!
Growing up in the South during the 1970’s, there weren’t a lot of athletic opportunities for a scrawny girl like me. Let me see if I can recount the disasters for ya …
Well, my softball career consisted of one season in fourth grade, when I tried to decide what position was the “easiest” and how to overcome the nerves that started the morning of every game and then rose to a shuddering crescendo of terror that was almost paralyzing by game time. For some inexplicable reason, I convinced myself that playing catcher would be the least difficult – I mean, how hard could it be? All you had to do was catch the pitch and pray that there were no close plays at home plate, right? I don’t know which was worse, not being able to consistently throw the ball back to the poor pitcher (bless her heart, she was BEYOND fed up with me!) or being the ONLY girl in the league whose dad made her wear a catcher’s mask! I literally thought I was going to die of embarrassment … of course, in retrospect, DUH! All in all, the end of the season couldn’t come fast enough.
Okay, moving on to soccer, which was barely even recognized as a sport in rural Appalachia. It was just backyard games (no league) and I ended up with a sprained ankle the size of a grapefruit and teary eyes. Can I just go back to my book on the cozy couch?
By the time I got to middle school, the only girls team available was 8th grade basketball – by this point, even THIS GIRL knew better than to try that one. One last ditch edort with 9th grade track – I wasn’t a sprinter, and I sure as heck wasn’t a distance runner, but my high school was so small that everyone who tried out made Varsity and got a Varsity Letter Jacket, woohoo! So I ran and ran and ran and hated every second of it – but I just wanted to love it, so bad.
But regardless of my lack of athletic ability and outlet, sports was one of the biggest ways I connected with my dad – watching football, basketball and baseball was our thing. Going to high school games, watching college and professional sports on TV, all of it.
And not just cheering for our favorite teams, but learning the rules, the players and the plays, knowing the details that only a real sports fan would know – I figured if I couldn’t be good at the sport itself, I would be good at knowing the sports.
From time to time I gave the whole fitness thing another whirl – a few laps at the pool at least once a summer, a two-mile run in Tahoe, a couple of seasons of adult coed volleyball and softball (hey, never give up!). And I did fnd my happy place hiking out in nature, and that was the one thing that “stuck,” but it wasn’t something that by itself really built up my strength. Sadly, here was my mental state: my body isn’t strong, my will power isn’t good enough, I’m not tough and resilient or athletically capable.
But I did have the experience and determination to break the cycle, ya’ll. One of my top priorities when raising my girls was to encourage them in whatever sport they wanted to try: soccer, swim team, gymnastics, basketball, volleyball, skiing, karate, rowing.
You name it, they tried it. I drove the after-school activity loop, the weekend tournament circuit, bought the kneepads and the mouth guards and all the things. Because I wanted them to KNOW and BELIEVE that they are strong and athletic. My girls are terrifically talented athletes, and our household(s) revolved around athletics. Nothing got in the way of that, sometimes to the extreme! But physically, I couldn’t keep up with my girls. Not on the slopes, or the court, or the trail. They bonded with their dad over their athletic training and success, while I cheered from the sidelines.
While my HEAD knew how good exercise and fitness is great for the body and the spirit, I just never made the connection personally and my body hated the very thought of exercise. I WANTED toned muscles, but I was completely unmotivated to go out and work at it. And the negative self-talk and shaming was a really toxic cycle, and made me feel even more of a loser … for over 40 years of my life!
So reading about these women who magically, in their 40’s or 50’s or 60’s, took up a sport or fitness program just seemed to be a ridiculous fairytale. It made me feel both envious and defeated. Until one day it happened to me … yep, you heard that right!
And it kinda WAS like magic — it turned out to be group high-intensity interval training (HIIT) that I discovered when a new gym gave free sessions in a church parking lot.
Because it was a low-key, casual environment (and I knew I could make an easy, unnoticed get-away if I needed to), I fgured it had a low-embarrassment factor. And the interval training of 5 stations for 6 minutes each made perfect sense for my brain and body, because the very idea of running for more than a couple of minutes on a treadmill literally makes me want to throw up. With HIIT, even though there are LOTS of times I feel like stopping, I can just tell myself “this station is only going to last another 3 minutes” and I can keep going through the whole class. It’s a combination of strength (which I needed) and cardio (which I also needed), and the class trainer makes sure I’m doing the exercises right so I don’t injure myself — thank goodness, y’all!
Plus, having to go to a class, at a set time, that I have paid for and will get a cancellation fee if I miss, holds me accountable (otherwise I would just postpone it, and postpone it, and then decide to just go “tomorrow”). I found just the right gym for me (in my case, with no mirrors and low lights and loud music – so no one is paying attention to anything other than their OWN workout) and that was the clincher. Fast forward six months, and my body is stronger and my muscles are leaner and I feel like freaking Wonder Woman! Not because I have a oat stomach (I don’t) or because I ran a marathon (I haven’t) or because I won any competitions (I didn’t), but because I CHANGED MY LIFE.
I realized my Fitness Truth! It’s not about MAKING myself work out … it was about falling in love with something and wanting it. And everyone can have a diDerent something. What I did for my girls (try a sport, any sport!) I needed to do for myself. But it’s never too late, really!
I think the key is fnding what works for you – for me, I needed small “bites” of exercise and then little breaks. I needed the variety of exercises that HIIT gives me in just one class so I don’t get bored or overwhelmed. I needed a space that doesn’t focus on competition but instead on being MY best that hour, that day. And I love it. And just like anything in life, if you don’t love it, you won’t really commit to it.
Let’s call it my Fitness Renaissance! I am healthier and stronger — physically AND mentally — than I have ever been (okay, that’s not really saying much, but hey, it’s all relative!). I’ve experienced the mind-body connection that comes with physical work. I’ve found myself WANTING (!!) to go work out. Before now, I never understood how people felt like that. Frankly, I figured they didn’t really mean it and were just bragging LOL. And I realized how much damage my negative perspective of myself had done – how LONG it took to overcome those negative beliefs I had about myself, how MUCH it took to recarve those neural pathways in my brain, and how PROUD I am of not giving up on myself.
So girlfriends – whether you have always known that you are an athlete, or, like me, discovered it late or even not yet – there is an athlete inside every one of us. Celebrating that sweat is truly SWEET! But for me it’s not as much about the physical as it is about how the PHYSICAL translates to the MENTAL. Being able to make a change on the inside transforms the outside … but more importantly it showed me that I CAN make positive changes. It gives me hope that I can continue to make those kinds of changes, take the big steps, and make the hard choices that I know are part of my journey to my best self.
So yes, Fitness after Fifty, baby! Well That’s Fabulous
Check these out for more inspo!
Jean MacDonald, 75-year-old Fitness influencer … started working out when she was 70 because of health issues, and now she is a fitness trainer herself! WOW!
Sister Madonna Buder, is the current record holder for the oldest woman to ever fnish an Ironman Triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run accomplishment) at age 82. She didn’t begin running until age 48, starting as a way to calm herself as a form of meditation.
Ernastine Shepard, now in her 80’s, is an inspiring bodybuilder and runner who discovered ftness in her mid-50s when she started going to the gym to look better in a swimsuit! Now I can understand THAT motivation, girlfriend! After starting slow and building strength, Ernastine started competing in bodybuilding competitions and running 5ks, 10ks and even marathons! Now she shares her passion by providing ftness coaching for older women.
And some more links:
Liz Klitz – https://www.prevention.com/ftness/a20469750/i-decided-to-fnally-get-in-shape-in-my-50s/
https://www.thehealthy.com/exercise/people-in-best-shape-of-their-lives-after-50