Columnists
Feeling stronger every day
My “gym sistas” and I are on a quest. All of us have come a long way, working-out, getting fit and building muscle. Age-wise, we’re all about the same vintage and face the same issues that have been assigned to people who are “our age”. Until very recently, like many of you, we bought into the notion of embracing aches, pains, immobility, loss of balance and diminished flexibility. Yep, we were lined-up to be physically old. Short of picking out our nursing homes, we all admit we were lured into believing our age was fraught with certain expectations. As friends and sisters-of-the-gym, this is what we have in common.
So, amongst us— the gym sistas— we’ve watched dozens of documentaries about getting fit, strength training, cardio-fitness, eating right, lifestyle changes and putting it all together. We’ve worked out together and with our trainer. Over lunches and coffees, workout benches and dumbbells, we’ve discussed our goals, our ideas, our successes and failures and our plans for moving ahead. We’ve dispensed advice to each other. We’ve answered each others’ questions. We’ve asked questions of experts and we’ve compiled file folders of techniques, recipes and dos and don’ts of all kinds. At one point we all agreed we didn’t think we could find space for any more information, and then continued to watch, look and listen. We gave ourselves permission to skip a day of “living the dream”. And at the end of the week, we chat about how great we feel because we did this for ourselves. We didn’t get into the fitness and lifestyle changes to look better in our jeans or swimsuits.
I’m not here to tell anyone what they need to do to get healthy. I’m not going to tell you that it’s time to get healthy, because I’m not a healthcare professional or a diet specialist. Instead, I am here to say that in the six and a half years since I began my journey towards better health and fitness, I haven’t once felt I was doing the wrong thing. I was well past the magic age of 50 when I started this adventure. For at least 15 years, prior to this adventure, I had used my age as an excuse for not taking care of myself.
For those of you who know me, and some of you act like you do, you know my family’s relationship with heart disease and stroke. It’s close and it’s personal. For several members of my family who have dealt with heart disease and stroke, it was about lifestyle. For some, it was genetic. Thousands of people, over the age of 50 in Canada, are diagnosed with coronary heart disease—and a staggering number of them die. The chance of contracting heart disease and stroke increases with age. Vigorous exercise decreases the risk of heart disease in two ways. First of all it, along with a healthy diet, increases the amount of HDL cholesterol which in turn reduces the amount of LDL cholesterol. LDL cholesterol is the bad kind which clogs arteries and is a factor in heart disease. Second, it strengthens the heart and makes it better able to maintain its current workload. The heart is a muscle and gets strengthened when it’s put under stress, like all muscles. Exercise and good diet, in most cases, can help reduce blood pressure. Exercise also creates increased demand for oxygen, helping the lungs to become more efficient. And exercise and a healthy diet strengthen bones.
It took a long time to get here, where I am right now. I know this change of lifestyle doesn’t have time stamp on it. It’s what I have chosen to be, and do, for the rest of my life. Everyday is a good day to get fit and healthy.
Comments (0)