Use It Or Lose It

Posted on June 12, 2013 under Storytelling with 2 comments

What is the most underutilized and useless piece of equipment sitting in countless houses throughout North America?  The treadmill.  Go to just about any dwelling and look in a dusty corner of the basement or take a peek in the garage.  It is being used to prop something up …perhaps Buddy in his man-cave … or to hang clothing.  When my wife goes “yard sailing” and sees exercise equipment on offer she knows that, if purchased, it will end up for sale at her next garage sale.  I propose a day of amnesty, where every family, without shame or reprisals, can simply drop off their treadmills at a local collection site.  I’m thinking the recycling building at the landfill.  Let’s face it. We are well intentioned in our attempts to take charge of our own fitness but, by and large, we are not self-starters.

When you think about it, life is one gigantic treadmill.  We get on it when we first learn to walk. Sometimes the treadmill goes too slowly but other times, you have to pull the emergency cord to get the damn thing to stop when you feel life hurtling out of control.  May I suggest that you get down off the treadmill and pull up a chair as I pass along some wisdom, courtesy of an old friend, Zoe.   Age has no bearing when you’re young at heart, and Zoe exemplifies this.

One of the problems with aging is that we aren’t given a life time warranty on body parts.  You can purchase an extended warranty package when you buy certain merchandise but as far as the old body goes, the only known way to keep the creaky joints working is to stay in motion.

A common complaint of many seniors is that they are bored. Their only constant companion in many cases is pain, a friend that they could do without. I admit that I am a senior and have some chronic pain issues.  But I am rarely bored.  Neither Is Zoe.

My mother’s apartment building is an extraordinary place.  It was designed for the 55+ group but it is so much more than a place to live.  It is a community.  The owners, Steve and Cathy, have created something special.  It is not a seniors home but rather a home for seniors.  And within these walls there’s a lot going on, including Zoe’s weekly exercise class.

I call Zoe to ask permission to come to one of her classes to take a picture for the story that you are now reading.  We share notes on the importance of movement as a key ingredient to wellness.  We speak about the pain of arthritis, a common and somewhat nasty affliction that comes with aging.  In addition to the fitness class, she also is an instructor at the pool at the university.  She teaches aquacise and aqua arthritis classes.  A semi-retired university professor, she still carries a course load and also speaks regularly on health and wellness issues in the wider community.  If Rick Hansen was “the man in motion” then Zoe is our “woman in motion”.

“So, can I come and take a picture”?  “Yes”, she replies, “but your story will carry more weight if you come and take part in the class”.  Talk about throwing down the gauntlet.  “Of course I will come“, and an hour later, decked in running pants and jersey, I enter the common room.

I am surprised to see an astonishing array of gym equipment and wonder where it came from. “Amnesty days” is my best guess.  I walk around and try everything just to get the feel of the equipment.  Zoe enters the room and everybody takes their positions … each participant sitting in a chair.

I look around and there is no spandex, head bands, glistening abs or heart pounding techno music.  Zoe hits the start button on an old tape player and we begin.  Ominously the first song is Sam Cooke’s “Working on the Chain Gang”.  “Good grief”, I wonder, “Have I entered a torture chamber by mistake”?

Far from it.  Throughout the next sixty minutes, every single muscle and joint in my body gets a workout like few others I have had, most of this happening while sitting in a chair.  I think there is even an exercise for the spleen!  We stretch, we tap our toes and we juggle sand bag balls. The music is low key. We laugh and smile, with everyone working at their own speed.  No heroes in this room.  These good folks are long past the time that they need to try and impress.

By the end of it I am sweating.  Secretly I am glad that the class was only an hour long.  I’m not sure if I could have done much more.

I was surprised at the low participation rate among the building’s residents and the absence of men taking part.   This building was designed for independent living and quite frankly, my guess is that a lot of the residents enjoy the peace and quiet.  Perhaps they are content in their own space and don’t want to be cajoled into doing things they don’t want to do.  Most of them have spent a lifetime of doing just that.  However, for many residents it shouldn’t take more than one class to turn this activity into an enjoyable “must do”. 

A few of the women commented to me that they had never exercised before.  I immediately corrected them.  Most of them raised large families in the 1940’s and 1950’s. They were up at the crack of dawn kneading bread and doing the first load of wash before anyone else in the house was stirring. They then prepared lunches and after getting the older kids off to school, continued with the housework which included baking and preparing the main meal of the day.  Throw in childcare, gardening, sweeping, raking, farming, fishing, employment and volunteer work.    If all of this doesn’t constitute exercise at a very high level, I’m not sure what does.  Women workout – always have, always will.

Next week, I will go to the pool with Zoe and dip my toes into uncharted waters.  Can you work up a sweat underwater?  We’ll see.   It’s never too late to get started or to try something new. Your heart and mind will love you for it.

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