Aging without being Ageist in the Gym
During my last stay at my home in Saratoga Springs, early darkness curtailed my ability to walk for hours at a time in the nearby state park. The Hubs was on a job in another state, leaving me without a spotter at the gym. And I was feeling a little lonely and sorry for myself. Usually, I’m pretty good about going to the gym solo and doing a free-weight workout followed by walking it out on a treadmill. (Hooray for audiobooks!) Or I can stay home and do snatches with my trusty kettlebells. But on this particular day, I felt out of sorts and decided I needed a new “thing.”
Scouring the local YMCA schedule, nothing appealed to me. I can do fast-paced, high-intensity aerobics and weight classes, but there’s always a risk that I could hurt something. That’s a real concession to aging: We don’t know how well we will recover or how long the recovery from an injury will take. Besides, I like workouts that are intentional rather than fast.