Workout notes

There are a few things lately that have begun to bother me regarding our workouts. First off, our normal trainer, Jason, isn't training us anymore and hasn't for several months (although he is still there and does act as sort of a coach from the sidelines, yelling encouraging words to all of us, which helps when I feel myself lagging or running low on energy!). We have an 18 year old kid named Joe, who, yes, is a certified personal trainer (imagine that at such a young age!), but it seems that in his youthfulness, his workout styles are a lot more demanding and focus mostly on speed and agility instead of general fitness. Fine if you're one of the kids who trains with us, but if you're a creaky jointed middle aged woman like me, that's just a little tough! Before we moved to the new Breakaway Sports Training facility down in Brimfield in late November, we had our classes downtown in the Physical Therapy room at the medical building where my doctor's office is located. We had access to all that nice PT equipment and as a result, we were able to have a far more balanced workout of upper body, lower body and abs, but now, it's all running and squatting and jumping, and that's tough on my aging joints. I also feel it keenly in my lower back, which has never been great to begin with, especially when we're doing jumping exercises. I worry at times about the effect on my knees, especially my bad knee, which is still recovering from injuries suffered in the past year and a half and still isn't as strong as I would like it to be. I just hope that when they get more equipment in, that we'll revert back to our old balanced fitness regimen. In the meantime, it's incumbent on me to try my best to keep up with "the kids". I do my best, but often just can't do as much as they can. And Jason says that's OK, just do what I can and don't worry so much about it. I also miss the intimacy of the old PT room and the smaller classes we held there. We never had more than 7 or 8 of us at a time in class and mostly it was more like 3 or 4 of us, allowing for more individualized attention. Last night we had 10 of us and I get to feeling lost in a crowd when it's that big.

Another thing that kind of nags at me is that there is a father of these two boys, Cory and Evan, who relentlessly yells at them if he thinks that they aren't working hard enough or aren't doing enough. Honestly, some of the things he says really bother me and I wouldn't put up with that sort of thing if I were them. It's almost like he's pushing them too hard, maybe because he's vicariously living some lost athletic dream through them or something. Last night he was yelling at one of the boys about how he, as an out-of-shape 47 year old, could do better than his kid, to which I wanted to say, "Oh, YEAH? Well, buddy, I'm a 50 year old woman with a short leg, a full three years older than you are, so why don't you come in here with us and bust your butt as hard as I am and see if you can keep up with me?" I feel bad for these two boys who have to put up with such a nasty father. Often, it seems like they don't even want to be there in the first place and are being forcibly dragged there by their father, who wants something out of them that maybe they don't want to or can't give. I'll bet he's also the type to argue with coaches and referees of whatever sports teams his sons play on. Sports parents - quite possibly the worst kind of parents out there, except for, perhaps, stage mothers.

At least in spite of how tough workouts have gotten lately, I do feel like I am getting a lot stronger. I know, in fact, that I am far and away much stronger than I was this time last year. I have a lot more energy, my stamina is better, my cardio strength is better and I can push myself far harder than I ever thought possible, so at least some good things are coming out of all of this. I have every reason to be exceptionally proud of myself for what I have accomplished through this program. Sure, I still look at myself compared to the kids that workout with us and I remember when I was that strong and wish I still was. But the older you get, the more you have to realize your limitations and accept them with grace as a natural part of the aging process. Being a part of the Baby Boomer generation, we're not aging gracefully because we were raised in a perpetual youth sort of culture. Witness how many commercials you see for Viagra, hair color, anti-wrinkle cremes and other anti-aging products. We as a generation will not go gently into that good night, for certain. I suspect we'll be raging, raging against the dying of the light. Well, I often joke that I'm not aging very gracefully, but the stronger I get and the more endurance I gain from this workout program, I do feel a certain grace as I enter my fifth decade in probably the best shape of my life. Or at least the best shape of my adult life, anyway!