All Those Years

The Big E

As I go to the gym I find that I can generally do most of what is asked of me.  It's not that the trainers don't push me or challenge me--they certainly do, more than I would push myself.  But there are so many muscles to strengthen, so many ways to work on endurance, it just is not possible to stay on top of everything.  Having said that, I must also admit to having my own streak of laziness, which I must constantly fight against.

I periodically find something I'm bad at, muscles that are just plain weak.  For example, back in the early days of my involvement with Rock Steady Boxing (RSB), we did more than just boxing.  One day we did a bunch of squats and lunges, and the next day I felt some soreness in my legs.  Having done many squats and lunges all those years ago in the Navy, I knew the solution--do more of those exercises.  So I added them to my at-home workouts, just one set of 50 each, two days per week.  Voila, no more sore legs, regardless of what we did at RSB.  Pre-covid, I did lots of exercises at home, including not only those squats and lunges, but also push-ups and flutter kicks, and plenty of others.  Post-covid, I have found it difficult to get back into the old routine.  There is a new routine, of course, but it is not the same.

The thing that I find somewhat humorous--and the point of this essay (finally!)--is that, with all the low-cost gyms and high cost gyms, all the personal trainers and coaches, all the physical therapy . . . I find that each of my weaknesses has a very simple fix, low tech and inexpensive.  The weakness that I found most recently is no different.  Friday morning we did push ups and flutter kicks, and I could not keep up.  Solution?  No  mystery--do push ups and flutter kicks at home.

Thinking back to all those years ago, doing all those push ups and all those flutter kicks--not to mention all those miles of running--I could probably drop all of my gym memberships, return to my roots of basic military PT, and do just fine.

Like all jokes, there is a kernel of truth here.  But the reality is that as I got older, I pushed myself less and less, until the reality of Parkinsons made it imperative that I do more.  I learned during the covid shutdown--in hindsight absolutely unnecessary, and destructive in so many ways--that while I know what to do for effective exercise, I simply will not do it on my own.  I might do a little, but nowhere near what I do when I pay a trainer and say "push me to work harder".  So I go to the gyms and the group classes and the group runs, and I enjoy them, and I even thrive at least some of the time.  But how do all those years of gyms and RSB and group runs compare to the low-tech military calisthenics from all those years ago?  I'd have to say roughly the same, but only if the effort is there.

Back in the Navy I got paid to do it, sort of.  Now I pay to do it.  Either way works, as long as I get the results.  I'm happy to do so, and will continue doing it, for all those years that are left to me.