My back was literally against the wall! Dick and Rose, two members of the YMCA who are about 10 years older than me were showing me some yoga and stretching moves which they seemed to be doing a lot easier than me. Nothing cracked, ripped or broke fortunately as I did a stretch that I wasn't used to and I developed some new found respect for members who haven't let age limit their flexibility.
Being a "gym rat," who is at the Y most mornings, I have noticed that if people think that the YMCA is just for young people they are mistaken. I see members past the age of 70, and some past the age of 80, doing all kinds of activities. Now of course, many are the Silver Sneakers program which is a carefully designed program for older athletes (more on that term in a later blog) but I also see older members in the pool, in the weight room, at yoga classes and even in some high intensity activities like Zumba. I asked the staff to pull up the statistics on this and there are 84 members of the YMCA who are over the age of 70 and even more surprising, 36 members over the age of 80.
Are these members all athletes? My response would be absolutely. When you compare the fitness of our older YMCA members to that of their contemporaries, they are way at the upper end. Most of them of course are not doing competitive sports, but all are interested in not only maintaining their fitness for a healthy lifestyle, but in many cases improving this as well. We can't turn back the clock. but seniors can prevent an "old fashioned" perception of what seniors can do from limiting their activities.
Next blog: Lap swimming: Yea it's boring but........
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