Tabatha Deans

FITNESS ADVICE …

FITNESS ADVICE FROM THE SENIORS

            I am in the best shape of my life, well, at least since I was 16 and did two-a-day practices for volleyball. But that doesn’t really count because a 16-year-old body is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.  I can remember complaining then about my various shortcomings, and my mother very clearly telling me to stop complaining. “Someday you’re going to look back and WISH you had this body.” She was right.

            But with my newfound energy and improving lung function (officially 38 days with no nicotine) I find myself craving aerobic exercise daily. Jogging, riding my bike and taking long walks have restored a bit of muscle tone, although the battle of the cellulite I’m afraid is going to be life-long. I went in search of weapons for that battle at the public library, where I headed for the video workout section. I had just heard something on t.v. about your workout routine—if you’ve done it more than six times it’s stopped working. So I was headed for the pilates section, and found an older woman, probably about 65ish, Hispanic, sitting on a stool in front of the videos.

            She smiled at me as I bent to look at the videos.

            “You work out? Not many people want to work out.”

            “Yeah, you know, gotta shape up the muscles,” I said. She looked me up and down.

            “You pretty small,” she observed.

            “Yeah, but I need to do something about my stomach.” I replied. She reached out with her tiny, bony finger and poked my belly.

            “Oh, that not bad. You just not eat. You don’t eat at all, you stomach fold in on itself. See,” She lifted her shirt to reveal some kind of wrap that was wound tightly around her waist. She had a big smile on her face and I thought for a moment she was joking with me.

            “I can’t not eat,” I said. “I like food too much.” She took my hand and placed it on her stomach.

            “Oh yeah, just not eat. You see, no stomach at all.” With that, she stood up from her stool and walked away. I watched her to see if she was there with someone, if she was checking out videos or books, but she simply walked out of the video room and out the front door of the library.

            I grabbed the first Pilates video I saw that promised to transform my doughy mid-section into rock-hard abs, and hit the cheap Chinese food joint on the way home…

July 11, 2012 - Posted by Tabatha Stewart | Uncategorized