Bob
Well-Known Member
In the past gyms helped me pick up bikes, haul them out of mud holes, push them up hills I can't ride, push them when out of gas, wiggle free when they end up on top, work lying on the floor when we're rampless, saw and split campfire wood, use my legs as outriggers to hold the bike upright in snowstorms and other sketchy traction situations, do those endless seat to pegs squats during long dirt trips, and spring high and clear when that bike is going somewhere you really shouldn't. I know I'm missing stuff but you get the idea.
I've been going to this one gym, off and on, since 2016 and have been trying to stay in some sort of shape, off and on, since 1973. The 'off and on' part used to mean starting to get in shape for seasonal sports a few months out. That usually meant starting to get in shape for skiing in the Fall, starting to get in shape for hiking, soccer etc. in the Spring but letting the sport be the workout once the season started. Not trying for 'athletic' level fitness, just enough to enjoy some sports without injuries. Martial arts helped between 1975 and 2010 and was usually offered during the Fall-Winter semesters locally.
My approach to gyms has changed a bit since 2020. My health took several wicked hits that left me weak as a baby. Recovery and getting back into a gym routine was way harder than it had ever been. I'm back to about 80% of what I was before 2020. I know I risk injury to try to claw back that other 20% because I lit up a disc doing just that a year ago and spent about six weeks in misery. So, at 72 I have to decide how fit is good enough to do the stuff I do and walk that line... undertrain and I'll hurt myself trying to have some fun, overtrain and I'll injure myself and fun will not happen.
Maybe this will turn into a 'gyms and ageing' thread, or maybe nada. 'My gym':
I've been going to this one gym, off and on, since 2016 and have been trying to stay in some sort of shape, off and on, since 1973. The 'off and on' part used to mean starting to get in shape for seasonal sports a few months out. That usually meant starting to get in shape for skiing in the Fall, starting to get in shape for hiking, soccer etc. in the Spring but letting the sport be the workout once the season started. Not trying for 'athletic' level fitness, just enough to enjoy some sports without injuries. Martial arts helped between 1975 and 2010 and was usually offered during the Fall-Winter semesters locally.
My approach to gyms has changed a bit since 2020. My health took several wicked hits that left me weak as a baby. Recovery and getting back into a gym routine was way harder than it had ever been. I'm back to about 80% of what I was before 2020. I know I risk injury to try to claw back that other 20% because I lit up a disc doing just that a year ago and spent about six weeks in misery. So, at 72 I have to decide how fit is good enough to do the stuff I do and walk that line... undertrain and I'll hurt myself trying to have some fun, overtrain and I'll injure myself and fun will not happen.
Maybe this will turn into a 'gyms and ageing' thread, or maybe nada. 'My gym':
