Hello friends~
The only way I could maintain sanity raising 6 kids in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s was a short bout of heart rate-inducing exercise every day. It was a tiny vacation.
I didn’t know that I was training and I definitely did not consider myself an athlete.
Dressed all day in some version of spandex (visual: Jane Fonda workout gear), with early model Saucony running shoes by the door, looking for a little gap during the day, sometimes only 20 minutes, I’d hit the road, less guilty if I pushed a stroller and grabbed a kid to run or bike along with me. (We’ll explore the mom guilt thing in another post…)
Those short bouts of exercise were for mental and physical health.
And it wasn’t all cardio. I had no idea that lugging kids around was what is now called “rucking“, hacking roots was the “wood chop”, and hauling hundreds of feet of hoses like battle ropes. Picking up and planting buckets of shrubs was deadlifting, and pushing a wheelbarrow was like a sled workout over acres of garden – it was all power and strength training. Riding my bike long distances with a kid on the carrier was building muscular and cardio endurance, and it was all part of the journey.
You are an athlete if you use your body for a purpose.
It wasn’t until my youngest was 10, and the eldest was 25 that I started to think of myself as an athlete.
I hope you realize right now that you are an athlete if you’re using your body for a purpose. If you’re doing things you enjoy that elevate your heart rate every day, and doing things that make you strong, you are a ROCKSTAR.
Whether you’re participating in a sport, working out at the gym, doing yoga or Pilates, at home, running, cycling, or gardening, or all of it – there is a piece of advice I learned after many injuries doing stuff on my own: learn to lift. Train strength. Since I began working with a coach over 20 years ago, the results have been profound over time (key word *time*).
I’ve been asked why I was working with a coach as a coach myself.
My answer is that everyone needs teachers and mentors to learn to do anything better. Everyone needs support and expert guidance to perform our best. I am always learning so I can be the best athlete I can be, and to be the best coach for you.
As a coach I put my experience and knowledge into practice for you, so you can keep doing fun stuff forever.
Your coach will help you learn to move in effective and efficient ways, and learn to lift to get strong, to support bones and joints, so you can keep doing all of the fun stuff forever.
I had no idea 30-40 years ago that I’d be so strong and fit at 70. An athlete (I’ll say it again, in case you’re not sure – you are an athlete) needs a coach for a lifetime of strength and fitness.
Whether you’re at “midlife”, experiencing hormonal changes in perimenopause, or beyond menopause, with your own experiences, goals, and abilities, you can get stronger and fitter right now.
Onward~
Polli
