Sunday Salon: Strong and Fit by 40

I turned 38 in August. Since then I've been thinking about turning 40, a milestone I'm actually looking forward to. So far, each decade of my life has been better than the last. My 30's have been pretty transformational, and I'm excited to see what the next decade brings. Still, I'm not in a rush to leave my 30's, and I've been thinking about what I want to accomplish before 40. I know I want to get healthier. I want to be stronger. I want to be fit. I've been thinking about what makes sense for me. I'm a person who loves eating and drinking, and I don't want to lose those activities or feel guilty for indulging. I also don't want to spend a lot of money on exercise; there are lots of things I'd rather spend money on than a gym membership. I spent a few months thinking about how I could fit exercise into my routine. Really, I thought about what I could do to want to fit exercise into my routine. The last time I went to a gym was before I was pregnant with Hawthorne (he's four now.)

In December, three things happened. First, I decided the end of the semester was my window to start an exercise routine. Once classes ended, I only had to finish grading, then I had two weeks off work. If I can't work out then, when would I? I wanted to use those three weeks to make habits. Second, I read this article, whose opening sentence was the single-most transformative sentence I read in 2018: "The muscles of older men and women who have exercised for decades are indistinguishable in many ways from those of healthy 25-year-olds, according to an uplifting new study of a group of active septuagenarians." It doesn't get any more plain: start regularly exercising now, before you turn 40, and reap the benefits for the rest of your life. I was convinced. Third, I gave myself permission to not work out at the free gym at work. This sounds silly, but as I am someone who does not like to spend money on things I don't enjoy, it's foolish to turn down a free gym, right? Wrong. In seven and a half years of employment, I've never gone to the gym here. I don't want to, largely because I don't want to see or talk to colleagues when I'm at the gym. And, admittedly, I don't want to see college students, even the ones I don't know or teach, at the gym. I want anonymity at the gym. So, I gave myself permission to join Planet Fitness for $10/month.

My first workout was Dec. 11. And you know what? I actually liked it. I got on the elliptical and told myself to go as long as I wanted to because anything was the best I'd done in five years. I put on my favorite podcast, which I now only listen to at the gym. I went a mile. And it felt good. For the first time in my life, I worked out with the goal of getting strong and getting fit. My motivation isn't a number on the scale. It isn't out of guilt or low self-esteem. I want to be healthy so I can live a long life with my spouse and my kid. I want to be healthy so I can live a long life to read lots of books, to travel, and to eat delicious foods. The next time, I set a goal of two miles. I told myself I could take as long as I wanted to. Instead, when I got there, I wanted to get it over with, so I did it in 20 minutes. Then, each day, I added a quarter mile. Distance was my goal, not speed. Some days I'm faster. Some days I'm slower. My goal was 5 miles, which I hit December 28th. I decided to keep pushing myself. This week, I hit six.

I'm not sure what my daily goals are going forward. I want to work out most days. I don't know if I'll be able to fit in hour-long sessions every day once classes start, but I want to. I feel stronger already, but I also enjoy working out. Seriously. Perhaps it took having a kid to make the gym feel like bonus time by myself. I enjoy the 4-mile drive each way, which gives me more time with my audiobook.

Don't worry--this blog isn't going to turn into an exercise blog. I won't tell you about my workouts each week, but I might talk about it occasionally in my Sunday Salons. For now, I'm off to spend as much of today reading as I can.

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