I’m fit don’t you know it
-
- July
- 11
Come to my neighborhood at 7 a.m. on a weekday, and you’ll catch me at my finest.
Actually, please don’t show up  unless you want to laugh.
Almost every morning, I step out the door fully equipped for a half-hour of vigorous power-walking with two friends. I’m the oldest of the three of us  and without a doubt the best-dressed. On my left leg, I’m wearing a thick beige compression stocking for my varicose veins. On my right leg, I’ve got on a sexy black knee-stabilizing brace.
And I feel incredibly hot  I mean literally.
My left leg itches under the stocking. My right knee gets sweaty and red. But here’s the comforting thing: According to two recent stories on baby boomers and physical fitness, I’m right in the midst of a major trend.
We boomers, it seems, are pushing ourselves to stay fit, even as our knees give out and our veins bulge and our backs ache.
This story in yesterday’s “Kalamazoo Gazette”:http://www.mlive.com/features/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/features-0/1184084445102740.xml&coll=7 reports that increasing numbers of health clubs are catering to boomers with exercise programs designed to minimize the strain on aging backs and joints.
And this story from “United Press International”:http://www.upi.com/Consumer_Health_Daily/Briefing/2007/07/10/baby_boomers_shouldnt_tax_body_too_much/9614/ urges aging fitness fanatics to take it easy  especially if they’re jumping back into an exercise plan after years of lazing around.
That’s sort of what I did. I spent more than a decade without doing a bit of exercise. Sure I folded laundry and took the dishes out of the machine. My wrists were in amazing shape. But the rest of me? A bit jiggly, a little squishy  and a whole lot exhausted, even from a simple climb up the stairs.
These days, I’m feeling better, even as I strap on my orthopedic brace and my varicose-vein stocking.
Come check it out some morning, and maybe we’ll let you trot along for the ride  as long as you keep your giggles to yourself.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, July 11th, 2007 at 11:47 am by Linda Lombroso.
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Baby boomer Linda Lombroso was born in Queens and grew up in Port Washington. She began her journalism career at New York Magazine and Rolling Stone, and came back to the field after spending 10 years as a stay-at-home mother. Linda joined The Journal News in 1997 and has been a Life & Style writer since 2000. She has three children.
You GO girl! What an inspiration! Maybe tomorrow I won’t have that second cup of coffee with the so-bad-for-you flavored creamer…and the entire bagel…
Teresa—I still have that second cup of coffee and the whole bagel too. Oh well…old habits are hard to break!