I checked this book out of the library.

In it esteemed dancer choreographer Tharp refers to how in her fifties she started to work out at the gym.

Not before she turned fifty mind you. She wrote that she could dead lift 225 pounds after starting to go to the gym.

What each of us earns through our own effort no one can take away from us.

In 2011 when I was 46 years old I decided that I must start lifting weights.

Before then I hadn’t lifted one 5-pound dumbbell.

In January 2014 three years later I could dead lift 205 pounds with the trap bar.

I’m 5’0″ tall and weighed only 115 pounds then.

Of everything I’ve ever done in my life I’m the proudest of having been able to dead lift 205 pounds.

This is not to spook readers. Not all of us will be able to do this or likely would want to do this.

The moral of this story is that it’s not ever too late in life to try to achieve a goal.

My intent when I started lifting weights was to to become able to power through a hard time.

I doubt when most people are facing a trial their first response is to tell themselves: “I’m going to lift weights.”

Only this points to the fact that the enormity or severity of a challenge doesn’t determine our fate.

It’s how we respond to the obstacle that makes the difference.

Unlike other disability rights Advocates who frown on using the words “suffers from” to talk about a person’s condition I’m acutely aware that life is not a bed of roses for anyone–whether we live with a disability or are what’s called “able-bodied.”

No–I don’t like tossing around the word “able-bodied”: to describe people.

It’s because everyone struggles. Like the REM song title of the 1990s: “Everybody Hurts.”

The question is are you going to wallow in self-pity or be jealous of others who seem to have it better than you.

Are you going to give up the fight because the odds are against you?

Are you going to turn fifty and think your glory days are behind you? That becoming frail and infirm is the natural and only trajectory of aging?

I hope in my humble words I can empower readers to risk doing new things. For the joy of doing them as well as being a method to cope with a hard time.

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My mother and I met a woman who told us she was 88 years old and went to the gym every week.

88! And she goes to a gym!

The woman had creamy skin on her face (where were the wrinkles) and yellow not gray hair (could it be natural).

This phenom was dressed in a colorful outfit (no dastardly gray cashmere sweater).

That’s how I want to be when I’m old. I’ve come to accept that I will always dress like a teenager whatever my chronological age.

Why not aspire to be a red-hot octogenarian mamma?

Chances are not a lot of us lovely ladies will be doing a bench press at 80.

Yet I say we can continue to do some form of exercise.

The secret is to not regret that our glory days have passed.

Today is the greatest day (cue the Smashing Pumpkins song with that title).

So I’ll end here with this: today is yesterday’s tomorrow.

We should fill it to the brim with light love and laughter.

Because tomorrow might not come.

Having something to look forward to will give us joy at sixty and beyond.

Today is here. Let’s celebrate the day.

Reading over the latest blog entries here I see that I wrote that I would talk about Atomic Habits like James Clear wrote about in his book with the title Atomic Habits.

I’m of the mind that adopting atomic habits will save my sanity and my physical health too.

Some atomics habits I’ve adopted:

Throwing out the recycling in the green and blue bins in the compactor closet every evening.

Instead of letting items pile up in the white plastic tub on my kitchen floor. Throwing out the garbage every evening too.

Buying only two cartons of eggs at a time and doing so once a week.

Alas I’ve had a third carton go to waste because the Use By: date had expired.

Simple–buy once a week only what I need for one week at a time.

Tidy up my apartment every day.

Instead of allowing piles of papers to overflow my desk dining table and coffee table.

My September horoscope indicated I would be successful with decluttering projects this month. 🙂

I recommend you read the book Atomic Habits. A clear easy-to-follow breakdown of action steps to take to engage in positive habits and break negative patterns of behavior.

In the coming blog entries I will post my Summer Upper and Lower Body routines. Then my Early Fall Upper and Lower Body routines.

In Italian culture the ethic of dolce far niente translates into the sweetness of doing nothing.

It’s possible that I wrote about this before in here or in another blog.

This is not to be confused with doing things that numb you as an escape from the stress of everyday life.

Rather taking time to do nothing can preserve our health.

In the early days of 2020 when the city shut down I would take naps in the afternoon.

That was then. This is now:

As the pandemic goes into its 3rd year–yes 3rd year–I find myself engaging in dolce far niente all over again.

In a different way:

I listen to music on the radio or on Audacy.com. For hours on end listening to music is like popping a happy pill.

In this time when anxiety and depression has endured for a lot of us alongside the COVID outbreak:

I make the case for slowing down, stopping to smell the American Beauties, and doing nothing.

Be grateful. As hard as life can be living through the pandemic find things to be grateful for.

In the coming two blog entries I will post my 2022 Early Winter Upper and Lower Body Routines.

Years ago when I was the Health Guide at a mental health website I wrote about my 10-year theory:

That you should give yourself the gift of 10 years to achieve your version of recovery.

Wanting or expecting to achieve dramatic results via drastic measures is dangerous to our mental and physical health.

If you don’t like yourself as you are now how will you be able to like yourself in the future?

Being happy isn’t predicated on achieving a goal. One goal I’ve have for a long time hasn’t materialized yet. Only I accept where I am in my life.

It took me 10 years of lifting weights to get the body I have now.

A person cannot give up exercising after only 2 months. You need to give yourself 4 years of consistently working out to see long-term gains.

“Drop 2 Dress Sizes by Tuesday” should not be the goal. Lifelong health and wellbeing should be the goal.

For the first 4 or 5 years I lifted weights 3x per week for 50 minutes in each session.

Then I had a setback where I had to act as my mother’s caregiver.

My trainer at the time a woman started creating shorter routines I could do in my apartment.

After she left a guy trainer who is exceptional like she was took over.

For going on 4 years I’ve been lifting weights in my living room mostly 2x per week for 30 to 40 minutes in each session.

I’m 56. I’m fitter than I was when I first started training at 46.

The point is that loading up exercise on the front end will improve your odds of being able to consistently work out for the long-term.

Continuing to act as my mother’s caregiver (she is 83 and in ill health) I often can only exercise 1x per week right now.

My first trainer at the gym left to open his own boutique fitness center. He had told me that as long as I continued to exercise I would maintain my fitness level.

Life happens. Stuff happens. Setbacks are to be expected. It’s not a question of if you’re going to have a setback but when.

Setbacks will occur often. That’s the nature of living life: being thrown curveballs.

In the early 2000s I had written: “When life throws you a curveball hit it out of the park.”

I would say that giving yourself the gift of 10 years of engaging in an exercise routine is mandatory.

The goal like said is not to become thin or skinny.

According to a research study people who work out feel better about their bodies even if they don’t lose weight.

My secret was not giving up the fight. Continuing to exercise even when I’m able to work out only 1x per week.

In the coming blog entry I’ll talk about the research-verified fitness strategies in the book Eat Move Sleep by Tom Rath.

This common-sense guide guide touts that small changes can make a big difference.

The keyword in that sentence? Small. Making changes doesn’t have to be difficult or arduous.