From Leg Warmers to Snoopy: Keeping Fit in Midlife
Back in the day, keeping fit meant one thing: Jane Fonda. I had her workout on cassette tape, and very jolly it was too. At the time I was working as a hairdresser on a cruise liner, and a few of us girls, some hairdressers and some of the ship's dancers, would take over one of the gyms on board and bounce along to Jane.
Not that I needed it. Hairdressing is hard graft, on your feet all day, and I was as thin as a pin anyway. But it was all the rage, so that's what we did.
Then a new girl joined the ship. Chrissy was a beautician and a former dancer (a topless dancer in Paris, if I remember rightly), and she was great fun and very keen on keeping fit. My idea of workout gear was old fashioned, practically my vest and knickers, like PE at school. Chrissy was having none of it. Whenever we were ashore, she'd march me off to the shops for the proper kit: leggings, footless tights and leg warmers, all in the neon colours of the day. I looked the part, even if I didn't move like it.
The coordination problem
Because here's the thing about me: I've always been clumsy. My coordination is appalling. Anything with a routine, like dance steps or aerobics, takes me ages to get my body to do, and by the time my arms have caught up, everyone else has moved on to the next bit. Being in a class, flailing about while everyone else does it beautifully, is my idea of torture.
So over the years, apart from swimming, I've never really done any official workouty thing. I did try aqua aerobics once. It was a very strange experience, jumping about in the water while someone shouted at you, and I can't say it did anything for my fitness. I decided a proper swim would do me more good than all that faffing about.
I also tried tai chi, years ago. The class was taken by a very tall, very gangly man, who began each session with a demonstration of the moves, performed with the utmost seriousness. And I couldn't stop laughing. Nobody else found him the least bit funny, which of course made it worse, because there's nothing funnier than being the only one who finds something amusing. In the end, they changed the time of the class so I couldn't get there after work. I could probably have managed it, but I knew I would never be able to keep a straight face at that man. I don't think the tai chi community has suffered from my absence.
Never needed to bother
For most of my working life, I didn't have to think about fitness at all. After hairdressing I became a primary teacher, an early years specialist, and teaching the very little ones keeps you moving all day. There's music and movement, drama, play, and playground duty, which can be exhausting. I had my own children at home too, so I was always running around after someone.
For years I taught supply a few days a week and wrote on the others. Then, lucky me, the writing began to pay for itself, and then to pay me, and I gave up teaching to write full time. It was wonderful for the career. It was not so great for the waistline.
For the first time in my life, I had a desk job. Let's just say it as it is: I got a bit fat. I'm still a bit fat. Middle-age spread arrived, along with wobbly arms and all the other things you'd rather not have as you get older. I'm not obsessed with it. It's about health more than anything. But it was clear I needed to get some movement back into my day.
What works for me now
At the beginning of this year, I started Couch to Fitness from Our Parks. It's a free online programme with follow-along videos, and the best thing about it is that you do it at home, in private, where nobody can see you get your arms and legs in a muddle. I pull the chairs out of my office and get on with it. You can pick it up and put it down when it suits you, which is just as well, because some days you're busy, or not in the mood, or just not feeling great. You're middle-aged, after all. I've added some hand weights too, because keeping your strength up is key at our age, and I definitely feel a lot stronger.
The trick, I've discovered, is to do it first thing. I get up, do my workout, have breakfast, take Evie for her walk, then shower, and I feel all up together for the day. If I don't do it first thing, it simply isn't going to happen. Once I'm at my desk writing, in my tidy clothes, there's no chance. It's good to know that about yourself.
And on Mondays, my cleaning day, I do my other favourite workout: speed housework. Hoovering, scrubbing, and up and down the stairs at a good lick. By gosh, it's a good workout, and the house gets cleaned into the bargain.
Why bother now?
My writing success has come fairly late in life, and I want to be productive for as long as I possibly can. I feel I've got a lot of stories still to tell. I want to keep writing the Mid Witch books, and there are other things I want to write too, including some TV scripts. The Mid Witch would be great fun on screen, and I have other ideas that keep nagging at me. Without being morbid, when you get older you're aware that time isn't endless, and the fitter and healthier I stay, the more I'll get done.
You can look back and think, I wish I'd taken my writing seriously sooner. But perhaps writing now is exactly why it works. I have a lifetime to draw on: the people, the situations, and all the daft things that have happened to me along the way. The time is now, and I want to make the most of it. Looking after my health can only help.
So, take this morning. No Chrissy, no neon, no leg warmers. I'm in a very ratty pair of leggings and a big Snoopy T-shirt, with my hair clipped back, no make-up, and holes in my trainers. I look an absolute state. Does it matter? Not a bit. My body will thank me for it.
How do you keep moving? Tell me in the comments or on social media. I'm always looking for ideas, as long as they don't involve too much coordination.
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