I go to a gym twice a week......where Chuckie puts me through my paces.
Chuckie is my 68 year old personal trainer.
When I injured my hips a couple years ago, my doctor told me I better get to the gym and improve the muscle strength in my extremities or else I'd never be springy again.
A few people recommended Chuckie because he is a former physical therapist....and he takes no shit.
Chuckie looks like a slightly toned down Arnold Schwarzenegger. He has massive muscles in his arms, a tight torso, and thunder thighs. All muscle...all lean mass. If you looked at Chuckie you would say he might be 52....maybe 54.....certainly not 68.
Sometimes I think Chuckie must be on some kinds of drugs....because I can't believe all those big muscles could be sustained by exercise. Steroids? Growth hormone? I don't know....and Chuckie is not the type who would tell you.
Chuckie just turned 68 so plenty of people where congratulating him last week. Lots of back slaps....lots of remarks.....but no birthday cake. Chuckie would never eat cake...."that stuff is just bad for you."
My training day was a day after Chuckie's birthday.....so he was still a bit philosophical. He put me on a machine.....and started yakking.
Chuckie often talks to me when I'm groveling on the machines .....probably to take my mind off how much weight I'm tackling.
I was straining under a particular leg lift machine which I don't like ....when I caught a phrase......"it's tough to age".....or that's what I thought I heard him say.
I nodded my head because my mother said that....actually she said something much worse...she would order me 1000 times a year, "Don't ever get old."
I would roll my eyes and sigh in frustration. It's not like anyone has a choice....days and years are cumulative .....and you don't get to say...."oh, I'll just shave 6 years off my body and life" and you don't get to stop the aging process even when you reach a point where you would like to say...."okay I'll stop right here now."
So, Chuckie's "its tough to age" line....didn't phase me. I nodded my head and looked up at him.
"I can tell you're not listening to me." Chuckie said...with a particular smirk on his face..... as he looked down at me.
"Yes I am, you told me it's tough to age."
"That's not what I said."
I have now grunted through 15 legs lifts ...change position ....get the other leg ready and start regrunting.
He shakes his finger at me.
"I didn't say it was tough to age, I said you have to be tough to age well."
"What?"
"You have to be tough to age well."
"People who don't actively take care of themselves fall apart and get sick. You have to exercise, get checkups, do what the doctors tell you to do, eat right, have a positive attitude and keep moving."
"Oh" but I wasn't sure I got it.
"You've got to be tough.....you have to say okay this is different or I'm having trouble with this or that and either face it, accommodate for it or actively fight it."
"You sit you die."
I looked at Chuckie for a minute but I hardly had time for this nugget to enter my head before he handed me a 10 lb dumbbell and ordered me to extend and then press it up.
He shook his head at me. "Think about it," he said.
I finish my time.....walk a bit....then wave goodbye to Chuckie.
The other day, as I was walking in the beautiful fall sunshine, I thought about what Chuckie was trying to explain to me.....and I actually got a glimmer of his point.
As you age, things change.....and sometimes people react by withdrawing....doing less.....sitting back....getting complacent.
Chuckie is saying it's work to age well....it's work to accept that your body is changing... work to keep those changes in check.....work to move forward with what you got even if things don't all work the same anymore. "It's work to age well."
Today when I went to the gym, I asked Chuckie if we were going to have a vacation day on Friday after Thanksgiving.
"We'll have the day off," he said, scribbling into his workout calendar.
"Yeah," I said...happy for a day off.
"But you're coming in Saturday at 8am."
"What???....You're not going to give me a day off?"
"Not you girl.....you still haven't learned to be tough on yourself.....and dammit that's the one thing you absolutely need to learn here."
I meekly nodded my head......only because I knew Chuckie was right.
