There was a time when I might miss a session or two at the gym, and I would feel relief and then dread. The time never got wasted—life demands have a way of filling calendar vacuums without issue—but the original purpose never got slotted in anywhere else, hence the later dread.

These days, I miss the gym if I skip a week. I miss the chalk, the warm-up, the feeling of strength as I approach the bar. Powerlifting training days anchor my week. As an independent consultant, my schedule is my own; there’s no nine-to-five at an office to provide structure to the week.

The two mornings I spend in training offer space to focus on physical effort vs. mental effort. That isn’t to say there’s no thinking involved in training. There is; it’s the proportion that is different.

I love the freedom. Outside of work deadlines, I am free to complete work at whatever time of day I choose. I learned early in my career as a consultant to block time for specific purposes; otherwise, it was too easy to fill my days with work and leave little time for family, fitness, leisure, and rest.

If I have to miss a day’s training, I try to make it up. Weather is an occupational hazard where I live and it’s not unusual to have late winter (or early spring) storms force schedule changes. Vacation periods are different; I’m usually travelling and walking thousands of steps a day compensates reasonably well for the lack of time at the bar.

As I contemplate retirement in the next six months, I’ve been thinking about how I will structure my week. Will I take out a membership to carry out self-directed workouts? Will I add something else to maintain cardiac health? Is it time to rescue my bike from its exile in the garage?

Or will I end up like the Dowager Duchess in Downtown Abbey, asking, “What’s a weekend?”

I know I will have more time to try different things, and I’m looking forward to reengaging with activities I love but don’t have enough time for right now, like swimming, biking, and practicing yoga.

How about you? Have your fitness goals changed with retirement? Or are you thinking about the opportunities and delights awaiting you as you think about this next stage of life? Let us know in the comments.

MarthaFitat55 is looking forward to still being Fitat65!

I’m envious of my friends who live in climates vastly different from mine. Not long ago I saw a photo of a vegetable garden in full bloom. Help yourself to extra greens was the caption.

My garden is still an expanse of white, with almost four feet of snow.

See? Not a green leaf in sight.

But one can dream. I like fitness that has a purpose or that’s fun. Gardening is purposeful — raking, digging, toting, watering etc. I’m looking forward to doing more this year.

Shoveling snow is purposeful — snow removal is essential to leaving the house — but it is not fun.

Weight training is fun. It’s an opportunity to lift heavy things and put them down again. Swimming is fun. It is a form of meditation and puts me in a good mood.

Walking is also fun. It’s something you can do by yourself, or together with a friend. You don’t need any special equipment, as a pair of sturdy shoes will do.

You can add walking into everything: use the stairs instead of the elevator, walk to work or the grocery store, park your car four lanes further away from the door, etc.

Theorist BJ Fogg suggests making new habits stick by attaching them to parts of your existing routine. For example, if you need to stretch more, add a set of stretches while you brush your teeth.

I’ve played around with Fogg’s approach. I programmed my Fitbit to give me an alert every hour at ten minutes to the hour. It’s my cue to stand and stretch so I’m not sitting for three hours straight writing.

Running down two flights of stairs to get tea counts. So does making my bed ( have you ever wrestled with a king size wool duvet? It’s a workout!). Or sorting laundry.

The point is to add extra movement where you can. Our lives are busier now. Finding a full hour to hit the gym can be daunting. When you add in the prep and post tidy, it can feel like more time than you can realistically commit.

Winter can be grim, but it doesn’t mean you have to stop moving. Finding or creating small pockets of activity that are fun and physical throughout your day can help ease the grimness and benefit your physical well being. Spring will get sprung soon in my world, and I’ll be ready!

It’s winter where I live. Cold. Damp. Icy. Earlier this week, we got a dump of snow.

How much snow? Quite a bit. The picture below shows my backyard. The snow-covered object is a claw-foot tub that serves as a planter. It’s about three and a half feet high. There’s a lot of snow.

Luckily, the street has been cleared. It’s very tempting to stay inside but with clean pavement, sturdy boots, and little wind, a short and brisk walk is enough to get the cobwebs out. Besides, having a good stomp in the winter will also do wonders for your mental health. Check out this post and learn about the eagle going on a walk!

Fitness doesn’t have to be complicated, and it should be fun. Even shovelling works! Check out Christine’s post on shovelling as fitness here.

MarthaFitat55 lives and works out in St. John’s

January brings its own challenges. Besides being one long Monday, the month surrounds us with a constant stream of messages about self improvement. The biggest focus of the messaging is primarily focused on physical fitness and/or weight loss. 

Now I don’t make resolutions. I make promises to myself and they are always the same: Eat well, move lots, hug often, laugh myself silly, do good work, find the sunny spot, be the light. It works for me. The trick is to find what works for you

If you are just starting a fitness journey, yay. As John Bingham famously said, “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”  It can be daunting to walk in through the gym door, or to sign up for an Aqua fit class, but you did it! 

My advice if you are new to training or adding daily movement after a period of inactivity is keep it simple. Focus on small achievable goals. Maybe you start with one day a week, one walk instead of a drive, one new activity at a time. Maybe you dance at home for ten minutes after lunch, or you practice a single yoga pose. The key is to build a habit around fitness. 

My goal the first time I went to the gym to meet my trainer was to not fall over from exhaustion. My second goal was to keep going for the full ten sessions I paid for in advance. 

If you are a long time member of a gym, be kind to newbies in the gym. I remember seeing the side eyes some longtime gym members gave newbies. You were new too once upon a time. Patience, kindness and support are always welcome. 

What helped you the most when you started your fitness journey? What advice would you give someone just starting out? What would you like to hear? 

MarthaFitat55 intends to keep moving for as long as possible.

Twelve years ago this past month, I was on a trip with my family, and we had to run a great distance to get to our airplane gate. We did get there, but not before they closed the doors. It took me 45 minutes to recover from my run that felt like hundreds of kilometres but was probably closer to one and a half kilometres (the gates are very far apart in Frankfurt!).

As I sat there — red faced, sweaty, lungs exhausted by the effort — I made a resolution. I had, over the years, run 10-mile races, rowed in regattas, walked trails, swam lengths, played field and floor hockey, and lobbed balls of all sorts, with a decent amount of enjoyment. But back in 2013, I was out of shape, and I felt it.

It was past time to take my fitness seriously again. A good friend had been powerlifting for a while and was loving it. I found a trainer and began. My first visits to the gym were painful. There was so much I found difficult and awkward. The muscle aches the day after weren’t great either.

Somehow, I kept going. I signed up for ten-session blocks and did that for more than a year. I settled into a routine. I kept going back. Again and again.

Things got less awkward. I learned how to use the tools. I learned to listen to my body, to push it, and then push some more. If I skipped a session due to illness or holidays, I missed it. I never thought I would feel the absence of hard physical effort keenly, but I was there.

So 12 years on, what have I learned? It takes patience and persistence, along with a good bit of bloody-mindedness. It’s consistency, curiosity and commitment. I won’t break any world records because the only person I am competing against is me, but every day I move forward, I am more confident in my strength, more comfortable with my body’s ability to do the things I want and need it to do.

This month, I approached the midpoint of my 60s, almost a decade past my initial vow of Fitat55. I am looking forward to the next decade with excitement: what will I take on next in my continuing goal of functional fitness? I can’t wait to find out.

I don’t believe I am the only person who sees September as the beginning of a new year. I know that officially the new year starts January 1, but for me, September means a new start, plus new everything else — notebooks, pencils, crayons, etc, and as a kid, new shoes.

These days, the first fall month still signals a new beginning. While I am starting new projects on the work front, after a two-week stint volunteering at the Canada Summer Games, September also means I’m back at the gym regularly for training after summer holidays.

I’ve been missing the variety of activity I had built in over the years: the powerlifting was supplemented by trail walking, swimming and yoga. The pandemic shut down my walks, my swims and my yoga. Even after the pandemic abated, life kept intervening. The only thing left standing was my twice-weekly powerlifting sessions, and I’ve only missed those because of illness or vacations.

The great news is that the pool closest to me has re-opened after renovations. I’m also looking at the expansion of our local trail system near my house. I am hoping its new multi-use focus means it will be looked after in the winter allowing me to resume trail walking in earnest. I’m also keeping my fingers crossed that my favourite yoga teacher will offer classes again.

The result is I’m cleaning up my walking shoes, unpacking my swimsuit, and rolling out my yoga mat in anticipation. There’s no new gear to pat and delight in, unlike my early school years, but I’m excited nonethless.

What new things are you planning to undertake on the fitness fron this fall?

Last week a friend shared the following image in her feed:

The image has text that reads: Siri give me a metaphor for life. The picture shows a cyclist in front with others behind her. A man spreads his arms to stop her from moving forward. Additional text says “CNN: A breakaway female cyclist was forced to stop during a prestigious race in Belgium after she started to catch up with the men’s competition, which had started 10 minutes earlier. cnn.it/2ExuiEM.”

I was curious about the story and learned the race incident took place in 2019. The rider who had achieved a tremendous lead in catching up to the men finished 74th, saying it was hard to regain the momentum after being stopped for close to ten minutes. CNN said “Swiss cyclist Nicole Hanselmann described it as an “awkward moment:” 

“I attacked after 7km, and was alone in the break for around 30km… but then an awkward moment happened and I almost saw the back of the men’s peloton… May (be) the other women and me were too fast or the men to (sic) slow. After the neutralization, I was caught up again and finished the race on the 74th place.” She told Cycling News that “it was a bit sad for me because I was in a good mood, and when the bunch sees you stopping they just get a new motivation to catch you. We could just see the ambulances of the men’s race. I think we stopped for five or seven minutes and then it just kills your chances.”

Tellingly, CNN said “The racing event’s official Twitter account reported the “neutralization of our women race at railroad crossing in Sint-Denijs-Boekel… due to a very slow mens race.”

I wasn’t able to find out if start times had changed after the 2019 incident, but both races continue to take place on the same day and they also start and end in the same communities. However, the women’s race is shorter at 125 to 135 kms compared to the men’s race of about 200 kms. Still, the women’s race has eight climbs and six sections of the routes run over cobblestones.

If there was concern that the women riders would overtake the men and cause safety or ego issues, then organizers should run the races on separate days or allow for longer lead times between the women and the men.

It’s too bad the women’s race was interrupted and the lead cyclist lost her edge. Even though the story is six years old now, it serves as a good reminder that equality is not always respected and secured. A more recent report shows the Belgian race continues to face inequities in the prize purses offered to men (16000 Euros) and to women (930 Euros).

British cyclist Lizzy Banks who commented on the 2021 Belgian race results told the BBC: “When we are looking at the cost of cycling – the cost of TV rights, the cost of putting a race on – prize money is not a massive, massive, cost. If we’re talking about creating an equal environment in men’s and women’s cycling then yes you need the salaries and the infrastructure within the team, but [equal prize money] is a relatively small amount that makes a big impact. It just creates an environment where we say we value you as women and female riders and racers as much as we value the male riders and racers, and we think that your achievement is worth the same amount as the men’s achievement.”

If you are curious about the state of compensation in women and men’s sports, check out this research from Adelphi University — New York for some interesting data: Male vs Female Professional Sports Salary Comparison https://online.adelphi.edu/articles/male-female-sports-salary/.

A week from today, my latest adventure in fitness begins. No, I am not trying a new sport, although I have tried a few in my day. On August 8, the Canada Summer Games begin in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, and my stint as a CSG volunteer.

Forty-eight years ago, I volunteered at the Games as a ticket-taker. This time around, I am working behind the scenes as a media supervisor. While it may not be very sporty-minded, my volunteer role is still a chance to learn some new things. I am especially interested in seeing logistical management on a far greater scale than I have been involved with in the past, given that there are more than 5,000 volunteers across multiple sites and teams from 13 provinces and territories represented.

It’s also an opportunity to see young people bring their best selves to their chosen sport, whether as solo athletes or in team-based sports. Between the Winter and Summer Games, young athletes from sea to sea to sea can compete in 40 different sports. This year, women’s baseball makes its debut at the Summer Games, a fact which surprised me, considering how well women’s professional hockey, soccer and basketball have been doing in the last decade or more. I’m curious, as well, to see how the policy focus on and investment in diversity, equity and inclusion in sport are playing out.

I am looking forward to what promises to be an interesting two weeks, seeing both excellence in action and joy in movement.

When I first started gardening, I never thought about it as a feminist activity. I mean I just wanted a few pretty flowers, maybe some lettuce and herbs, and a couple of lilacs to offer fragrance on a summer day. In fact, my first garden consisted of two pots of cherry tomatoes plus two with mixed herbs.

But in digging a little deeper — pun intended — I found that tending to a garden, either large or small, could be a quiet (or not-so-quiet) act of empowerment. It’s good for the body, great for the mind, and, in many ways, deeply connected to women’s strength, independence, and care for their families and communities.

For generations, women have grown food to feed their families — from backyard vegetable patches to window boxes full of herbs. During the World Wars, Victory Gardens were often cared for by women, helping stretch rations and boost morale.

In fact, gardening has long been a way for women to take control — whether it’s about putting fresh produce on the table, preserving family traditions, or creating a space to relax and recharge. In a world where women’s work is often undervalued or invisible, gardening is a way to proudly say: this space, this food, this beauty — I made this.

Gardening as a path to physical and mental health

Gardening might not come with a spin class playlist, but it is without doubt a full-body workout. You’re digging, squatting, lifting, pulling — all the kinds of movements that build strength, flexibility, and endurance. And because it’s done outdoors, you’re soaking up fresh air, vitamin D, and all the feel-good benefits of being in nature.

This great article by Harvard Health offers up some concrete evidence of the benefits available to you from gardening, no matter how big or small: while weeding or mowing offers the greatest impact, even picking vegetables or composting will add positively to your activity minutes.

Gardening is also (mostly) gentle and forgiving. You can go at your own pace, in your own way. It’s a fantastic way to stay active without needing fancy equipment or a gym membership. Plus, you get tomatoes at the end! And you can exorcise your demons by attacking weeds!

There’s something incredibly satisfying about watching something grow — especially when you’ve nurtured it from a tiny seed. Gardening has been shown to reduce stress, improve sleep, and boost mood. For women who often juggle multiple roles — caregiver, worker, partner, friend — time spent in the garden can be a powerful act of self-care.

Gardening also brings people together. Seed swaps, plant sales, or even a quick chat over the virtual and literal fence about favourite garden tips can build connection and community — something we all need a bit more of these days.

Gardening is more than weeding or planting. I have come to realize that time in the garden is making a statement. My health matters, my work has value, and my voice — just like the garden — deserves space to grow. Feminism can be bold and loud, just like my peonies, and it can also be quiet, patient, persistent, and rooted in care.

MarthaFitat55 lives, works and gardens in eastern Newfoundland, on the edge of the North Atlantic.

I love my fitness tracker. It’s dying though and I am going back and forth between getting a new one or going without. It’s not fancy — it keeps tracks of steps, it sends me happy high fives when I lots of steps in an hour, and it goes cracked when I reach or exceed my goal. I get actually get fireworks when I check the app and see I have exceeded 10k in steps.

These past couple of weeks have been more active than usual, mostly because I started actively cleaning my house after acquiring a bunch of furniture and mementoes from two households over the last two years. Stairs really help I have discovered. Also adding to the step count were multiple trips where I packed and shifted boxes from house to car and from car to donation centres.

It’s also finally summer here where I live and the weather is more than conducive for walks as well as weeding and planning new garden beds.

I learned a couple of things from my tracker — I work in bursts and I prefer to be standing up rather than sitting down. Why does this matter? My day job often finds me sitting at a desk. The exceptions are when I teach or when I facilitate groups. I have tried standing desks and they don’t work for me, likely because I am standing in the same place vs sitting in the same place.

My next experiment in intentional movement is applying the lessons I learned with the Pomodoro technique — where you work for 20 minutes, then take a five-minute break — to see how I can do my work and get some activity. Rather than check my email or grab a cup of tea in that five-minute break, I’m going to add some stretches, some stair climbing, or weeding in those five minutes. A friend has recommended I pick a 20-minute segment where I deal with emails as part of my work schedule, and the key words there are “deal with” instead of just skimming them in that five-minute window.

What types of hacks are you trying to get more movement in your day? Let us know in the comments.

MarthaFitat55 lives and works in St. John’s. In the past, she has rowed, yoga’d, swum, and run. These days, she likes to spend her gym time picking up heavy things and putting them down again.