I have written here and here about my persistent ankle injury. I finally got to see a doctor specializing in sports medicine, and she says my issue isn’t just a tight Achilles tendon. It’s that my whole leg is weak.
She sent me to a new physiotherapist for shock wave therapy to address the thickened tendon and recommended more exercises to strengthen my leg and glute muscle. The physiotherapist added more.
I am also trying a sleep sock for plantar fasciitis and have gel heel lifts for my shoes.
It has all been a reminder that as the old children’s song goes, all my body parts are connected, from the soles of my feet through my ankle, Achilles tendon, calf, hamstring and up into my glute and lower back.
The exercises are not fun, but I’m doing them faithfully because they are working. This week I managed two swim practices without taping my ankle. I even had a successful ballet class; I’m starting to get back my range of motion and I am getting strong enough to crank out a few pirouettes.
Not me doing pirouettes obviously. I would be thrilled even to do even one double pirouette.
I hope you have managed to plan, schedule, or squeeze a bit of extra space into this first week of December and I hope that a little extra fun made its way into your days as well.
Today, I’d like to remind you that there are lots of different ways to relax and have fun.
If you love getting dressed up and going to parties, that’s a great way to spend your time.
If you love watching movies at home in your pajamas, that’s also a great way to spend your time.
Please don’t feel pressured to do all of the social things and please make sure to respect your own needs, limits, and capacity when choosing how to spend your time.
Sure, we all can get a bit overscheduled this time of year – it can kind of go with the territory – but we probably have at least a little leeway in the what and the how and the when of participating in social events.
Speaking of choices, when you are making a little space for yourself today, feel free to choose these videos or to choose something else that serves you well.
Wishing you ease and fun, as always!
Here’s our movement practice for today:
The still image for this “10-Minute Vacation-Vibes Soca Workout” from PS Fit features three energetic and happy looking people in black workout clothes in the centre of the image. They are all slightly turned to the right and they have their arms slightly raised so their hands are in front of their right hips, palms down. The background is bright pink.
And here’s our mindfulness practice for today:
The still image for Michigan Medicine‘s “Mindfulness Breathing and Directed Doodling” video shows a person’s hands holding a green Sharpie marking and making lines in a figure 8 on a white sheet of paper that is resting on a wooden table. There are already blue lines in the same pattern on the paper.
I have done adult ballet for 20 years now. I did belly dance for an extended period following an injury; and would still be taking classes if I could find one relatively local that fits my schedule. A couple of years ago, I took up jazz.
I only dance a few hours a week, so I don’t wear out my ballet slippers very quickly. My daughter said you weren’t a real dancer until you had bled into your shoes. That kind of misery and lost toenails are not for me. I never intend to dance en pointe, so I am perfectly content to call myself a dancer despite only wearing through the toes on my slippers.
I wore ballet shoes while doing belly dance as I wasn’t keen on bare feet at the local community centre. The same ballet shoes served me well for two years of jazz, but I confess to looking enviously at the jazz shoes others were wearing.
Dance classes are finally starting this week, so I indulged myself in a pair of jazz shoes. It doesn’t matter that I have only one one-hour jazz class each week. I now own two pairs of shoes for two different disciplines.
My new black jazz shoes alongside my pink ballet slippers. I’m secretly excited that my ballet slippers are showing enough wear that I may to replace them some time this year.
I know I’m a dancer even though I don’t fit the stereotype of skinny teenager with big dreams and a tutu. I usually wear leggings and a T-shirt instead of a leotard and tights. I sewed a character skirt more for my own amusement than for actual classes. But different shoes for different kinds of dance? That makes me feel like a “real” dancer.
Are you feeling it? Judging by the social media comments I find as I doomscroll, I’m pretty sure it’s not just me.
Other things are contributing too: trying to organize a big event at the other end of the province in a few weeks; navigating insurance after my car was hit while sitting in my driveway; insomnia brought on by all of the above…
I’m trying to use all my tricks: lists, reminders on my phone, the Pomodoro app. Aiming to do five things (or even one), no matter how small to break myself out of the frozen feeling. I even took my laptop to the pool so I could do paperwork while on my break.
Eventually I was able to do a thing, which led to a few more things, so hopefully I’m getting myself back on track. But I think this will be a long process because so much of what I am dealing with requires what some people call executive decision-making. My brain is too tired to brain right now.
Yesterday I had a profound revelation about keeping going. There was a drop-in student at my dance class. She didn’t know the work, but she clearly knew how to dance. She was an honest-to-goodness ballerina, or had been at some point in the not-too-distant past. The rest of us watched in awe.
After class, our teacher said something about her being there just to move her body and be part of the group. She wasn’t performing before a critical audience. She wasn’t setting a class and training students. She was just “there”.
Just being “there”. How lovely. I need to remember to move my body in ways that give me joy, and let go of all those things I’m trying to manage – if only for a few minutes.
A child in purple ballet gear and pink slippers relaxes (or sleeps?) on the floor. Photo is from Brilliant Dance.
In case you were wondering, there is zero overlap between Dancing with Christine and Dancing with the Stars.
I mean, unless you count all the gold stars that I have hanging up in different places in my house. Technically, dancing in my kitchen is dancing with stars…or near stars.
ANYWAY!
I like dancing in my kitchen when I am cooking, baking, or just hanging out and here are a few of the songs that I have been flailing around to lately.
I’m offering them to you in case you feel like flailing around in your kitchen right now, too. Flailing in other rooms of the house is also highly recommended, I just tend to flail in the kitchen most often,
A few years ago, we came across JD McPherson’s Christmas album ‘Socks’ and I have been dancing around to it ever since.
The song All the Gifts I Need is linked below but consider also giving Socks and Ugly Sweater Blues a try. Or just dance to the whole album – you won’t regret it.
Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree is an obvious choice but still a VERY fun one.
And again, I am not breaking any new ground here but All I Want for Christmas Is You gives me a ‘put bells on my sneakers because I’m a cheerleader in the Santa Claus parade’ feeling (even though the didn’t come out until I was several years past my cheerleading days.)
If you can’t stand Christmas music or if you don’t celebrate Christmas, don’t worry, I’ve got you covered!
Here are some totally non-holiday songs that I also like flailing around the kitchen to.
The second song in this list refers to a funeral and alcohol consumption, and the third one also refers to alcohol consumption. If these things are sensitive topics for you please take good care of yourself and avoid clicking the links.
Charming Disaster’s Baba Yaga is not only a fun song, it has all kinds of great folklore in it.
Great Big Sea’s The Night Pat Murphy Died may not sound like a good dance topic but my sisters and I have baffled many other dancers at weddings while flailing around to it.
And finally, Spirit of the West’s Home for a Rest will always get me into full-flail.
Do you already flail around to these songs? If not, give them a try and let me know what you think!
Also, please feel free to put your songs to flail along to in the comments.
I have finally figured out why I’m finding ballet so hard. I take the classes like I’m a 17 year-old in my final year of the professional program, rather than like the arthritic 63 year-old in an elementary leisure class for adults.
I started dancing 20 years ago, and most years I do only one or two classes a week, instead of the 20+ hours per that the senior kids in the professional program do. So it’s not like being a professional dancer was ever a possibility. So why do I work myself so hard?
I suspect it is my refusal to give in to the inevitable. Over the years, I had worked myself up to being in the advanced class. But then I got injured. When I returned to class I started to find that doing certain movements took too much out of me, so I started registering myself for lower level classes each year.
The downside of doing easier classes is that you lose out on learning more complicated steps and routines. My brain loves those, even if my body does not. I have settled into a class that gives me a reasonable balance, if I’m careful.
I hate the creaking and grinding of my knees in plié, and I’m nervous about exacerbating my bunion (jumping is what led to surgery on the bunion on my other foot). But I love demanding the core and strength work of myself to be able to feel, just for a moment now and then, like a “real dancer”.
I’m scratching the brain/choreography itch by doing a jazz class. It’s a completely new skill and vocabulary for me, but the movements are easier on my body.
But I think I really want the opportunity to perform, even though I’m also horrified at the prospect of having people watching me and mocking because it’s ridiculous. Or not showing up to watch at all. Or smiling sweetly and being kind about our efforts being cute. It’s the same fear about aging I have whenever I see “human interest” stories about older athletes. They usually try to be inspirational and mostly they are, but when I imagine myself being that athlete I cringe.
I want to have the courage of these women, and the dance company to make it happen. They are members of Prime, a professional company for dancers over 60 in Scotland. Here they are performing a piece called Ageless at at the Edinburgh Festival in 2023.
Four women dance in white tops and long full tulle skirts. Photo: Murdo MacLeod/the Guardian
What a day in the world of fitness-focused social media. Two new phrases passed my way. Two new impossible-to-achieve body types. First, being thin without a thin butt, that is, avoiding Ozempic butt. Second, the ballerina body.
Talking about the pressure gyms are facing to move to strength training instead of cardio as their main focus, Brooke Masters writes, “Weight-loss drugs will exacerbate the pressure. As the drugs gain acceptance, fewer people are likely to rely on exercise as their primary weight loss tool and the drugs’ side effects, nausea and intestinal distress, can make high-impact cardio activities uncomfortable. However, GLP-1 users still need the gym. Studies suggest that the drugs cause significant muscle loss along with fat, leading to problems with balance and mobility as well as saggy skin sometimes dubbed “Ozempic butt”. Strength training seems to be the answer not just for GLP-1 users but everyone else. A growing body of medical literature suggests strength training cuts mortality, particularly for women, while also helping to prevent osteoporosis and relieving the symptoms of depression. “It’s gone from being health and fitness to health and wellness, which is a lot more holistic” says Eleanor Scott, a partner on PwC’s leisure strategy team.”
(Two quick comments from the peanut gallery over here. I think any method of rapid weight loss, indeed any method of weight loss without strength training, has this problem. And I think, in general the move to strength training makes sense for gyms because the pandemic taught me that while I can run and bike at home, I really like having a bench, a squat rack, and lots of heavy weights and benches at the gym. Also, we’re learning how much strength training matters for older people.)
And then the She’s a Beast blog introduced to me to the ballerina body as an ideal, which is just about as silly and unreachable as it sounds. See What is so wrong with wanting a ‘ballerina body’?
Casey Johnston writes,”It feels important to note that not every body aesthetic is unrealistic or expressive of patriarchal oppression. But, “ballerina body,” I mean…… come on. And this is not even to say that ballerinas are per se unhealthy! (Though the industry certainly has its issues). Ballet dancers do lift weights! But the body of a ballet dancer, just as with the elusive “swimmer’s body” for men, is inversely selective to what we perceive from the outside: They are ballet dancers because they have a particular body; they don’t develop a particular body from being ballet dancers. It has so little to do with training and so much to do with genetics that it’s nothing but an illusion, in terms of attainability.”
I don’t know who’s responsible for originating one of the great wrong ideas of all time: that if you don’t learn some skill or hobby or sport or language or discipline as a child, you might as well hang it up; it’s not going to happen.
This came to mind recently when I read an anecdote on Facebook from one of my favorite rhythm tap dancers (and my former teacher), Josh Hilberman. He posted this:
The average adult who contacts us for tap classes leads with ‘I have no sense of rhythm, one of my legs doesn’t work, I have no memory or hope’ and it constantly depresses me to think how many horrible messages we all internalise growing up.
I want to know who’s responsible for this piece of supreme misinformation because they need to be issued a cease-and-desist order now.
One of the most fun things I’ve done in my life has been tap dancing. Yes, it’s true. I used to study and teach and perform rhythm tap, occasionally to live music, and always with a healthy dose of jazz improvisation. It was joyful, creative, intellectually satisfying and a very serious workout. And I started tapping at age 26 at the famous Leon Collins dance studio in Brookline, MA, where I could take a variety of courses and learn classic numbers and also how to jam to live music. Did I say how fun it was?
It just so happened that I picked up tap pretty quickly and advanced (with a lot of work and enthusiasm and a little talent). But there were loads of students I took classes with (and taught classes for) who did it for their own enjoyment, not for dance advancement. On Josh’s FB page, one friend of his responded to his post, saying:
I have 1 adult student who is so happy to remain in Tap I forever. She brags about it with a big smile and a boisterous laugh.
I am that person in yoga classes. It feels A-OK to do poses in elementary or modified/easier ways. I have no ambition whatsoever. As they say, I’m just happy to be there.
To be clear: there are all kinds of things we can decide to start learning at just about any point in the life trajectory. Naturally, prudence and risk analysis perhaps should play a modest role in such decision-making (I’m not going to start downhill mountain biking at this point; although to be honest I was just as chicken about this when I was 25). But otherwise, have at it!
Also, different avocations have different learning curves, so it’s good to consider our goals for whatever we’ve decided to study or learn. At this point in my life, it’s unlikely I’ll set my sights on playing cello in a major (or minor) symphony orchestra. But hey, who am I to rain on your parade?
By the way, if you happen to find yourself in Liege, Belgium and want to take a beginner tap class, Josh and his wife Stephanie will be happy to get you started.
Beginning Adult tap– Tuesday evenings, 6L15–7:30pm. Love the Fred and Ginger pics with Josh’s and Stephanie’s heads placed for maximium goofy effect.
So to sum up: go out there and take classes or instruction in whatever pleases you or grabs your fancy. If it’s fun for you, yay!
Readers, do you have a yearning to get out there to learn something new? I’d love to know.
I took a really fun dance workshop over the weekend.
The instructor Vanessa combined elements of Samba and Capoeira to create a class that was the good kind of challenging – difficult enough to keep me focused but relaxed enough to make me laugh when I messed up.
After the workshop, I swear I could feel every muscle in my body, I was sweaty, I had a huge smile on my face, and I thought ‘I need to do this more often!’
And then I had a good laugh at myself.
There is literally nothing stopping me from dancing for fitness more often except that I keep forgetting how much I like it.
So, this post is a note-to-self:
More dancing = More fun.
A GIF of a kid in a blue dress and pink sunglasses dancing in a hallway.
PS – My YouTube search for ‘fun dancing’ provided this marvellous video. Enjoy!
A YouTube video from The Fitness Marshall called ‘Throwback Dance Workout with Mom and Grandma: Whip It.’ The still features three dancers in green t-shirts and black pants against a purple background.
In thinking about life after knee replacement and planning my fitness life for my sixties, I’m trying to remember my happiest active times. I’m wondering what aspects of those times it makes sense to think about getting back, as well as what new stuff I want to add.
Sam testing for 5th kyu in Aikido
And, of course, what old stuff I’m ready to give away. I mean, some things are right out of the picture. That’s running and all sports that involve it, like soccer. Other things are back in, for sure, like recreational cycling.
But what form does this take in my ideal life?
I’m still reflecting on Tracy’s piece about how turning 60 feels different than turning 50. And part of that, for Tracy, seemed to be giving up on a bunch of external fitness should talk. Her interests also changed, and she’s approaching sixty with a more integrated and sustainable approach to fitness.
Writes Tracy, “When I was approaching my fifties, I had an intensity and focus around my fitness activities that was extremely goal-oriented. I had an eye on one thing and one thing only: the Olympic distance triathlon. Though of course the goal yielded some internal change (mostly in the form of perseverance), the goal itself was external.”
Truth be told, Tracy’s approach differed in that she had a much more ambitious goal. And she took up more new things than me. So it’s not a surprise that our attitudes about the difference between 50 and 60 are different.
Me, I want to get back to some aspects of the life I created leading up to 50. I loved it. I loved the biking, the rowing, Aikido, and CrossFit. By the end of the challenge, I wasn’t so focused on an external goal. Rather, the fittest by fifty challenge helped me appreciate how much physical activity matters to me and how much it’s part of my version of a good life. I might have started with an external goal–fittest by fifty–but it ended with a real love and appreciation of sport, physical activity, and joyful movement. I knew it was an important part of my life, going into the challenge, but the fittest by fifty challenge helped me appreciate how much it mattered.
My goal for the challenge was the Friends for Life Bike Rally, which I did as part of our challenge, but I did it again in August of 2022, right before my first knee replacement surgery. I don’t think I’ll manage it this year, the year I’m turning 60, but I’ve got 2025 in my sights. I’d like to do it in my 50th and my 60th year and I’ll still be 60 then.
Fit at Midlife the book on the left, Tracy and Sam in a publicity photo on the right
So I did keep some of my cycling fitness after the fittest by fifty challenge, and I hope to keep that up for a very long time yet. So what’s missing for me?
There are four themes that keep coming up when I think about the fitness future I want.
First, it’s community. When I think back over my various fitness pursuits, the best times involve working out with other people. I think about bike clubs and teams, my soccer team, the Aikido dojo, the rowing club, and so on. Even CrossFit’s appeal lay mainly in the community. Soccer, Aikido, rowing, and bike clubs are all team efforts where you work with others. I like that a lot. They’re also all community associations where people are drawn from all walks of life and from all corners of the community. It’s what I like about the Guelph Community Boating Club.
Sam and Sarah racing the snipe at Guelph Lake
Second, it’s active, outdoor adventure. I love being outside. I love moving my body. The combo is perfect.
Two photos of Sam in red shirts in her canoe
Third, it’s intensity. I do my best work in teams and there’s something about the group effort that makes me work harder. Team time trials are one of my favourite kinds of bike races and they’re intense, co-operative efforts. Of course, that’s also true of rowing. I like sports that have intensity built in. I’m not sure what form that will take as I get older, but I still think about one of our earlier blog posts, about aging as a choice. Is Aging a Lifestyle Choice? I talked about Gretchen Reynold’s book on exercise science, The First Twenty Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can: Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer, where I was particularly taken with her chapter on aging,
I wrote: “The old view was that muscle loss and a decline in aerobic capacity were inevitable with old age. We slow down with age and become more frail, starting in our 40s, it seemed. But new research suggests the connections may run the other way. We become slower and more frail because we stop moving. Older athletes get slower and less strong, not because they’re older, but rather because they train less than younger athletes.”
Sam’s bike rally team 2022
Fourth, they’ve involved some element of competition. I’ve never been a serious racer but I like club level competition, in most physical activity that I do. (Obviously that’s lacking in yoga and hiking.) It provides some benchmarking and gives a purpose to training.
So, purposeful training, outdoors, in a community, with intensity, and some competition…that’s where we are so far!
Canberra’s Vikings above, Dunedin’s Women on Wheels below
What happened to my fitness community? Where did it go?
Well, my knees for one thing. Knee pain led to saying goodbye to running, soccer, Aikido and CrossFit. My big move was another. Bye-bye cycling coach and the community of cyclists I rode with in London. And then there was my big new job. That’s a lot.
Also there’s age. In Canada it’s harder to find groups that include older adults. I often think back fondly to my racing days in Australia where the master’s cycling group had an active over-80 group. You needed a doctors note to race after 80. It’s hard to imagine an active group of seniors racing bikes in Canada.
As I try to construct a ‘fitness after sixty’ plan, I’m thinking about activities in three groups–things I’m saying goodbye to, things I’m keeping and new things I want to add.
And I also want to recognize the pieces of the plan that are already in place. Zwift hits both the community and competition buttons. The Guelph Community Boating Club is very much of the volunteer association model I like.
On the bye list are running, soccer, Aikido.
On the keep list are hiking, cycling, sailboat racing, yoga, paddling, and weightlifting.
And on the new list are bike packing and dancing. I’m not sure where to put swimming but it’s in there.
Oh, there’s also a fourth category–to pick again after retirement–rowing for sure!
Sled pushing at the gym
Look this is obviously very much a work in progress. Stay tuned!
Also, I’ve been trying for better blog post titles.
Here’s some AI suggested:
1. “Rediscovering Joy: Embracing Fitness After Knee Replacement”
2. “Creating a Vibrant Future: Planning Fitness in Your Sixties”
3. “Reflecting on Active Happiness: Reimagining Fitness After Knee Replacement”
4. “The Next Chapter: Designing a Fulfilling Fitness Journey in Your Sixties”
5. “From Recovery to Revival: Crafting a Dynamic Fitness Routine After Knee Replacement”
