Do Grandmas Need a Six-Pack?

I blame Jane Fonda.

I remember when she came out with her aerobics video looking all in shape and said,

"This is what 50 looks like."

I remember my grandmas when I was a kid and 50 looked nothing like that. My grandmothers wore house dresses, not leotards, and the only exercise they ever got was from ironing.

After flying from Los Angeles to North Dakota yesterday, I got up at 7 this morning (5 am Pacific Time), drove for an hour and a half to a meeting in New Town and after five hours of meetings, came back to the hotel, worked for another 2 hours, then I went hiking for half an hour.

I came back to the hotel, worked some more and then did another 30 sit ups because I thought walking for half an hour wasn't enough exercise.

All of which brought me back to the question -

Do grandmas really need a six-pack?

I'll be 58 years old on Monday. How old do I have to be before it is okay if I don't want to swim the English channel or run a marathon? People post in the comments on my blog about how serious training for masters competition is, how age is just a number.

Frankly, I think that 'age is only a number' idea is bullshit.

The reason I did sit ups is that my hand has been bothering me so much that I'm having surgery next week, so I can't do 30 push-ups like I usually do.

This is my second joint being reconstructed. (My knee was the first.) So, yeah, don't give me that age-is-only-a-number crap.

Now, I'm not saying that we should all just be sitting in rocking chairs, knitting and eating pizza.

 I think there should be a point after which it's okay to come back to the hotel after a 12-hour day and drink a glass of wine while watching Scared Straight and not feel as if it's mandatory to run 3 miles on the treadmill because "after all, the workout room is open 24 hours".

So, yeah, take it from me, You don't have to keep trying to set world records when you're 42. I'm going to be guilt-free while I drink my glass of 3 Blind Moose (I swear that is the house brand of Chardonnay at this hotel).

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