Our Breakthrough Spotlight this month is Lindy! She shares about the importance of strength training as we age, maintaining quality of life, and showing up even when you might have to work around some aches and pains. We just love having Lindy in our Breakthrough family!
BREAKTHROUGH: Thank you for chatting with me this morning, Lindy!
LINDY: You are welcome! I am honored. Ha, ha!
BREAKTHROUGH: We love doing these interviews with you guys because, first of all, not everyone sees each other. We have a lot of people who don’t ever see the morning crew because they come at night…
LINDY: I am not getting up at 5:00 in the morning! Ha, ha!
BREAKTHROUGH: Ha, ha yes! You’re not getting up at 5 in the morning and there’s a whole slew of people who are not available mid-morning…
LINDY: There are benefits to being retired!
BREAKTHROUGH: Right! Exactly! So, thank you for doing it. Let’s start by hearing about what brought you to Breakthrough?
LINDY: So, my neighbor Susan had joined a couple months before and she told me about how you guys kind of take us from where we are; that it’s all about strength. And that being older is fine! And I hadn’t done any strength work for decades. I’ve been a yoga practitioner since my early 40’s and as I have gotten older the arthritis in my hands and wrists has gotten bad, so I’m not even really doing strength yoga. So, I realized that as we get older, we lose so much muscle and that I need to work on that and try to strengthen my bones as well. So, strengthening is really important, and I want to be able to always get up off the floor. And things like that. I watched my mom get older and, if she falls, she can’t get up.
BREAKTHROUGH: Yes, it can be a big motivation to see people that you know, and say, I don’t want to go down that path. Myself, included. I am in it for longevity. I want to be able to do all the things that I am doing now when I am older. So, now that you have been with us for several months, what have you noticed? How are you feeling that is different than how you were feeling before?
LINDY: Well, I do believe I am getting stronger. I mentioned that I have four grandsons under the age of four. One of them is about 15 pounds and I take care of him a lot. When we are on the floor, because he is only 4 months, I have to stand up with him in my arms. That is a challenge, but I am doing it!
BREAKTHROUGH: Yes, exactly! That is awesome. I love finding those things that happen outside the gym.
LINDY: Oh, yeah!
BREAKTHROUGH: Because that is really why we train – so we can do what we want to do outside the gym… So, I love seeing those things, and hearing those things from you guys. For a lot of people here it’s all about the grandkids. Being able to pick them up and keep up with them and do all that stuff.
LINDY: Yes, and I am 70 and you know I am one of those people who is proud of my age. I don’t hide it or anything like that. I am glad that I can still do that at 70.
BREAKTHROUGH: Totally. That is important. Is there anything that has surprised you about training?
LINDY: Well, the idea that one day I could maybe be able to do a pull up.
BREAKTHROUGH: Hey!
LINDY: You know, I’m just hanging and lifting my feet a little bit. I have a long way to go, but I have seen other ladies that are close to my age who can hang there for 30 seconds.
BREAKTHROUGH: You are making progress every week! I saw your last pull ups last week and it was like, oh wow those are really coming along! So yeah, it’s exciting I think to have goals like that, that you weren’t necessarily even thinking that you would want to do – like a hang.
LINDY: Right. And if they are broken down into baby steps. Not like, oh you have to do a pull up. That is never happening! Ha, ha!
BREAKTHROUGH: Yeah, I think that is important. I think that a lot of times people don’t provide you a pathway to doing something, or you might think I could never do that. But there are steps that we can take to learn to do things like a pull up, a push up… Basically, any of the strength moves that we do, there are steps that we can take to build up to doing a more challenging version.
LINDY: And I must say that you guys are good at working with people who have injuries. So, I have a cranky back that decides to go out, sometimes with a reason and sometimes just out of nowhere and…
BREAKTHROUGH: Yeah. For no reason …
LINDY: And you guys are able to work around that. I am glad that I don’t have to skip working out when that happens.
BREAKTHROUGH: No, thank goodness! One of things that we encourage you guys to do is to come in even if we might have to modify something. Because even if something is hurting, there is other stuff that we can do that’s not going to aggravate that thing and most of the time, we feel better once we start moving a little bit. Even if we have to avoid certain things, if we start moving other joints, other areas that aren’t affected, it feels better. So, that’s great! I am glad that you trust us to be able to do that for you.
LINDY: Yes. Ha,ha!
BREAKTHROUGH: So then, the last, and most important question is what is your why?
LINDY: I knew that was coming! Ha, ha!
BREAKTHROUGH: Yes, well, I ask it every time! Ha, ha! I know you’ve read other interviews…
LINDY: I guess it’s to stay as strong as I can for as long as I can, so that I can do as much as I can. Whether it is with the grandchildren, or yoga, or just walking!
BREAKTHROUGH: That is a perfect answer and one that a lot of people can relate to! Like I told you a second ago, for me, it’s longevity. I want to be able to do all the things I want to do for as long as I possibly can do them.
LINDY: And I don’t necessarily want to live to be 100 years old, but I want the quality of my life to be as good as possible.
BREAKTHROUGH: Yeah, I agree with that! Awesome! Thank you so much for sharing all of this. Lindy.