Does youth end at 35?

[workingToBeFit]

I wanted to add something here. I have been enjoying this thread so much, and all of the wonderful sometimes inspiring, sometimes funny posts, but I got reflective today about aging after hearing that the wife of a couple I was great friends with in earlier days, living in another city, had died.

I don't mind so much the wrinkles, or the spots, or the aches and pains - and I am really fit at 50 and enjoying my health still - but what's hard to me about getting older is the older I get, the more friends and family I have lost, and the more of them are seriously ill.

Not to get everybody depressed here, but I was just really feeling this today after learning another old friend had died.

~ Ann ~
Aim for nothing, and you'll hit it every time!

 

[LauraMax]

>One thought too, I taught fitness classes for many years and I
>noticed that in the 80's, most of the students were in their
>20's because it was really in vogue then. In the 90's and
>beyond, it's the baby boomers in class. The last coordinator
>that I had even told us that we needed to gear our workouts to
>the baby boomer population in terms of music. I always groaned
>when a younger person showed up for my advanced step class
>because almost always they were in terrible shape and could
>not keep up at all. If I saw an older woman - even with a few
>pounds on her - they usually could keep up because they were
>walking or doing something.

Meredith, I was thinking this exact same thing last night. Partly b/c of another thread that mentioned Jane Fonda--how many of us were inspired by good ole' Jane in her leg warmers? :7 It seems like the majority of women on this forum are.......ahem......more mature.

And I was also thinking about how out of shape the "more youthful" crowd seems to be these days. That thought coming after seeing a girl about 21-22 at the gym wearing shorts w/the most unbelievable cellulite on the back of her legs. I couldn't help but wonder: why wear shorts in 40 degree weather if pants would be more comfortable? I mean, I'M afraid to wear shorts at the gym b/c my skin isn't as tight as it used to be--I could not figure out what this girl was thinking!

Then I started remembering pre-Janet Jackson at the Superbowl days when baring the midriff was in fashion. I wore those tops & when I went to clubs or whatever & saw these girls in their 20s w/skin tight jeans, belly-baring tops & a nice roll of flab hanging in between I'd just laugh & shake my head.

Oh & also there were Tom Wolfe's "social X-rays" in the 80s. They were in their 30s & 40s.

So maybe serious exercise is a generational thing. It seems like it's kind of gone out of style during the last 10 years or so. Or I could just be completely out of touch w/today's youth. :+

 

[Stebby]

Laura, I know what you mean about some of the unfit younger crowd today (I'm not talking about the fit young ladies on this forum, more so the general public who are mostly not fit at all). I think that many people who, if they were from an older generation, would hide their bodies, dress in a revealing manner because to themselves, they look fine -- they are the "norm", no different from all their friends. Very body-conscious clothes are also the "norm". I am always amazed by one of the shampoo girls at the hair salon where I go. She wears low-rise very tight jeans, and a long slim fitted sweater over it. Her muffin-top bulges over the top of her pants and her sweater just looks like a big mass of bulges and rolls. She looks at herself in the mirror all the time and you can tell that to herself, she looks hot (she struts). On the one hand, I'm thinking, "good for her for being proud of her body" and on the other hand I'm thinking "does she not know how she looks?".

Edited to say: I started teaching aerobics classes in 1984 at the age of 23. Most of the students were my age and older. The last time I taught group fitness (about a year ago), the students were still my age or older!

 

[workingToBeFit]

I was sure inspired by Jane Fonda and her striped leg warmers - playing on my BETA tape machine, ha ha.

Anyway all hope is not lost for the really young crowd. I teach at Florida State U., we have a three story, HUGE gym facility where students, faculty and staff can all go. The place is always full of young students, and honestly the women students in there are the buffest and fittest bunch of women I've ever seen. They are doing the cardio machines, working out with heavy weights, spinning, everything.

Needless to say my husband likes to go there to work out too.

~ Ann ~
Aim for nothing, and you'll hit it every time!

 

[dani21496]

>I'm 41 and I still get carded. Yes, I still pass for someone
>in their 20s. This is a result of good skincare
> a good eating program, and Cathe's workouts.
>

Me too!! Except I'm 39. I get carded everywhere, and sometimes they ask me for 2 forms of ID or go grab another person to double check my id, because they don't believe me. I was at a wedding and went to the bar to get a drink for my dad. They made me walk all the way back to my table to get my id and I was wearing uncomfortable high heels. Ugh! I came back with my id and the bartender told me he thought I was in high school.

 

[melrose]

Okay, listen up kiddies, Grandma's got somethin' to say:

I'm 55. Some days I feel 90, some days I feel 15. Some days I feel like a wise elder, some days I wonder what I'll do when I grow up.

Yes, your youth will end - no, it won't end at 35 unless you want it to. 99 percent of it is mental.

I don't look like I did at 35 and I couldn't care less.

Enjoy the rollercoaster - life is a great ride.

 

[lala1]

Laura Max, you have a way of getting responses To the poster of the Rooney quotes, thanks, and to the previous poster: good advice! Toastythemoasty, my DH is almost 4 yrs younger than I and overweight (his goal is to lose it...the weight that is ) but, it bothers me only re: his health. He's not into working out, so that's fine. He used to bike and backpack, etc. but life has a way of changing things. I do, at 51, tend to think about growing older, but strive to "enjoy the ride".