Thursday, July 28, 2016

In which a comment from Webb reminds me why I have stopped skipping the abs sections of my workouts

In this post, Webb commented that she hopes we all make it to 95.

I do, too, but I want it to be a healthy, vigorous 95.

Have I told you guys the story of finding the woman who had fallen who couldn't get up?

It was a super cold day in February. I had stopped at the school on my way home to vote in some primary. I walked out and had not put my sunglasses back on. I saw a woman on her back on the sidewalk, reaching her hand under the car.

I squinted and decided she must have dropped her keys and was trying to retrieve them. But when I got closer, I realized that she had fallen (because really, who lies down on her back to get keys?) and could not get up.

You guys, it was freezing cold. FREEZING.

I dropped my purse and gym bag, reached out my hand to her, grabbed her one hand, and tried to pull her up.

I. Could. Not. Pull. Her. Up.

I am fairly strong and in decent shape for my age. She was probably in her late 50s or early 60s, maybe 30 pounds overweight.

Even with my pulling on her, she did not have enough abdominal strength to sit up from lying down.

I grabbed her hand with both of my hands and tried pulling again.

She did not move.

I am strong! But I was trying to pull up dead weight and it was not working.

I saw some other people come out of the polls and yelled at them to come help. It took three people to get her back on her feet.

That, my friends, is the day I stopped leaving BodyPump before the abdominal routine. When I am old, I want to be able to get up when I fall.

6 comments:

  1. I read an article that stated 72% of people in assisted living are there because they are to weak to get out of bed or off the toilet. Not because of stroke or other obvious reasons one would need assistance for.

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    1. I can believe it. We are living that with my MIL.

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    2. Doris could barely get out of a chair by herself in her last years. Primo teases me because I am ruthless about working out with weights, but she is my Glamour Don't on this.

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    3. My mom is almost 80 and is really having difficulty in going from sitting to standing. We've now got a trainer for her at the Y. I'm hoping she will keep it up and it will help. (I actually asked her if she wants to be walking in 5 years, that's how I got her to agree to a trainer.)

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  2. Glad my comment motivated you, but now I'm gonna have to stay at jazzercize thu the abs, too!

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    1. I love jazzercise. I miss it. That's how I used to stay current with music. And that's how I know how to grapevine.

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