Swimming With The Seniors

It was not easy for me to exercise when I weighed 400 pounds.  I knew that I needed it, but I knew I would be limited with what I could do without risking a heart attack or broken bones.   I headed for the pool.  I was counting on the water being the least painful form of exercise for me to engage in. 

The thought of putting on a bathing suit, and facing people already in the pool, was frightening to say the least.  I was counting on manufacturers not making a bathing suit large enough to cover me, for  an excuse not to swim.  No such luck; there are mail order catalogs that make swimsuits for every body shape imaginable.   When it arrived in the mail, and covered the important parts, the excuses were over. 

The hardest steps I ever took were walking into the public pool area. Someone was watching out for me the day I took my first swim.  I picked a water aerobics class filled with seniors, and that made all the difference in coping with the amount of shame I was feeling scantily dressed with no place to hide. 

When I joined the seniors at the YMCA and began swimming with them, I was hoping people would ignore me; I was so miserable, how could anyone be nice to me?  Quickly I learned that seniors don’t care what you look like, where you came from, or anything else about you.  They are happy you came and joined them for a swim.  They are proud of the exercising they are doing, and they are ready to share a smile with you, or offer free advice from their own voice of experience.   

They swam for an hour and a half and I assumed since I was younger than them, that I had the stamina to do the same.  About an hour after I got home, I felt like I had been hit by a train.  I had to sit in a chair, and rest.  I kept telling myself it was unbelievable that the seniors I just swam with were in better shape than I was.   That’s when I became a believer in, “Use it or lose it.”  I had definitely lost it and I was hoping I could revive myself enough  in 2 days to join them again.

Weeks went by.  I never stopped swimming with my beloved seniors, and soon I knew their names.   They were the true veterans of life, and my own tale of woe paled in comparison to what some of them had lived through.  My challenge was food; some of them were recovering from cancer, and other devastating illnesses.  Every day I left grateful for the life I was trying to restore.

As the pounds kept coming off, I no longer came home and collapsed in my chair; I ate lunch and headed to Onondaga Lake Park for a walk.  As soon as the schedule was posted I was signing up for as many water aerobic classes that I could.  The people in the pool became my family.  We laughed, we swam, and it was insignificant how many years separated us; our kindred spirit bonded us with each other.

If you are hesitant to join a gym, or feel intimidated to emerge yourself in public, join a pool.  Order a swimsuit through the mail if need be, and swim with the seniors.  It takes 2 minutes to walk out into the pool area, hang up your towel and get in the water.   You are trading 2 minutes of embarrassment for a lifetime of fitness and the wonderful feeling of taking charge of your health.  My senior swimming buddies forged the path I walk on today.