SENIOR STRONG: NEW GYM REVIEW

Senior strong is what happens in the cardio rehab gym at Meridian Park.

It’s not about gains or personal records or flexing in the mirror.

The important flexing isn’t something that reflects back into the room.

Instead, it’s more of an internal flex. Cardio rehab gives it away.

Being senior strong in the rehab gym is all about the heart, but you know what.

What you don’t know unless you get in there is the level of motivation.

During an important moment I listened to someone I respect with an open mind and open heart.

My heart filled with understanding and remorse at the same time, and it was literally too much.

The experts called it Broken Heart Syndrome. I called it something else.

After a night under supervision in the hospital, this sixty six year old went home with instructions to not lift anything over five pounds.

My first response was ‘So should I get a catheter?’ But I kept it to myself. It was more serious than a D-joke.

About three months ago I had rehabbed my shoulder to the point of benching 225 lbs again. I’d regained my self-esteem, my gym rat self esteem.

Or, so I thought.

I haven’t lifted since, but my first step back is the cardio rehab gym, and here’s why:

Small Steps Toward A Big Senior Strong Jump

Nine years ago I called the ambulance for a gym guy having a heart attack in the dressing room.

I wrote a guest column about it for the Oregonian newspaper.

Not long after, I called an ambulance for a man who collapsed on the weight room floor. He had to be in severe duress to lay down in that mess and vomit.

I kept an eye out for emergencies. My own emergency didn’t feel so important, like I could sleep it off, which is what I warned the heart attack guy about.

“You’ll go home, take a nap and die, you f-ing idiot. I’m calling 911.”

Did I follow my own f-ing advice? Of course not. I can call someone a f-ing idiot because I know who they are.

My people.

After feeling something ‘off’ on a Saturday, I checked in on Monday morning and checked out Tuesday. The insurance notice came to tell how much I owed on a roughly $27,000 bill.

No surgery, no meds, but a fairly clean bill of health after all the testing.

Call it tuition.

Next Stop, Cardio Rehab

My first worry was what to wear., which told me my priorities.

I used to gear up in layers of sweats with a rain suit over the top to create a walking sauna effect.

It was my fat man reduction outfit because, you know, fat man sweating it out is a good look.

But is it a good look for cardio rehab? No.

So I wore what I’d seen other old guys wear in the real gym, which is the same clothes they wear for mall walking: Slacks, soft collar shirt, leather tennis shoes.

I fit right in.

The goal of cardio rehab is establishing a baseline of progress, and improving the numbers. Not weight numbers, but blood pressure and pulse numbers.

I signed up, walked in, got the orientation, then hooked up to a monitor I wore around my neck with three wires and contacts. One for each side under the ribs, and one near the right collar bone.

Interested participants could see their electrocardiogram beats on a wall monitor. The nurses’ desk had the same image on their computer screen.

The first day there I tunnel visioned my way through a treadmill walk and a stationary bike ride all hooked up.

Since it was cardio rehab, I skipped my usual evaluation of most every room I enter: Who could I take in a fight.

On the second day I had a better focus on who and what to fight.

The third day in the gym in one week, I felt locked in. We were all in the same fight for life, a better life than one ruled by heart issues.

The routine was a comfort. Show up on time, get blood pressure check, weigh in, hook up, and work that heart.

On The Fourth Day Of Cardio Rehab

I settled on an outfit of skin tight black sweat pants with black shorts over them. I wore black socks with the sweats tucked in, James Harden signature shoes, bright red stay-dry long sleeve top with a black vest for extra heat.

In other words, I came ready to dominate the cardio gym, if anyone was looking.

On the treadmill I chop-stepped, long-walked, side-walked, and dance stepped to keep my interest on a 2.5 mph speed. Twenty five minutes later I mounted up on the bike.

Since I was warmed up I pegged the resistance work load to 8 and stood on the pedals four times in twenty minutes for fifteen RPMs.

If I was going to be a senior in an aging man environment, I would be as senior strong as any of them.

Instead of going through the prescribed motions, I would push it, push it real good.

Senior Strong Moments

Based on evidence, all of the men in cardio rehab had survived their heart problems. And they were all men.

The only women were nurses, or the daughters and wives who brought rehab guys in.

This is where it gets complicated.

Are guys in there to comply with doctor’s orders and not give the impression that they’d rather just let it ride out to the end?

Do they show up to keep the family happy that grandpa isn’t a quitter?

Or, are they in there to see what’s left in the tank?

Since I had the teachers pet desk, or bike, at the front of the room, I got a good look around.

The men looked dedicated to their future. They listened to the specialists and nurses and followed instruction.

This part is important because jackasses don’t follow instructions. Why? Because they already know everything. There are no jackasses in cardio rehab.

The bigger picture is one where old men invest in their future, their independence, their autonomy. They are getting up and moving to a better place when they could just as easily have stayed down.

That’s no small thing.

The men in cardio rehab are not calling it a day, not ready to call it a day, and that should say something to the healthy population at large.

Making an effort to stabilize and strengthen their heart sends a senior strong message:

Do more with what you’ve got while you’ve still got it.

It strikes closer to home for some than others.

If you know someone who is missing the message, make the call.