Gail's Routine

Hi everybody, I'm Eric from Love the North. And today we have
Wayne, who has been with us for a little while. And Wayne's also brought in his friend from the gym, Gail.

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Gail, good to see you. It's nice to see you, nice for you to have me, thank you.

So, Gail, how did...

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How did you get roped into this?

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Well, this guy here.

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(Laughing)

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I guess when he was approached, he was all excited about it, and he's talked about it at the gym often.

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And I know he's been watching me work out. Did he... Do you guys know each other from before? No. No. Okay. Just from the gym. Yeah. And I thought, oh, why is he watching me? What's he doing?(...) Because I know sometimes he would correct me about something, which was fine. I said, oh, that's good. Like, correct me if I'm doing it wrong.(...) And then last week he approached me and said, what would you think of joining the podcast with me? I said, oh, I don't know about that. He said, oh, no, no, no, it's okay.

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People over 70 should get involved into this kind of stuff. And I said, well, okay, I'll see what it's about. So here I am. Here you are. Here I am. So how long have you been working out for? I have been working out, oh my gosh, many years, since I've been about 40. Oh, yeah?

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40's a good age to get going. 40's a good age, because my kids were teenagers by then.(...) So I was looking for something else and just working full-time all the time. So you had a little more time? So I had a little bit more time. So I started working out, I started doing yoga.(...) So I was doing yoga three nights a week and I was working out four or five times a day. Four what? Four or five times a day? A day after work. Really? Plus I would walk. Okay, so four or five times a week A day? Yes, not a day. I was worked full-time.

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(Laughs) I worked full-time. I didn't have the time for that.(...) But yes, and I just really enjoyed, not just going to the gym and working out, it's the people you meet, right? Oh, yeah, for sure. The people you meet, the camaraderie. Like it's, as you get older, because I don't work anymore and I'm retired and I'm a widow, so I live alone.(...) So to me to go to the gym in the morning, that's like my community. Yeah, yeah. And you talk to people and you still keep working out.

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And like one lady this morning asked, came over and watched me what I was doing. And she said, "What does that do? Like, does it work your arms?" So I showed her and she said, "I'd have to try that." And she's like in her 70s as well. Yeah, so I know you're never supposed to ask someone's age, but are you over 65? I will be 75 next month. And you go out and you're moving pretty good. You walked in here like it was nobody's business. I had a total knee replacement two years ago.

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During COVID,(...) the gyms were closed and open, closed and open. Same thing with yoga. So I had to do something at home, right? Because there was nothing open. So I downloaded a little yoga app and I was doing my yoga app. And then a couple of years ago, my knee went and I couldn't walk, I couldn't do yoga, I couldn't even do chair yoga.

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And the orthopedic surgeon said, "You have osteoarthrosis."

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So he said, "Your knee needs to be replaced."

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And after I had my knee replaced, he said, "You won't be doing yoga like you did before. You won't be able to be on your knees. You know I'm on my knees." I know.

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And I said, "Oh, no, no, I will be."(...) You're gonna get it done. I will get it done and I still walk every night for an hour. An hour? An hour every night. Do you have a dog? Nope. Go for a walk?

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I watch my daughter's dog every now and then. But other than that, no, I had dogs before. So it sounds like you're pretty active. I'm very active, yes.

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Wayne?

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It's a state of mind. That's right. It really is a state of mind. And then once you start doing what we're doing, you can't stop, it feels your body just drives you to do it and your brain drives you to do it. Like I get up in the morning, it's like, "Okay, I wanna get there, you know, and I wanna start working out." And then if you don't, you kinda have withdrawals? Yes, like I don't go on the weekend. I don't go Saturday, Sunday, I go Monday to Friday.

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And some mornings I get up and I go, "Oh, you know, I don't really feel like going there." Half an hour later, it's like, "Now get dressed and go." And you'll be fine once you get there and I am. Keep going. Yeah, again, just getting in the door. Once you're in the door, you're good. That's right, it's like even a job. Sometimes you just don't feel like going to that job.(...) You should go, you gotta go. Well, unless you're one of these younger folk that take their time and sometimes it'll show up. Yes,(...) I have teenage grandsons, so I know.

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Okay, so you know what we're talking about? I know what you're talking about, yes.

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So,(...) you've been working out for a while. You started in your 40s, you said? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yeah. And then how's your energy compared to back then? Well, it's not the same. Yeah.

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It's not the same, let's face it.

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No, my energy is still very good. Like I still live in my own home. I do all my own stuff. Yeah.

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Cut the grass,(...) shovel. All the stuff. All my own housework, yeah. All the stuff that you have to do. Put it in your home. Would you attribute that to staying active? Definitely, because it also keeps your mind

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more active and mentally alert, I think. Yeah, yeah. I know a lot of people say even just going for a walk after dinner. That's when I like to go for a walk. A brisk walk as well. Oh yes, not just looking in people's windows, kind of a, you know, no, no, a walk. (Laughs) A real walk that you're actually getting some cardio out of that walk. And that's my main thing, is to get the cardio out of my walk.

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So Wayne, you're, so you just happened to run into Dale at the gym and-- Yeah, went over, said hi. Yeah. And how you doing? And, you know, yeah, just started talking. And other friends that were there, we ended up with a, kind of a little circle that we talked with. We have a little group there that we know who's going in the morning and pretty much the same people. And the social aspect of it is really good for us. That's what I need, is so far. Like I said, my wife works, so there's nobody at home.(...) Unfortunately, Gayle lost her husband a couple of years ago. No, seven months ago. Seven months ago. So, you know, that aspect takes your mind maybe off of that kind of thing. And we encourage other folks that are by themselves maybe at home to come out and do that because, you know, it's a good frame of mind.

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You don't have to be sitting at home alone. No, you can get it out there for-- Get out there and-- Get your mind off of it. Yes, yeah, yeah. Stay healthy and a sense of community.(...) Well, that's what it is. To me, it's a sense of community. Like my husband was sick for two years and I was his caregiver.

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So, last year, last January actually, I said I need to do a little something more because I'm not good for him because I'm getting very anxious and depressed, so I'm not helping him.

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So, I would go to the gym for an hour in the morning because that's about all I could leave him. But I had that hour that I could, and that's how I started by doing that.(...) So, back to your knee. How's your knee these days? It's okay? It's okay, yeah. Yeah, I keep it moving. You keep it moving? I keep it moving. Does it hurt, especially after getting a replacement?

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Totally replacement is hard. It's harder than hip surgery, I was told. Hopefully I'll never need a hip surgery.

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But it's always stiff, but after I work out in the morning, it feels better. When you wake up, it's stiff. Yeah, so how come you needed a hip, or not a hip, but the knee replacement? Because of the osteoarthritis and it just blew up. I don't know why, it just, yeah, it just happens. You just gotta get it done. You gotta get it done, yeah.(...) So, definitely, it sounds like the exercise component is really keeping things. Oh, yes, after the surgery, whereas a hip surgery, you wait two weeks before you do physio. A knee, two days later,(...) two days after, Friday I had the surgery, Monday they had me in physio. Start physio. Right away? Right away. You don't wait. (Laughs) I was told that if you do wait, if you don't do the exercise, there's no point in even having any operation. No. Right. No, you can't even bend your knee if you don't.

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It's very important that you do the physio. You know so many people now are aged that are getting knee and hip replacements, my God. It's happening all the time and someone I know had their both knees done and didn't exercise after and now they're walking with a cane. They're walking with a cane or a walk? Yeah. That's no quality of life. No.(...) No. You wanna have your independence as long as you can have it. Well, that was the whole point of getting it done, right? That's the whole thing. I couldn't go for a walk because I couldn't even be on it

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15 minutes. Right.

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So I couldn't go to the gym, I couldn't even do yoga, I couldn't do anything.(...) So I had no choice but to get it done. And you know what's starting off like when we first met and I told you that I started walking my dog, that was what I got myself into doing something while I retired after my heart attack. And it took that, but like just getting out walking and getting on the treadmills or whatever, the weather's bad and you get on the treadmill at the gym or start talking to people and you don't even notice the time going by. No, it's like an hour and a half and I think, oh my God, what happened?

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(Laughing) Well, today for this tape, I was looking at my watch and I was like, holy Jesus, 11 o'clock already, I better get home to have lunch and get back here. I know once you get on the machine, especially if you're-- You're talking to somebody? Oh my goodness, they are there for you. Or you could be watching a video here and the time just goes by. And they have big televisions also, you just go all the way.(...) Yeah, and see, that's one thing I can't do is the treadmill and that really hurts me. Oh, it does hurt you? That's right, the pounding, yeah, you can't do that. Which is fine, I had a treadmill, I got rid of it. (Laughing) But there's the-- Elliptical you can do. The bikes you can do, all that other rowing machine you can do, yeah.(...) It's too bad, well, the pool situation. Maybe I don't have the big Laurentian pool because that low impact is good for-- That's right, yeah, actually I was thinking about the YMCA because they have a nice pool there for the YMCA, you have to join the YMCA to use it.

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The friend of ours at the gym, Mark,

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first he goes to the gym in the morning, he's my age, and then he goes to St. Charles College and he goes into the pool there for an hour after. Yes, St. Charles College is a pool. I heard that there's-- That's a nice pool. Yeah.

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So here's another guy, you know, 70 years old, goes to the gym for two hours, he's there at six o'clock, leaves at around 8.30, heads to the pool, and then does the rest of his day.

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Yeah, that's what you find in the morning, going to the gym, it's people are age.(...) You'll have the odd students in that. Shift workers too, somewhere. Yeah, the shift workers. But, and you kinda stick together. You kinda know what time they're coming in too, because actually I'm working out, I know Gail's coming pretty soon, so I'll hold this machine there for her.

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(Laughing) So I can't have this one today. (Laughing) Gail's coming. (Laughing) Yeah, that feels good, you know what, it's the,(...) yeah, definitely the community, the camaraderie. Oh yes. And you know, working towards something so you can get to the finish line. Yeah, definitely. And you see improvements in yourself too, I mean clothes are fitting better, and they're looking better, and I'm not wearing clothes that are hiding myself, I'm wearing clothes that actually will show off. Yeah. Some of the stuff. Yeah, but you know, it looks like, well, you guys are both doing great.

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Oh we feel great, we got a good attitude anyways, hey Gail? Yes. Oh yeah. After women turn 70, everything kinda wants to sit in the middle. Right. So that is very important to work out, to walk, even if you don't go to a gym. Some people, no, never gonna go to a gym. Yes. Actually I was watching The View before I came in here, and Joy Behar, that's all in The View. They were talking about the gym, and she said, I would rather go to the dentist than go to the gym. Really? Yes.(...) And I thought, wow, that's-- That's no kidding. Yeah.

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(Laughing) She does not walk and she does not go to the gym. I'm just wondering if it's an intimidation factor with all the new equipment and younger people, and-- It could be, it could be. Like they've renovated our gym, and there's all kinds of new equipment, but I think it's kinda nice, because, oh, what does that one do? What does that one work for me? Yeah. You know? Yeah, I think maybe it is the intimidation thing, like you had mentioned, people in the food court, like you're watching. Yeah. Or just, you know, as they walk by, and they're not sure if they wanna go in.

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Well I've seen a lot of people walk by, and look inside, and they're checking it out, and they're looking around, and I'm thinking to myself, come on, get in. Come in, come in. Just come on in for one day, they'll take you around. Yeah. You know, they'll show you around. They're good like that there. Get a little tour. Yeah. A little tour of it. And a lot of people walk the mall in the morning. Right. And a lot of older people, especially during the wintertime, and I don't blame them, because it's hard to walk outside. No sidewalks.

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For that it seems like a way better, way better spend

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that on exercising than it is on pills. That's exactly.

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