This was published 3 months ago
‘Swimming saved my life’: Perth seniors dish the dirt on keeping fit
Barbara goes to the gym three times a week.Credit: Mark Naglazas.
Barbara: “If you don’t use it, you lose it.”
I come to the gym three times a week and I have a reformer [a Pilates machine used for stretching and strength] which I use on the days when I’m not here. I lift a range of weights and I stretch. And I also do a spin class.
When I was younger, I didn’t do any exercise. In fact, I was a smoker. It was only when I turned 30, and I had a child that I gave up smoking and started to exercise. I swam everyday through my pregnancy.
I worked as a teacher and helped my husband in his business. But I alway found time to exercise. It became a very important part of my life. A part of my DNA.
Since retiring a decade ago I’ve switched from aerobics to lifting weights. When you’re older, you lose your muscles, so it is important to lift weights to build them up. It also helps with osteoporosis and balance. Older people are prone to fall over, so having strength and balance and flexibility is the best way of staying upright.
I just got my first grandchild a couple of years ago when I was 74. I didn’t think it would ever come, so it is a blessing. I’m expecting another little miracle in November. So I spend time looking after my grandchild. That brings plenty of stress, which I love to work out doing cardio. I used to ride on the road with my husband, who was a very good cyclist, but that’s too dangerous now. The studio is much safer.
When older people get injuries, they don’t heal. You have to work around them. They never get back to what they were. Which is why I spend a lot of time stretching and warming up before I train. At my age you can’t just jump in like you did when you were young. You have to be more careful. So I don’t do full push-ups any more, I do wall push-ups.
Training is now part of who I am. If I don’t train I don’t feel right. It makes me more relaxed, more comfortable and more confident.
As you can see in the morning here there a lot of us “old farts” as we like to call ourselves. It has a wonderful social dimension. We celebrate each other’s birthdays and go to lunch and give each other cards. And we have had losses so we gather around and give support.
It is important to maintain your fitness, even when you go travelling. We used to run up and down stairs at hotels and do pushups at the bottom and planking in our hotel rooms.
The young ones lift more weight than I but on the bike they struggle to keep up. A lot of young people don’t push themselves. They say I set the standard in the spin classes.
My cardiologist ordered me to stay on the bike. “Two things will happen,” he said. “One — you will stop permanently. And two — you will have a heart attack and fall off. Keep going. Don’t stop.” Honestly, if you don’t use it you will lose it. And that is even more true as you get older. With each passing year, you lose so much. You have to fight to keep it.
Dale said it was COVID that got her into ocean swimming.Credit: Mark Naglazas.
Water babes: Mary and Dale
MARY: Water has always held an allure for me. I grew up land-locked Yorkshire on Ilkley Moor, so it was a special treat for us to go to the seaside. That love of water is why my husband and I moved to Western Australia in 1968. I read about the Mediterranean climate and the limestone cliffs and I thought, “How delicious!“. That and the fact you could get her for ten pounds. However, it wasn’t quite the paradise that was advertised.
DALE: I grew up in St Kilda in Melbourne, which is on Port Phillip Bay, and we would holiday on the Mornington Peninsula, so my life was always around the water. My love affair with water and particularly ocean continued when I got an Arts Council grant to study with the potter Joan Campbell and I moved to Western Australia.
MARY: We started swimming together at the Bicton Baths around 2008, and we haven’t stopped. Rain, hail or shine. It doesn’t matter what the weather is. We swim all year round.
DALE: When COVID struck and the pools were shut we swam in the sea. That’s what got me into ocean swimming. It was euphoric. I still love the pool and swimming with Mary, but it doesn’t match the experience of swimming in the ocean.
Mary said water had always held an allure for her.Credit: Mark Naglazas.
MARY: Each time I come we swim 20 laps or a one kilometre, which takes about a half an hour.
DALE: And when I swim in the ocean I do anything between 750 metre and one kilometre
MARY: Swimming saved my life. I had a hip replacement in 2008 and kidney cancer in 2012. And last year I had some weird spinal stenosis. Each time coming down to the pool helped my recovery, both physically and mentally. It’s the place I keep coming back to in times of crisis. The water is so important to me that even as I approach the pool I can feel my spirits lifting.
DALE: The coffee afterwards is good as the swim. It’s the reward for all your effort and great for socialising with people who love the water as much as we do. Leighton Beach, where I now live and swim, attracts lots of early-morning swimmers. There’s always a good crowd at the Orange Box.
MARY: Swimming is my main exercise, but I always do Pilates with a trainer to work on my strength and flexibility. I also walk in the pool, which is great for building up strength. I’m a little weak in the legs, so I’m balancing out the swimming with walking in water.
DALE: Now that I am retired I can swim at any hour that I want. When I was working I’d be doing laps early in the morning when it was still dark. I love the sun on the sea or here at the pool twinkling on the water. It’s what gives me joy.
Ken says his love of tennis was inherited from his parents.Credit: Mark Naglazas.
Ken: “Tennis has been very good to me”
My parents were the inspiration for me spending a lifetime playing tennis. They were members of the Nedlands Tennis Club and pretty good players. While they played we kids ran around. The tennis club was the centre of their social life, so becoming a tennis player was a natural step.
Back in the 1950s and 60s Perth was an important centre tennis. The Western Australian Open was a lead-up event for the Australian Open, so big-name players were always playing here before they went on to Melbourne. So I got to see a lot of great players, like Pancho Gonzales. It is always an inspiration to see the best players at the top of their game.
I played cricket very badly and was the slowest swimmer at the Claremont Swimming Club, but I could hit a tennis ball. I captained the school tennis team two years in a row.
I was very competitive and did quite well, but I wasn’t interested in becoming a professional player. Firstly, there were no professionals back then; it was an amateur game. Secondly, I had no interest in training at the level you needed to become a top-ranked player. I just floated through on my natural abilities. I was also realistic about my talents. I didn’t believe I would ever be good enough to play Davis Cup.
Tennis was very important to me during my working life. The minute I got on the court I completely forgot about whatever was on my mind.
Tennis has always kept me as fit as I’ve needed to be. I’ve never run or lifted weights. Someone once asked me what I do to keep fit for tennis. I said that my training, my practice and my matches all took place on the court on a Saturday afternoon.
I find exercising at home very boring, and it is very difficult to persuade myself to do it. I would much rather be running around a tennis court. It gives me all the exercise that I need. I’m now 82. Tennis is still keeping me going. I am a lot slower than I was, but I am still holding up my end.
Since scaling back work in 2011 I started to play masters tournaments around the world. Earlier this year I played in the World Championships in Turkey. It was a great opportunity to catch up with friends from France, where I regularly play, and also make a lot of new friends. Tennis has always been at the centre of my social life, and it continues to be.
I recently lost someone very dear to me who was also a part of my tennis club. I have received a lot of support from other members. They have been wonderful. It is this fusion of the sport and the people who play the sport, tennis and the tennis community, is why tennis has played such a big part in my life.
Tennis is responsible for some very important late-life relationships. When I was single and alone I would have a game of tennis on a Saturday afternoon and afterwards have drinks with people who, like yourself, were at a bit of a loose end. We would kick on and have a meal together and maybe bond in a deeper way.
Tennis has been very good to me.