I joined CrossFit Central two years ago because my wife worked out there. I had been working out on my own by jogging and walking 10,000 steps a day, but did no stretching or weight lifting. I have always led a healthy lifestyle, but as I got older I knew I needed to do something to preserve agility and upper-body muscle. I had no interest in washboard abs, bulking up muscle, or losing weight: I wanted to maintain what I had and feel good.

I had played sports but never worked out in a gym and didn’t know what to do in one. I also didn’t want to do something incorrectly and hurt myself. I needed instruction and started one-on-one training with Carey Kepler at CrossFit Central to learn the drill and build confidence that I could do it. Then I transitioned to a group class.

I didn’t want a class with people half my age (I am 72) because I would try to compete with them and get discouraged when I couldn’t keep up. For me, CrossFit Central’s Golden Hour for people 60+, is perfect because each person competes only with themselves, and the class gets my jokes that reference such things as Roky Erickson, Charles Atlas, Liberty Lunch, and Farrah Fawcett.

Workouts by myself were haphazard because I could avoid doing them for any reason at all. With Golden Hour I look forward to the three workouts a week because they make me feel good physically, they give me a feeling of accomplishment, and I get to interact with friends in the class.

The Golden Hour class is now via Zoom, and I am surprised that transitioning from working out in person to virtually was so easy - and that is due to the people. Coach Jess Powers is really great. She has a constantly changing routine that keeps me interested, and exercises all sorts of muscles I didn’t know I had. If injured or unable to do an exercise, she recommends an alternative. Since we are working out at home she will recommend things to use in exercises like bottles of water, plastic containers of cat litter, and broomsticks; yesterday we used cans of beans. She is encouraging and we all engage in lighthearted banter while working out. It’s like a club, and I find that important during the pandemic because I can connect with others while quarantined.