Life of Wry

Since returning from Europe 7 1/2 ish weeks ago, I’ve been super motivated to return to my full regimen of aerobics, stretching, strength and walking. Fitness has always been a priority in my life, but the routine’s fluctuated wildly over the decades — sometimes it’s uber disciplined, sometime less so.

When we visited with Marty in France in June, I learned that he is focused on a great goal: to be his most fit self as he turns 70 at the end of this year. Not fit like the 20-year-old version of himself, but the best he can possibly achieve as he turns 70. He totally hooked me on the idea! I love a goal. As I turn 70 two months after he does, we made it a joint challenge (not a competition). And, excitingly, we decided to celebrate the birthday milestone — and our success in achieving max fitness — in France sometime in early 2026.

We floated the idea among all the Frame cousins — many of whom also have 70th birthdays coming up or just past — and there was general enthusiasm. Not sure that’ll all come to pass (it’s going to be hard to get all the cousins’ schedules to line up), but celebration or no, I think it’s a super worthy goal.

Anyway, the very next day following our return, I recommitted to my daily practice. I have a fairly elaborate and carefully crafted set of routines that I’ve honed over the years. These routines vary day-to-day (that keeps it sorta fresh), but the week, taken as a whole, satisfies all the requisite levels of strength and aerobics (stretching and walking happen every day). And hip hip hooray for me, I’ve not missed a single day (minus the 8-day trip to Ann Arbor/Vermont a month ago… strict routines are hard to maintain on the road).

At today’s PT appointment with the brilliant, spunky Shanette, I learned that a strong back was especially helpful in maintaining healthy shoulders (she’s been chipping away at my stiff right shoulder for a few months). I do a whole bunch of exercises that target my back, but I decided to do a little bit of research to see if I was missing anything good… and found an article that suggested three exercises that are particularly effective in building strong upper backs. I tend to futz a lot with the exercises in my routine and may just experiment with these, or variations thereof. I won’t go into detail here.. I mean, TMI. But check out this photo.

I can’t take my eyes off those deltoids. My lord.

Let me just say.. this is not my goal (I’m a near-70 year old lady!). But let me also say wow.