Fitness tips for Hamilton seniors from 90-year-old Joyce King
At 90 years old, Joyce King still knows how to stay active.
Before the pandemic, the retired attendant at St. Joseph's hospital kept a tight exercise schedule throughout the week. Between taking fitness classes at the Ryerson Recreation Centre and joining a weekly walking group, King led an exercise class twice a month for members of the Afro-Canadian Caribbean Association of Hamilton.
I am accustomed to being on the go quite a bit, and I don't want to stop because if I stop, I know I can't start again," she says.
The pandemic shut down many programs where seniors and older adults could perform physical activity, but the need for exercise remains especially important for the aging population.
For older people who tend to be less mobile, this (pandemic) is a really big deal," says Dr. Stuart Phillips, a professor in McMaster's kinesiology department and director of the Physical Activity Centre of Excellence. It's really important that they try and get outside and at least do some physical activity, because even a little bit helps."
As for King, she's showing no sign of slowing down. She's built a regime for staying healthy at home, and she shared some of her tips with The Spectator.
Stay connected
Before the pandemic, King would always be surrounded by people. At home alone now, she's still managed to keep up a healthy social life.
She's the proud mother of four kids, 12 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren. That's not even counting her wide network of adopted grandchildren" - friends and neighbours she's met over her 52 years of living in the community. She's kept in touch with many of them by phone.
You need people to reach out to," she says. I reached out to them by baking and sharing."
She runs a small baking business and bakes 10 loaves of bread for her neighbours every Christmas.
You've got one life to live, and when I'm gone, I want to be remembered," she laughed.
Walk
When King worked at the hospital, she'd walk to and from work every day. After retiring, she decided to keep it up and eventually joined a group which would walk for an hour each week.
She still walks regularly.
Walking is important because it gives you some real alone time," she says. I'm scared if this keeps on until winter when I can't be outside, that would make me really bored."
King adds that to help keep her shoulders straight as she walks, she looks up at the street signs.
Garden
Normally, King's son would come by to help with her gardening. But ever since she's been home, she prefers to do it herself. King mows both the front and back lawns of her house. She pulls out weeds and plants flowers. She bends down to clip the edges of her lawn and stretches up to trim the taller bushes.
That is a very good exercise," she says. The least I spend in the garden is two hours."
Read
King believes, health starts in the mind and proceeds to the body." To keep her mind healthy, she reads. She likes to dive into her large collection of Mary Higgins Clark novels.
Anything you do, you have to create a passion for it," she says.
Relax
King keeps herself very busy, but she also likes to soak in the tub. She does her own manicures and pedicures.
She takes special care of her feet: she applies a rub every night, and when she wakes up, she massages her feet and soaks them in warm water with Epsom salts.
My biggest pet peeve is not to be able to take care of self when I'm older," she says.
Maria Iqbal's reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows her to report on stories focused on aging issues.