GRANDMA STRONG: Hiking with Grandkids @70

[Sheree]
Hi there, who knows that age doesn't have to define us and that we can still achieve things in our older years and have fun time doing it. So that's where strength training comes in so handy. I'd like you to join me now as I interview Helen, who's a 70 year old, who ventured out into the Tasmanian wilderness with her family.

So her son and his wife and three kids, so loves spending time with her grandkids and knowing that she can still do things as she ages because she's got a strong body. Come and join me. Hi everyone, great that you could join us today.

I've got one of my clients here, Helen. How old are you, Helen? 70.

70, it's a great age to be. Helen, I've just had you along today because I just want to ask you a couple of things because Helen has just recently done an eight night. That was eight nights?

Seven nights. Seven night, really pretty intense hike. So everyone I know that's done the South Coast Walk of Tasmania has said it is a tough walk.

You have to go over big mountains with lots of mud and slimy roots and she did it and hasn't done a multi-night hike for quite a while. So Helen, what made you decide to do strength training? Because how long have you been doing it for?

[Helen]
Trying to work it out.

[Sheree]
Around a year. I reckon more than a year. Do you reckon about a year and a half?

Maybe two?

[Helen]
No, it's not two.

[Sheree]
No, not two. Maybe about a year and a half. A year and a half, yeah.

And what made you decide?

[Helen]
I used to do strength training when I used to run many years ago and that was part of our running training was to do strength training. I also realised that when we moved down to Tassie in 2016, I stopped running, stopped doing everything and garden because that's what I was passionate about. But unloading the trailer full of gravel or whatever was getting harder.

And I did realise that as I got older, I need to make sure that I kept my fitness and my strength up. And I'd happened to hear it many years ago when I was still working, you on the radio, talking about strength training and purely for older women. And I kept thinking, oh, that sounds really good, my sort of thing.

But I was working, so I didn't do anything about it. When I retired 18 months ago, I thought, yep, now I can go and do it. That's how I came to do it here.

[Sheree]
That's so good. So they've got pace to be out there, be on the radio. So people hear you and you didn't do it straight away, but you might just keep it there in your mind and kind of go, oh yeah, I need to get back.

And this is the person I'd like to ask about. So I wanna ask you, do you feel like now you've been doing strength training and you come two times a week, do you feel like it's something that you'll do for the rest of your life? Like as long as you can?

[Helen]
As long as I can, I think so.

[Sheree]
Because it helps you to garden and do all the things you love.

[Helen]
Yeah, and it just keeps you being able to do all your daily living activities. I have a daughter who's an OT, so I understand about activities of daily living and how important they are, but to have the strength to be able to do it for the rest of my life is really important.

[Sheree]
Yes, and so true. And I guess we'll talk more about that in a moment because maybe part of that strength training is what enabled you to carry a backpack and do this massive walk. So we'll talk about that now.

So you recently did that seven-night hike. It is a hard one. I keep getting told I've still gotta do this walk.

I've done quite a few walks around Tasmania, but not the South Coast walk. And you did it with your family. So your son and obviously daughter-in-law and a couple of grandkids?

[Helen]
And my three grandchildren.

[Sheree]
Yeah, three grandchildren. And how old are your grandchildren?

[Helen]
17, 15, 13.

[Sheree]
Yeah, how great is that? Because you wanted to do it because one, it was a family thing to do, but how nice that you can do it for yourself but also make memories for your grandkids. What did you think of that walk?

How did you feel while you were doing the walk?

[Helen]
Doing the walk was absolutely fine. It was probably not as hard as I anticipated it to be. Everybody kept saying, you know, going up the iron bounds, which is the 900 metre climb, is hard going.

I found it hard going because I don't like heights.

[Sheree]
So every time I sort of- She's on a tall mountain.

[Helen]
I'm looking down the side, I think this is not good. But I managed all the walking, all the climbing over tree stumps and things to the point where I was going over a particularly large one and I got one leg over, but couldn't get my other one over by about a centimetre. I just couldn't get it up high enough.

My granddaughter very carefully lifted up my leg with my walking pole. To get it over. But just being able to do that walk through the mud, through tree roots and not get injured was really, really good.

And it was a lot of fun.

[Sheree]
That's so cool. Cause I don't know, the very first thing when I hear somebody coming back off that walk is, oh my gosh, that iron bound range. And there is a lot of mud and it's slippery.

And in fact, only a day after you'd gone, we heard that there was a 70 something year old woman that had to be airlifted out because she rolled her ankle. So we weren't sure if it was you, but it obviously wasn't you, you completed the whole walk. So how important do you think that strength training is to just still being able to achieve dreams and achieve goals you still need to tick off as you get older?

[Helen]
I think it's very important. I mean, I couldn't have done that walk without doing strength training, just because you were swinging off trees and climbing over things, under things. And if you didn't have a level of strength, you wouldn't be able to do it.

Just, even though you have walking poles, you've got to have the strength in your arms to be able to hold onto them, to keep going, to keep your balance. Those things are just vital.

[Sheree]
Yeah, that's so, so true, isn't it? And you're right, like, you know, to even be able to stand on one leg while you lift the other leg over. So balance, strength, all of that that we do.

So good. What did you do to prepare for your walk?

[Helen]
I did strength training twice a week and then slowly built up the distance. I mean, I've always walked, but built up the distance that I walk so that I was walking around 75 to 85 kilometres a week. And if I didn't do it, like if I had to go into the city, I'd walk part of the way.

If I didn't do it that way, then I had to make it up that night on a treadmill. So I just made a point of doing that and carrying a pack. But I must admit on this walk, as we ate the food, I found that things were disappearing out of my pack, that the kids were taking it and putting it in there.

So my pack became lighter, which was great.

[Sheree]
That is so cool. I just want to see what the timing was doing there. That's all good.

That is so cool of your grandkids, isn't it? And didn't you say that preparing for this walk as well, you were heading up some kind of really tall hills?

[Helen]
My 17-year-old granddaughter, when she'd finished school last year, well, this year, last year, she would go walking on a Wednesday to just get me used to walking in the bush again. And we did one walk and I said to her, oh, Bonnie, I don't know that I'm made out for this. And she went back and told her father.

And he just said, mum, you do it this year or you'll never do it and you aren't fit enough. And I kept saying, but I've just read this blog and this girl of about 30 got airlifted out. And he said, will you stop reading them?

You'll be fine. So it was a matter of doing different things and putting yourself out there and just doing little bits at a time to build it up. So that's it.

[Sheree]
And that's so good, isn't it? There's no reason if somebody out there wanted to do a hike, you could start and you'd never done a hike before and you knew you had to carry a backpack, you might start with a litre of milk, like an old milk container filled up with sand or water. Add to it, add to it, add to it.

Yeah, because do you know how big your backpack weighed?

[Helen]
I carried the lightest one. Mine weighed about 10 to start with. But my son had done the walk, this was his third time and his slowest time.

And so he just said, you only take your absolute essentials. So it was a bit like going on a school excursion. I had to produce my bag the night before to have it checked and he went through everything and took out a couple of things.

But we basically carried next to nothing, as light as possible for that very reason. Mind you, we did smell when we came back.

[Sheree]
Nice, that's all good. I think I've always been taught that when you go out on a hike, you just have one set of clothes you wear every day, the same set. And if they get wet, you re-put the wet clothes back on the net and one set of dry clothes for camp.

[Helen]
And that's all you need. That's all we had.

[Sheree]
And it doesn't matter if you smell, you're all gonna smell the same.

[Helen]
Yep, we did.

[Sheree]
So how did you pull up after?

[Helen]
Fine. I was tired. It was almost like having jet lag because we'd get into camp and we'd have dinner, put tents up, have dinner, go to bed.

And so we're often in bed, say by 7.30 and then you sort of just keep going. So it was almost like having jet lag when I got back. I expected to go to bed at 7.30 and be up at 2.30. So that, but I've pulled up. I wasn't sore. I never had any stiffness, soreness, anything while I was away. And then pulled up fine when we came back.

[Sheree]
That's fantastic. And so that just goes to show that your body was in a great place to go on that walk. You'd already worked it.

You probably untightened areas that were tight and you were all good to go. So that's fantastic. You pulled up so well.

Can I say, so that's great to hear that walk because it's still a walk that I need to do. And I've been warned again and again about it. I think I'd be fine too, but you never know when that moment where you're standing on one leg and you slip out or whatever, you don't know, but you did it well.

And we were also impressed. She was back to training the next week. She didn't miss out any training sessions at all.

So that was fantastic. Helen, can I ask you what you would say? I mean, just going back one more time.

So I guess you've created all these wonderful memories and things with your grandkids. Cause I think when you're long gone, they'll have all these photos of you doing this walk with them. I can't think of anything more wonderful.

Don't you think? Yeah, I do. And you'll be creating more.

Like I'm not saying this is it for her. No, it's good. You've probably got 30 years left of your life, maybe 40.

And so you've got lots of time to create them. So Helen, what would you say to somebody out there that is thinking, that's great for her, but I couldn't do it because you haven't done, you'd have done a multi-night hike before, but years ago, hadn't you?

[Helen]
When we first moved to Tassie, a friend asked me to go on a multi-day hike. They were doing it as a tour of Mariah Island. It is flat.

It was a doddle, but this one, because I was fit. And even though I did lie in my tent the night before, we went over the iron bands and thought, what have I got myself into? And how do I get out of this?

Well, I could break an arm. I don't want to do that. I could break a leg.

Oh, that'd be even worse. No, you're just going to have to do it. And just being able to do it and do it at my own pace, which was slow, but that was fine, was absolutely.

[Sheree]
So when did you last do a hike of that kind of?

[Helen]
2016.

[Sheree]
So 2016, and that, how many nights? And was that over up over mountain?

[Helen]
No, it was flat, it was Mariah.

[Sheree]
Oh, that was Mariah. All right, okay. And how many nights was that?

[Helen]
Three or four.

[Sheree]
And you had nice places to stay every night.

[Helen]
You had showers.

[Sheree]
I was going to say, Mariah Island is very different to this. And the thing is you can't turn back when you're in there because the plane had dropped them off and then the plane leaves again.

[Helen]
So you are- So you just had to keep going.

[Sheree]
Yeah, you are left, you are offloaded. Your backpack's offloaded or your food, whatever's in your backpack, you are offloaded and the plane flies out. So you either walk out or you wait till the plane comes back in if you really didn't want to do it.

But then you're not going to let down your family. Are you so well done on you. So coming back to this, I know that there's women out there your age and they may think it's fine for her.

I just couldn't do that. Or where do I start? What would you say to them?

What would you say to someone out there? Say June is having a look at you right now and she's going on the same age as you and I would love to do a multi-night hike, but I don't think I can. What would you say to June?

[Helen]
Start slowly and just keep working at it and you'll get there. And I think social media was great because I actually found people that my age who had done it and had walked far more than I have ever done. But to see that other people had done it and even though I anticipated that it was going to be far worse than it was, I think just going in with a very warped sense of humour helped.

But I think just start with the fitness, going for a walk, building that up so that you are walking the distances and you know you can do it and you know that you can walk say 10 Ks one day and get up the next day and do another 10 Ks and build that into your daily routine so it's not as though you are doing training, makes it much easier than you know you can do it.

[Sheree]
Yeah, right, that's so good. And if you think to yourself, well, I don't strength train, I don't know where to go to strength train, we do have an online programme for under $5 Australian a week and that you can get on there and strength train much the same way that we do in real time and real life. So if you're not sure where to start about the price of a cup of coffee a week, you can come into that, you can pull out when you want, there's no fixed contracts, that could be a good way for you to start and you could be doing what Helen's doing.

[Helen]
But I must say that because I come in and do it and I do it with a group of four or five, it was when I first came up, you know, what are you doing in the holidays? And I said about my son, pardon me, having this warped idea of a family holiday. It ended up the whole class was involved in this about, you know, are you really going to do it and how are you going to do it?

So it was because we trained together and we have a laugh, it's actually much easier than doing it online.

[Sheree]
So true. But if you were at home and doing it online, grab a friend, grab a friend where you know you meet up twice a week together, three times a week together and go, let's pick this one to do today and off you do it. It's the same thing.

You won't have me directly there going, oh, lift that a bit higher, a bigger weight, but you can be doing it at home. But I think for many of you with a friend is great as well. So some of you will love doing it by yourself, but just grab a friend, grab two friends and make an appointment with you each and do it twice a week, three times a week and go, we're going to do it these days at that time.

And same thing then, you have a bit of a laugh, don't you?

[Helen]
Yeah, I think as women, we often forget to look after ourselves. We spend a lot of time looking after our kids, our partners, our parents, whatever, but this is one way to have an hour that's ours.

[Sheree]
So true, I think that's a great one. And you don't miss, unless you're away, have gone away somewhere on holiday, you girls come because you know that you can have the rest of the day doing whatever, doing housework, but you still just commit. And I think when you are committed and you make that commitment, you do, you get to a point where your body's working well and it starts to work for you in ways that you never thought it could, but you just stay on track.

And as you said, start slow, start small, build up, get to the point where you kind of go, I can do this. Maybe join a group, a walking group, if you don't have a family and you want to do hikes, but you may not want to do hikes. You may want to do kayaking or snow skiing.

Then that's all the same thing. You just build yourself up and strength training will help you if you run as well. It gets your core strong and gets you out there.

So thank you for that, Helen. And we all admire you. I think you're a great example of what it is to age well and yeah, live longer, live slower.

I can't remember, but she's living stronger as she gets older. So I think that's great. So thank you for that.

Thank you. See ya.