<p>MOWC, sendin ya the good mileage mojo this weekend!</p>
<p>Idad, I’m surprised my remote hot tub healing hasn’t fixed you up yet. I’d better get back at it, since its a chill 40 degrees this am :)</p>
<p>Momusic, cheers to the chin up! That’s one more than I am likely to achieve in the rest of my lifetime. My upper body isn’t quite ready to haul the rest of me yet ;)</p>
<p>Mathmom, I actually am one of those not-svelt mesomorphs who can in fact bulk up muscle-wise the way any women fear, but being short and tending to still be hour-glass-ish in overall shape whatever the weight helps offset the impact of that. Long ago I decided I didn’t care…so long as its muscle. The trouble comes when it turns to fat :)</p>
<p>One summer during college I worked for an electric company and drove one of the big trucks (manual steering in those days.) A dear, frank girlfriend took me aside and said “my god look at your arms, you’re going to be in trouble if that turns to fat! stop doing whatever you’re doing!” I was like, ah, stop working? I don’t think so! (I was earning double what she was ;)</p>
<p>On one hand, she was sorta right – until about 12 years ago, i had to do serious gym work if i wanted to stay in shape, but then had a back issue dx’d that complicated things and led to what we’ll now call the sedentary epoch. </p>
<p>However, today, said friend sings a bit of a different tune on that front, wishing she had the strength and endurance I generally have (despite the fat and the back issue) and wishing she got the gains I do from a bit of resistance work. So muscle memory can be a glorious thing and I feel sorry for the types of young women I hear fearing for their femininity :)</p>
<p>After all, as women of a certain age know, muscles are your friend…someday you might have to chop and stack your own wood or lift a sick grandchild or dig your own french drain or take the winter cover off the pool by yourself or haul your spouse around town…
That might be future me speaking there and I suppose above all else that’s my motivation these days to reshape myself :)</p>