What were your favorite (exercise related) moments of 2020?

My fitness journey has been up and down in 2020. I broke my foot in April, gained unwanted weight, and slacked off more than I would like to admit. But I have not given up and staying healthy and fit is still important to me. Also, we did a few family hikes that were fun and swam as much as we could over the summer.

Getting back on the water once the rowing club's boathouse was open to > 1 person at a time, for sure. Each summer, for the past few years, I mother-hen a group of new rowers, and also row with my long-time buddies in the same sessions. Ages, sexes, experience levels, and fitness vary, 20s to 70s, brand new to decades' experience, past collegiate (Big 10 champ!) rowers to total late-bloomer newbies.

For a while, the pandemic rules (partly because the boathouse is in a public park) limited us to one person in the boathouse at a time. My group includes only a couple of people who can carry their own boats solo. (Context: A racing single weighs 31+ pounds, and is around 26 feet long, very awkward. Most of my group are 50+, many female, many late bloomers. Pretty much only my friend J. (age 74, hip replacement last year, been weight training among other things since her 30s, a time when Women Didn't Weight Train) can carry a boat she can row, besides me (age 65). Some of the others can't row the light boats (too tippy/challenging/agressive), some just can't carry them yet, some are only comfortable rowing multi-person boats.)

Even among those who can solo carry, some prefer to row when others are on the water - we hauled a young strong guy in the water who'd flipped his single, at the end of the warm weather - us in the double, a young post-collegiate rower and me, towing his boat alongside, and him (in the water, draped over our double - won't lie, it was challenging for all 3 of us). My double (slightly bigger boat, 2 rowers) acts as safety boat for the singles: The club is so small it doesn't have coaches in launches to help with this.

So, it was a great breakthrough when we could have 2 people at a time in the boathouse (a pole barn with big, airy barn-type sliding doors), with masks. That meant we could help each other carry boats. Yay: Everybody can row! It made me sooooo happy. There were lots of good things after that, but this was one:



That lineup, from left to right, is F, age 73; F, age 74 (the long-time weight trainer and general superwoman); M, age 29 (new rower, almost-credentialed medical doctor, infectious disease specialist, PhD candidate besides DO!); me, age 65.

I love all of this *so much* that typing this makes my eyes moist with memory. Longer seasons are better, but this was most poignant, easily.

@NorthCascades: A great, great thread topic, among many wonderful things you post. MFP granny loves ya! ❤️

Gym highlight:
Ticking off a goal of getting back to 100kg bench press before my 60th birthday with just two days to spare.
I first hit that number 42 years ago but this marked recovery from a shoulder injury and I was getting back to my benchmark (excuse the pun) from a low point in an ambitious timescale.

Cycling highlight:
Did a few rides with my son who is fit but not a regular cyclist showing him some lovely country roads and just enjoying still being able to do father/son activities together. We have always had a jokey but competitive edge to our sports, he is a gifted sportsman who is dreadful at training and I'm a low talent sportsman but dedicated trainer so we can meet somewhere in the middle.
Best moment was ghosting past my son just before the summit of a 17% gradient climb when he was gasping and controlled my breathing to appear I wasn't really working hard started a conversation I knew he couldn't respond to.....

My favorite part of 2020 is that because my son only has real school 2 days a week, he’s been coming to the gym with me. Fun mother/son time. He’s getting jacked. Must be nice to be a 16-year-old male. 😂

I did deadlift 400 pounds, but couldn’t lock it out.

I hip thrusted over 200 lbs for 5-6 reps.

Even though they weren't "heavy" by serious lifter's standards, I back squatted and deadlifted without low back pain. This is huge for me, because I've had chronic low back pain (significant disc degeneration in lumbar spine) for years and never thought I'd be able to progress with these. After I finished out PT at the beginning of this year, he told me that I didn't have to avoid any moves, so I didn't, but listen to my body.

I started ballet again after 30 + years! I've been taking some dance classes for the past several years, but not ballet. It's been more challenging for me, which is a good thing. It has made me even more aware of my muscle imbalances, and got me to add ankle strengthening/mobility exercises into my routine.

Mine was completing over 1200kms running 🏃🏻 outside. With Covid shutting down the gyms hit me into running outside a lot. The problem now is its below freezing temperatures so back to the treadmill.
I did feel really great with my summer runs.

I achieved my first ever unassisted press up. And I managed to get hold of lots of exercise equipment, including some decent weights, so I can face the ongoing lockdown with less trepidation.