Tonal member Tracy Dingman proves it’s never too late to get started.
By Tracy Dingman as told to Karen Iorio Adelson
I’ve always done things later in life. I got my undergraduate degree at age 40 and graduated law school at 50. Exercise has been the same way for me. Now, at 65 years old, I’m in the best shape of my life, I’m hiking around the world—and I have no plans to slow down.
As a stay-at-home mom with three boys, I didn’t have a lot of time to go to the gym when my kids were growing up. I picked up running in my 50s, but I kept getting injured, so I started strength training to see if it would help me better handle the impact of running. Around that time, I also fell in love with hiking as a way to see new places while staying active.
My first hike was a coast-to-coast trip in England with my husband. It was a great way to see the country. After that, all of our vacations became hiking trips. We’ve hiked in Spain and Glacier National Park in Montana with our kids.
My husband recently started having health issues and can’t hike as much, so now I usually go with a group of women. We’re all in our 50s, 60s, and 70s. When you do hard things together as a group, it’s fun to talk about it afterward. We bond over these shared experiences.
Strength training has made a huge impact on my ability to hike. I used to work out with trainers, but a few years ago when we moved from Austin, Texas, to a small rural community outside Houston, I didn’t have that option anymore. That’s when I decided to buy a Tonal.
After working out with Tonal for a year now, I think everybody needs one. It’s the best for lifting as you get older. Research shows that women need to lift heavy as they age, and Tonal allows me to do that safely, helping me to stay active and avoid ending up in a nursing home.
I love that Tonal lets me increase weight in one-pound increments.