What sport or fitness did your mum do?

My mum was born in 1942 - she did badminton in the church hall late 70/early 80s and swimming for the remaining decades - stopped swimming around COVID and hasn't got back into it sadly

My mother was born in 1940. She rode horses as a toddler until she was well into her sixties.

She was also a very good ice skater.

In the 60s she saw a film of a boxer skipping in a gym and as she used to live skipping as a child she bought a skipping rope and taught herself to skip like a boxer!

She could also hula hoop very well.

@Bonfire23 snap!

Lots of medium energy things like a job that had her on her feet, likes a walk, rarely sat down, but not much actual proper sweating exercise. She had a stage of 90s aerobics and of doing step at home. She's 70 and healthy but not as fit as she thinks she is!

My dad joined a gym when they became a thing, but not any more.

DH and I are not much better tbh. I do home workouts from phone apps, try to mix up aerobic / weights / yoga types. DH plays tennis regularly. So the kids do at least see both "exercise" and "sports" happening I guess!

Nothing. She couldn't swim or ride a bike either

She did aerobics at our local community centre once a week, nightly yoga at home (she had a book she did exercises out of), swimming once a week (she’d swim in the lanes while we dicked about in the leisure pool) and lots of walking and cycling when we were kids. She also had a male friend that took her to swing dancing nights as they were both really good at it. Anything she could do for cheap or free, I think.
She was always slim, fit and strong without being ‘sporty’.

She’s late 70s now and does weekly aerobics & tai chi classes, swims a couple of times a week and walks 10,000 steps a day minimum. She only stopped cycling everywhere at about 70.l and prefers to walk, She’s fitter than I am! <couch potato>.

Despite being obsessed with weight and diets, only ridiculous shit like toning tables and anything else that promised magical weight loss without any actual effort 🙄

Never having had the example set nor encouragement to be active myself it's been a struggle for me to train myself into it as an adult.

I'm in awe of the families at Parkrun that all go together every week and the kids just grow up with exercise being a normal part of life.

No formal exercise but, we didn’t have a car so lots of day to day walking and also leisure walking. She worked full time as a primary teacher as well. Born in the 1930’s

My mom swam for the county as a teen. Then as single mom working full time she had some exercise videos.

My DGM on that side used to do keep fit and videos as well. My other DGM did loads - rambling for miles, line dancing, ballroom dancing, she's not able to do all that now but more recently she tried out tai chi, despite quite severe arthritis.

Smoking

Born in the late 1920s, I remember her playing badminton & tennis. She took up golf in her 50s & stopped about 5 years before she died. In fact she stopped doing anything, including walking, which lead to her decline :(
She was also a nurse so pounded the wards for many years.

I didn't realise exercise was a thing people did as routine until very recently. I partly blame this on my parents doing next to none.

From when I was a teen she'd go swimming at a country club but I think she went more for the sauna and jacuzzi than the swimming. Ie she only ever did the head above water breast stroke.

Other than that just going on the odd walk.

Dad dug for worms!

Zero, she was born in the 30s with a heart defect. Never been up to much physically, extremely intellectual woman who is as bright as a button in her late 80s.

Born 1947 and did a lot of swimming and hockey in her youth

She played in a local netball league when I was a child but stopped playing when she was in her mid 40s

In more recent years the only exercise she has done is walking but she does still walk at least a mile or two most days in her mid 70s

My Mum has been gradually shrinking in both height (osteoporosis) and width in recent years and is probably now in a healthy BMI range for first time in her adult life. She used to be a lot bigger and probably approx 1.5 - 2 stone overweight as long as I can remember (but she is one of those people who weigh a lot more than they look they should!)

My parents were born in the late 1950s. They are really into fitness and always have been.

The fact I am not sporty has always been a disappointment to them (am not coordinated enough for team sports). I exercise very regularly now and am extremely active generally but it took me until my 30s to find what works for me and to see the other benefits of exercise aside from just keeping slim.... I now see quite a lot of the disordered 'earn your food' messages that I received during childhood for what they were. My tactic with my own children is just to let them see me exercise and to talk about the mental and physical benefits (being strong, not being stiff etc).

But she doesn't do Irish dancing any more - she taught us all as children.

My mum will be 90 this year and still does daily post natal yoga exercises she was taught in the 1960s in a Dublin maternity hospital. Every morning sees her stretching and balancing for about 20 minutes. None of us knew it was yoga until the 1990s

She has always been a brisk walker too.

My mum liked to swim, but until she retired that was mostly only in the school holidays, then she went very regularly. Otherwise it was just 'active travel' for her

Worked full time nursing, then elsewhere NHS, so just time for dog walking and very occasional keep fit class (step l think). This was the 90s.

Grandmother the same; full time nursing/ward sister kept her active, with walks, no organised classes whatsoever. She used her free time for postgrad academic interests and charity work.

I exercise and/or run every day by contrast, including organised classes. I was very sporty as a child though, and also danced, and still do!

Mine was born in 1918! And had me in 1968 when she was 50. She did no organised keep fit or any sport. Nothing. However, she walked everywhere as we had no car, and we lived in a very hilly town. She also worked (and walked to and from work) in shops, nursing homes, cafes and was very slim right up until she died in her 80s.

None except dog walking when we had a dog.

Interesting thread. Born in the late 40s, nothing as a child but aerobics, weight training, walking and rowing as an adult. Still walks a lot now.

Nothing at all. Was busy looking after us, the house and working but had no interest in exercising either really. As a younger person (before kids) was quite sporty, but I never saw her do more than maybe a bit of bat and ball on the beach with us for about 10 mins! Thinks those who exercise are a bit crazy 😜

DM cycled to work until I was late teens. I'm not aware of anything since. spends her time watching horse racing on TV with her DH
DGM played tennis as a younger woman, cycled, she was keen to walk too and would kick a football about until her 80s 😁 she was great.
They didn't do 'classes', though. They couldn't afford that.

I do martial arts and a team sport, I'm a granny.

My mum did no sport, she did some gardening and some dog walking but was mainly busy working ft, bringing up family , managing house and caring for her parents. She had been fairly sporty; golf, swimming, riding before marriage.DMil did no sport but was a busy person also. Both have lived to advanced old age.