There are times when I feel like I have some sort of narcissistic illness. I go to the gym, and I feel compelled to document what I’m doing. Then, I sit and edit my videos on TikTok, making pithy comments about the successes and fails, and post the resultant videos everywhere.
I think of the content creators out there, and for some, I wonder if they have some sort of dysfunction in their lives. There’s some really weird stuff out there. In a sense, I suppose I am a content creator: I make videos and blogs about my experience, post them, and look for responses. I am also a 51-year-old woman who has lots of things to do with her time. So why am I dabbling in this social media stuff?
Why I post
Originally, I was posting to share my gym adventures with my friends, family, and colleagues. It was unusual and I wanted others in my circle to see this funky thing that I do.
Then, things got kicked up a notch. Months ago, I got creative and posted a video compilation titled “Moments from the Geriatric Gymnast.” I found an existing motivational audio on Instagram and I was playing with putting my video stuff over it.
For whatever reason that the algorithmic gods will never reveal, that video caught on and got much more attention than any of my other stuff. Once it started circulating and getting more attention from people outside my friend circle, more people started to follow me. They also started sharing the video and making positive comments on it saying how inspirational it was. There’s now 140K views on it. I don’t normally see that kind of number on anything I post.
As it circulated, more people had things to say. Below are some of the comments I’ve enjoyed reading from random people, strangers, who took the time to let me know that what I was posting was being enjoyed and was leading people to seek out their own next steps in their fitness journey. Just like children need role models, adults need to see themselves (through others like them) doing things that they have put aside because of time, money, family, physical limitations; all of the reasons that we decide NOT to do things in life.
You don’t get that kind of feedback every day. If my silly flippy fun videos can inspire that much positivity, hope and self-care action, I’ll keep making them and putting them out in the world.
Validating adult dreams
While I am certainly not a groundbreaker (I had so many great adult role models who helped lead the way for my gymnastics journey), I am happy to show, in a public forum, what some of the possibilities are for adults. In the comments, I was seeing how so many grownups had been denying themselves this hidden desire as something that was out of their league. Maybe they once did gymnastics or competed in a past life, maybe they’ve always wanted to do it and never got to (like me), and so many wish they could try bouncing on a trampoline. I’ve witnessed a great awakening in so many adults when they come into the gym and start working. They’re scared and don’t think they belong there, until they’ve conquered their first new skill. Then they’re scared and determined.
The determination is powered by those latent “I wanna be an Olympian” dreams. We know that will never actually happen, but just like 6-year-olds pretend to be doctors and astronauts, some adults want to pretend to be Simone Biles or Nadia Comăneci or Mary Lou Retton. We are just big kids with more responsibility. It doesn’t mean we don’t want to play, we just have to be smarter about how and when we do it.
My compadres and I in Generation X are tough cookies, strong-willed, and are at the point where it’s time to do things that serve us. Those of us who remember those late nights of neighborhood hide-and-seek at dusk, throwing rocks at bats, and hanging upside down on the jungle gym want to feel the exhilaration of breaking through fears and landing on our feet. Well, in the gym, we might land on our butt, but there are squishy bouncy surfaces to land on to protect our aging joints. We deserve to strengthen and stretch ourselves to fend off the natural physical decline that age brings. We owe it to ourselves, and our families, to keep ourselves in good shape so (hopefully) we aren’t dependent upon others in 20 or 30 years. The gym also provides a serious blast of feel-good hormones that improve our mental health as well. When we are in good shape, age is just a number.
Speaking of Gen X: Check out Sherri Diaz's IG posts @therealslimsherri. They're hilarious, sharp and hearken back to our feral, hose-drinking days.
I started this journey at 36 and have not looked back. I’ve been injured, I’ve been frustrated, I’ve had setbacks, and I’ve enjoyed every moment I’ve spent in the gym. Every setback was followed by lots of progress. I’ve learned so much about myself, how to support others, how to learn and how to coach. Knowing how good it has been for me, I will continue to post and I hope to continue to provide to model how adult gymnastics can provide safe, flippy fun.
Where I post
- BLOG (staceytirro.com): This is an overview of my Geriatric Gymnastics blog. Pick and choose what you’d like to read up on, and it is all based on the past 15 years of my experience as an adult gymnast.
- YOUTUBE (The Geriatric Gymnast): If you’re looking for some visual entertainment, you can look at my YouTube channel The Geriatric Gymnast . There are interviews with my adult cult friends, class journals and a lot of shorts that show the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
- TIKTOK (staceytirro): Yes, GenX TikToks too. We are WAY more interesting than any other generation. This is my page. Remember GenXers are just grown adolescents at heart.
- INSTAGRAM (staceywritesandflips): Of course, if you’re of the IG set, click on @Staceywritesandflips to stay connected to it all.
Stacey's Headspace 
Very interesting and very informative. Really enjoyed reading it.
Iris
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