Let’s say you hate going to the gym, i.e., dragging your flaccid, corporeal form over to that place where, when you walk in, you’re supposed to stride toward a bunch of metal contraptions and cables and bars, as if you know exactly what you’re doing — all while avoiding eye contact with a Noah’s Ark of mammalian shapes and sizes who are grunting, huffing, and swinging around you. You hope that they’ll wipe down the equipment when they’re done and that you won’t run into any of them naked in the locker room, should you find yourself needing to use the bathroom.
Can’t you stay healthy without the gym? Especially during the holiday season, when it gets dark at 4pm, and you eat pumpkin pie for breakfast and family stress for lunch? Why add the gym to your plate?
My eggnoggy friends, I’m here to tell you that the Brooks Family YMCA is the perfect antidote to holiday hell. Because technically, yes, it is a gym, but emotionally, it’s a warm hug of community love (like a Hallmark Christmas movie, minus the cringe, and yes, I mean you, Lacey Chabert).
What
Building physical and social muscle at the Y.
Why
Because in an age of debilitating loneliness, the Y offers an affordable, accessible playground for people of all ages and backgrounds.
How it went
Here’s how much I love the Y before I even walk in: I love the view of the trees and softball fields when I pull into the parking lot. I love glimpsing the city bus out front, and knowing people from all across town hang out here. I love seeing the morning sky reflected in the floor-to-ceiling windows, checking out the children’s chalk drawings on the sidewalk next to the Little Free Library, and I love mumbling “hi” and “thanks” to the folks ahead of me who hold the door and let me go first.
I haven’t even started working out, and already my heart’s grown three sizes.
The Y is like some kind of gift you’d find under the tree if you spent the holidays with Mr. Rogers and the Grinch (after he learned to love the Whos). I walk in the front doors and briefly flash back to my favorite-ever day of kindergarten. Friendly staff greet me with just the right measure of cheer, even if they opened the place at 5:30am. Festive seasonal decorations drape the front desk, along with bright fliers and handwritten signs announcing food drives, teen night out, rumba lessons, fun runs, and a general cornucopia of community stuff that warms me to my hammertoes.
Yes, yes, they have all the machines and weights and classes you’d want from a gym. You’ll get your steps in and your blood pressure down, your muscles as swole as the Rock if you like. You’ll try Deep Water Intervals with the old folks, and realize it has kicked your cream-cheese behind.
But better still, you’ll work out in full view of the woods behind the building—glorious. You’ll discover the frittatas, pastries, and Grit coffee at the Kindness Cafe + Play, which employs adults with cognitive disabilities, and spreads goodness to all. You’ll slam the battle ropes like a damn Marvel hero, then recover while watching a dad teach his kid to swim, or what could be the cast of Cocoon schooling each other on the pickleball courts.
It is fun to stay (for a workout) at the YMCA, to paraphrase some wise Village men circa 1978, and more than that, it’s good for your heart, especially when you feel stressed or lonely. “Look for the helpers,” Mr. Rogers said. That’s you, and your neighbors. That’s community. That’s the Brooks Family YMCA, where, any time of year here in Hooville, you’ll find the strength of 10 Grinches, plus two.