Novato woman aims to shatter age-related barriers surrounding fitness
While juggling raising kids and working as an elementary school teacher for 14 years, Mary Rawles ran into a problem many women are all too familiar with — she put her health and self-care on the backburner. When she later got herself in shape, lost weight and discovered her love of strength training, she realized other women might benefit, too.
Through her work as a NASM-certified personal trainer, the 70-something Novato resident helps others improve their lives through “functional fitness” while aiming to break age-related barriers and stereotypes surrounding fitness.
After working at various gyms in Marin for a few years, Rawles wanted a change. Inspired by the support and other opportunities she had through Revel, a membership-based community for women over age 50, she took the leap to start and expand her own business, fitforrestofyourlife.com. Since the pandemic, she’s made fitness videos for YouTube and social media, taught weekly Zoom classes as well as continued her already existing outdoor classes at the Civic Center.
Q What drew you to strength training?
A When I got into strength training, I felt like I got stronger in every area of my life. I felt stronger as a person and I started making changes in my life. I felt like I could do just about anything, like I went to Hawaii with my family and I did stand-up paddleboarding with my sons and a rigorous kayaking trip. And then one Thanksgiving I went to walk at College of Marin’s Indian Valley campus and there was a 5K race. I ran in the race and I got first in my age group. I was like, “Wow!”
Q How does ageism impact what you do?
A I take my interest as a disruptor of aging into my work. There’s been a movement to change how the media sees older people and aging. Older people have been portrayed in the past as taking a lot of medicine in ads, and they are not doing exciting, dynamic things. I am seeing that the messaging is changing. Until recently, if you Googled, “older woman strength training,” I would get images of women with these tiny little pink weights, and usually they have a young woman next to them holding their shoulders. I noticed now you see more strong women. There’s a lot of us out there. If you go the gyms, they are there, middle-aged folks and older. Once I said something like, “I am strong,” in some conversation to my boss at a gym I worked at and he said, “Well, you don’t count, you’re a freak.” And he’s in the fitness business. I want people to see the possibilities for them.
Q You say “functional fitness” is your specialty. What does that mean?
A It’s an approach to fitness. It’s exercises that will help you do everyday movement. One of the women in my class at the Civic Center said she couldn’t lift her grandchild without doing this class, so that’s functional fitness.
Q What advice do you have for people who want to get more active?
A It’s always good to walk, and just to get out and do something every day. Why not spice it up when you come home and do two or three minutes up and down your front porch or steps to get your heart rate up? You’re going to start building some strength and endurance, but there’s also so much offered online.
Q How has this health and fitness journey changed your life?
A One of the things that holds people back from strength training is they have limitations, but really I think it’s how we view aging and how we view injury or body pain. It’s like you turn on a TV, and it says you need medication. I have very severe arthritis. When I gained weight, my knees were tremendously bothersome and I had meniscus surgery. But, I saw I could fix a lot of things. I started to believe moving was what would help my body pain. It’s not going to make my arthritis go away, but when I was overweight, getting in and out of a car hurt my knees. Now I jump up on boxes and jump rope and it’s not been made worse. My life is made better by being strong.