Emily Chapman Laing
Local woman Paula Porter is taking her fitness game to the next level.
The 71-year-old will travel on foot from Cranbourne to Mallacoota, a whopping 500-kilometre journey.
Paula leaves from Cranbourne Police Station Friday 3 March in the early morning, and is hoping to complete the trip within 16 days, travelling around 40 kilometres each day.
The idea came to Paula during an evening with some friends and was inspired, she says, by a bottle of white wine and the decrease in physical activity she sees in people her age.
“I’ve noticed with a lot of my friends that once they’ve turned 70, they sort of curl up their toes,” she said.
“Most of them have been sports people like myself, and it’s almost like they’ve just given up.
“So I said look, bugger the lot of you, I’m gonna go for a wander down to Mallacoota.”
With two artificial knees, a spinal fusion and diabetes, Paula sure isn’t letting her hindrances get the better of her ambition.
Paula has been building her physical fitness in the gym and the pool for the past four months to prepare herself for the 500-kilometre trek that now stands before her.
Though Paula admits, when she first began, she was no fitness wiz.
“When I first started, I couldn’t walk more than 15 minutes on a treadmill.
“Two laps of the pool killed me.
“Now I usually do about 40 minutes on the treadmill, 40 minutes on the bike and I’ve built up to 300 leg presses. And then I swim for about a kilometre.”
The effects for Paula have been huge.
Not only is Paula’s physical fitness improving, as she watches her cholesterol drop and her diabetes levels improve, but she stresses the psychological benefits of adopting a more active lifestyle.
“When you’re fit in your body, you’re more fit in your mind as well,” she said.
A 2015 study conducted by National Seniors Australia (NSA) found that only15 per cent of Australian seniors met the 10,000 daily step guideline.
A 2020 report from NSA noted that a mere 27.2 per cent of Australians between the ages of 45 and 75 get the recommended 30 minutes of exercise five days a week.
Although the number of senior Aussies keeping physically active is low, the 2020 study reported that 60 per cent of older people wish to be more active.
Barriers present themselves in the form of health conditions, mobility limitations, fear of injury and pain, psychosocial factors and lack of motivation.
Though the NSA explains how exercise can be used as a preventative measure against increasing frailty.
“Exercising has been found to counteract frailty and the debilitating effects of some chronic diseases with very little risk of harm,” the study found.
Paula is an advocate for seniors remaining active.
As a senior herself, she too faces health and motivation-related hurdles.
The trick, she says, is to keep pushing.
“It’s really easy to give in to those inner voices and think, ‘Bugger this, it’s been a big day at work, I’ll have an easy night tonight’.
“But once you’ve done it, you actually feel phenomenal.
“Just take little steps initially and every week, at the end of that week, you increase just a little bit.
“Each week I increased it by 10 minutes.
“It doesn’t take long to build it up.”
The consequences of a sedentary lifestyle, particularly as you age, are noted by the NSA as reduced functional status, or a reduction in the ability of older Australians to perform daily activities needed to maintain health and wellbeing.
“If you don’t use [your] muscles, particularly when you’re older, they just stop. They don’t work anymore,” Paula said.
“You’ve got to have the muscle support around your joints to be able to keep things moving properly.”
Paula’s walk from Cranbourne to Mallacoota proves that age is not the barrier seniors often feel it is.
“People think, ‘Oh, you’re old now’, and I have to say you do slow down,” she said.
“If you allow that to dominate your life, well, you’ll slow down even more.”
After diligent planning, mapping and measuring, Paula is ready to embark on the longest walk of her life.
With a camel pack of water, some trail mix and fruit, she will walk 40 kilometres each day, spaced out in 10-kilometre segments from early morning to dusk.
Her helper will drive ahead with a camper van for Paula to get some much-needed rest in.
For all of the immense physical activity she will accomplish each day, Paula will still be attending to her occupation as a real estate property manager, with an aim to work for a few hours during her breaks.
Paula’s drive to not only maintain her physical health at a base level, but to exceed it and take on this massive journey, will surely inspire all who follow her story.
“I don’t want to be crippled,” she said.
“I don’t want to be walking around on a walking frame.
“I want to do the things I want to do.”
Follow Paula’s journey via her Instagram page @walkforawareness
