I’ll never forget the moment I met 93-year-old DeLoyce Alcorn. It was last fall and he was in the midst of his weekly workout at the Strength Shoppe in Echo Park. The retired aerospace engineer, then 92, was wearing a fitted T-shirt that read “Be Strong. Be Resilient. Be You” as he strapped himself into the leg press machine.
Alcorn extended his legs, closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Then he began slowly, determinedly, pushing 312 pounds forward with his feet, completing multiple reps. (By contrast, I’m many decades younger and physically fit and currently push 220 pounds when leg-pressing.) Alcorn was inspiring, to say the least.
So is 71-year-old pole dancer, Mary Serritella, whom my colleague, Deborah Netburn, wrote about last year. Performing under the name Mary Caryl, Serritella contorts her body into positions called “The Chopstick,” “The Jade Split” and “The Black Sun Split,” whirling around a silver pole as disco music plays.
This past May, I wrote about a group of relatively older “vertical skateboarders,” Deathracer413, who believe that the dangerous sport is their key to longevity. They’re not nonagenarians — most are in their 50s and 60s — but they’re doing perilous airborne tricks, some well into senior citizenship. The adrenaline rush, they argue, keeps their brains sharp.
Of course, aging comes with inevitable physical decline and other challenges. But individuals such as Alcorn, Serritella and the Deathracers push against ageist stereotypes about how we should live — and play — as we grow older.
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