Dita Davis is a role model and an inspiration – to me anyways! At age 81 Dita is like the energizer bunny, she just keeps going! At 81 she attends 4 Aqua Aerobics classes per week, 3 Pilates classes per week and does 2-3 dedicated fitness walks per week. She doesn’t really think about any of it as necessary, she just does it! She says that her fitness program is not only good for her, but it is more importantly good for her mind and spirit and makes her happy! Dita is a no nonsense type of person – her fitness routine is just a part of who she is and what she does along with attending lectures on a variety of topics, visiting museums (which she has annual passes to all of them), joining conversational language groups (she is fluent in German, Italian and French) cooking and listening to music. She lives elegantly and simply.
I sat down with Dita yesterday to interview her on her Fitness Journey and was treated to a big chunk of her life story! Dita was born in German in 1935. She wanted to leave her little town of Llawa, so she enrolled in a nursing course. This got her out of Germany. Armed with her nursing degree she lived and worked in Frankfurt, Cologne, Berlin, Geneva, Lausanne and finally San Francisco. She was an OR nurse and said the language barrier really didn’t matter as when the Doctor put his hand out for an instrument, she knew which one was needed without having to verbally communicate. She did eventually learn French from a woman who told her that if she was “good” she would give her lessons for free! This leads me to one of Dita’s philosophies of “You get back what you give, so be a good person” If you are a good person then it will come back around to you – the Pay It Forward Philosophy. Dita must have lived a very good life, as she was given many opportunities along her journey. Hard working, intelligent and a great attitude have also brought her far in her life.
She told me that she didn’t really “workout” until age 35 when she decided to do yoga. Up until that point she walked a lot, hiked and did some skiing. She joined the San Francisco Bay Club about 15 years ago after hurting her knee in a ski accident and having almost no cartilage left in her knee she opted for Aqua Classes. She also met Doug McKee who taught her about Pilates. I met Dita in 2008 when she started coming to my mat classes 3 times per week. With a bad knee and a messed up shoulder, she could easily have thrown in the towel and said “oh well!” but no! She keeps showing up to classes and does the best she can with her limitations. In the words of NIKE – Just Do It! And she does! With a sparkle in her eye and a smile on her face and kind words for everyone and sometimes even a little skip in her step she shows up! That’s who I want to be when I grow up – a version of Dita! Dita moves beautifully! She has a grace and limberness of someone much younger than her 81 years. I always love watching her do her Pilates Rollup. It is so fluid, flexible and graceful. I like to call her out in class so that other members will see what we are all capable of by just showing up and doing it (whatever it is – pilates, yoga, spinning)
When asked what she would tell someone younger about Fitness she gave me an answer bigger than I was expecting. She told me about the words she lives by and what she would tell someone younger to do if asked for advice:
- Do Pilates, Walk and Aqua.
- Follow your passion – hers is Flowers, Nature and Music. Whatever your passion is, do it now because you never know what will happen tomorrow. Smart words indeed!
- Don’t want for more than you can afford. If you are constantly looking up at what you can’t afford you will be unhappy. If you look down to others that have less than you, you will appreciate what you have and be happy. She made a point to say this is not to be confused with not striving to better yourself or be successful, but to realize what you have now and be happy with that.
- Don’t worry about what others think. Of course, she added that when she was younger she did just that, but now with age and wisdom she knows better. So, she repeats it….Don’t worry about what others think of you.
I’ve gone on a couple of museum outings with this lovely lady and I always thoroughly enjoy myself. I learn so much from her! Dita and her husband love to travel and go on at least 3 cruises a year that go all over the world. When I visited her home, she has this giant map on the wall with pins in it of all the places they have been. The walls are also covered with pictures of places they have been and photos of the two of them smiling on their journeys! Yes, I aspire to be like Dita Davis – to live simply and elegantly and to still be doing what I love at that age! Thank you Dita for being my first spotlight on Fitness At Any Age!
This video is an example of Dita doing the Pilates Rollup!