thoughts on exercise
So yesterday I walked down town , twice. This means 3+ to 4 miles of walking. yay! good for me! but that is not what was interesting. It was how I felt. The first walk was , ok. but it was before coffe and food – so not great. the walk home – was hard – due to too much food and too many bruch drinks. The third walk – back downtown, was annoying – too effortful. The walk home – walk number 4 , was Great.
I’ve always known that I get stiff easily. Heck, that is part of why I sweep my floors every morning- it loosens me up. I think I have been moving so little – that it took over three miles to loosen up. The rest in between gave my body a chance to get used to the idea of moving, but they were close enough in time that I didn’t get stiff.
Have you ever heard the ideas – just take the stairs or park further out … well I know why that idea hasn’t woked for me in the past. that isn’t enough to bring me to the next level. I do think I need to get to at least 15 minutes almost every day, but I don’t think that will happen with out a little bit of push. the concept of feeling better after moving is going to take a bit.
And I think that is the key to exercise- or more movement if you will. Not ignoreing you body, but exploring and seeing how you feel. Learing what makes sense for you .
exercise anxiety
When I set a goal – anxiety sets in. Not for everything, but for exercise. Maybe because it is the best thing I can do for my health is exercise. Maybe because no matter how I do it – a major part of it is less than fun. And part of it – is there are ‘rules’.
“make small goals like working out 15 minuets 5 days a week ” : “The first thing you should do is find a time during the day when You can consistently commit to exercising”: “don’t let anything interfere with you exercise schedule”
The little bit every day goal – gives you nothing to do if it doesn’t work. and there isn’t really a result to see. Adding a small amount of exercise is good, but can yo see or feel a difference? in how much time ?
Set time everyday. That might work for some people. But my life is not that routine. My work schedule varies from day to day, and week to week. I ‘set ” my schedule once a week– but there is usually at least once when I say I will do this one day or another day. If I didn’t build in that flexibility – I’d go nuts. Life is not neat and tidy. Things do interfere.
The best thing about doing the 3 day walk – there is time. Before I committed I figured out how I was going to handle things. I pushed a little past the set goals of the training program, because Allergies often lead to complications – meaning I get sick. So I built in time to get sick once or twice ( once was enough thank you ) .
But I also just joined the counties Active for Life program again. My goal is 70 minutes 5 days a week. which I would have hit easily,but I got sick. Now, I’m concerned. Which is silly, because this isn’t the point. And really , if I miss this small goal, it means very little about the big goal.
I am back on track. I walked a good walk to day. BTW – another myth. I didn’t lose anything by being sick and unable to really work out. I feel just as strong as I did before I got sick.
A tiny bit of guilt
So we were chatting at the cafe and Friend P mentioned that his dog has gained some weight and needs to walk. C said we all could use more walking. I agreed. Then P said, “But you walk more than all of us”. Well, not lately. So guess who walked to and from the cafe this morning. Just a little guilt, and a feeling like I wasn’t living up to my reputation was all it took.
Walking
When you need more exercise, the simple suggestion is take a walk. Assuming you have no physical problems, the idea feels like it is simple. So why is it hard?
Time is a factor, of course. Even in my life , which I try to leave lots of room in , there isn’t always time. Weather can be a factor. And some days, you just don’t wanna. But sometimes, it is the place.
Where I live – it is a great place to walk. I have neighbors I can wave to, or a place where I can watch birds. I can walk around a block, or I can walk to a destination ( a few restaurants, a coffee shop, the post office, and a small store ) . Work site #1 is clearly awful, a parking lot in a boreing strip mall where there are people asking for money. Work site #2 looks better, because it is in a suburban style park. But it feels odd. It feels like a wasteland . It is mostly sports fields, soccer and footbal. There is a tiny playground area and a tiny picnic area. Most of the time it feels empty and spooky, even under the bright califonia sun. And DH works in Industrial /commercial park hell – where even if there is a place to walk to – getting run over is a possiblilty and so is getting beaten to mush by the nioonday sun. ( why are those areas so much hotter?)
I find it interesting that we can make a place for people that is difficult/ uncomfortable for walking, when that is how we are made to get from place to place.
Active for Life — Follow up
The Active for Life program is over — I hit 96 % of my goal . Two weeks of being sick was the ‘downfall’. Not much I can do about that. Sick is sick and you have to pay attention to your bodies needs. They are different when you are sick.
In general, I am pleased with my self. My goal was 60 min . of exercise 5 days a week. And I really did try to hit 5 days a week. Except when I was sick I did do at least 20 minuets of exercise 6 days a week. And exercise — I defined it as anything that was either real work ( like plant removal ) , or Moving the big muscles ( walking, biking, etc ) , or extraordinary housecleaning ( scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees — real work) . The lowest I hit when not sick , was 80% of my goal. So busy — not the excuse I thought it would be.
Any way I am going to try and Keep this up — but without keep ing track any where, I ‘m not so sure it will be easy.
Active for Life
I work for the County , and the county has just rejoined the Active for life program. It is set up to encourage people to become more active, and to recognize when they make better life style choices. In 2007, I did it and made 122% of my goal.
The idea is the you set up a goal X amount of activity 5 days a week. Two years ago I had a goal of 30 minutes. Which was easy for me to reach. Even when I was sick, I had plenty of time to make up for missed minutes. Plus I earned a bunch of bonus points for eating fruits and veggies, and drinking water. This year I am aiming for 60 minutes 5 days a week — but my real goal is to hit 122% of my goal again.
This is a 10 week program, which is just long enough. I don’t get tired of counting points, and I did establish some habits that stuck around for awhile. The library also ‘competes’ as a team. I feel just the tinest bit of pressure to not let my team down. Just enough to push me off the couch.
I work regularly at two of the smaller branches of the the library . Three at one branch will be involved, and maybe one other at the second.
Let us hope for a successful group.
