If you've been following my blog (and if not, why haven't you? I'm insightful and hilarious) you know I've been hitting some rough patches in my life. But I don't want you to think my world is totally doom and gloom. I still find moments of happiness. And, as much as I hate to say it, being physically active DOES help. Exercise releases all kinds of happy brain chemicals. Just don't tell my trainer I said that. She'll never let me live it down.
I was the first to arrive in the office today. I actually had the office to myself for over two hours which is a rare occurrence. So I decided to have my own dance party. Kinda like Risky Business but without stripping down to my underwear. I threw in some strength exercises, some ab crunches, some wall push-ups, a plank, that kind of thing. Once again, don't tell my trainer this, but I feel pretty good.
Which reminds me of a commercial I've seen running on TV every 5 minutes for a piece of exercise equipment. The commercial starts with the hyped-up announcer proclaiming that the #1 reason people don't work out is a lack of time. No, paid exercise equipment spokesman. The real reason people don't work out is because exercise sucks. It's hard, it's tiring, it hurts, it makes you sweat. I'd rather spend an entire day hanging out with my least favorite family members than spend 30 minutes on a treadmill. The #1 reason people don't exercise is because they already have enough torture in their lives.
But it really doesn't have to be that way. I don't get a lot of personal time in my life, but I fit in little bursts here and there to make it less torturous. I use my break time at work to walk around my building. I can do it within 10 minutes and, if I dance while I'm doing it, I don't even notice the time fly by. Yeah, people look at me funny, but I'm fat. I'm already used to people looking at me funny.
Sometimes I close my office door as if I were on a confidential call so I can fit in a few minutes of ballet, or ab crunches, or arm strengthening stuff. It's only a few minutes at a time, but those minutes add up. And you don't need thousands of dollars of equipment to do a little strength training. I've learned all kinds of things I can do with noting more than my body and a little motivation. My trainer, Yolanda Rooney, has a ton of videos on YouTube that will walk you through strength training that you can do at home or (in my case) in your office. Check out this video as an example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEPM2Klo5KA
Now, I'll admit, I can't do ALL the exercises Yolanda has in her videos, but I can modify them enough to make it work for me. Best part is, no equipment needed.
I have no false aspirations of ever becoming skinny and sexy. Because of various health issues and medications I take I basically have no metabolism. But just because I probably won't lose a significant amount of weight is not a reason to give up. The reason I still chose to stay active is to strengthen my body, in particular my heart. I'd rather not have die from a heart attack and, for me, that's worth a couple strolls around the building at work. What would you be willing to do to give yourself a few extra years with your husband or kids or family?
Whatever you chose to do to be more active, make it YOUR plan. If you pick something you enjoy it makes the habit easier to keep. I can't imagine why anyone would ever take up hiking, but, should you happen to like nature, start going for walks in your local park. For some people it's bicycling. Spending an hour perched on a tiny seat that keeps pressing on my vagina doesn't scream party time to me, but some people love it. I chose to dance. And I love to swim. There's a million different ways to fit a handful of minutes of activity into your day. Take advantage of those minutes. Be creative. Make it a family event. Just do it and keep doing it. Don't worry how you look. Just remember that those 10 minutes throughout your day are adding days to the end of your life. And that's time very well spent.
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