Learning to Like Exercise

So once I determined that I was going to learn to love exercise, I needed to find out what sorts of exercise I could tolerate. Because there are some kinds of exercise that I just can’t, or won’t do right now. For example:

Swimming – I really love swimming, but there is the whole chlorine issue. I have longish blondish fine-stranded hair, and chlorine is really hard on it. If I do swim, I need a double shampoo and a good conditioner afterwards, or my hair starts to rebel. Very time consuming if you are trying to swim 3 - 5 times a week for exercise! Also there is no place near me where I can swim for free.

Running – Are you kidding me? If I could make it more than 1/2 a block, I would knock myself out cold (it’ll come to you, give it a second), although a friend recently told me that wearing two bras helps a lot. Sometimes I tell myself that I will be able to run one day. I hope it is so, but for now it’s just not going to happen.

The Gym – I lump all of this together (weights at the gym, machines at the gym, classes at the gym) because in a nutshell the gym costs money. And at this stage in our lives, my husband and I do not have the money to invest in gym membership. In the past when we (or I) have joined gyms, we would go for awhile, then stop going, which is effectively throwing our money down the drain. My thought is, if I won’t exercise for free, what makes me think I will exercise when I am paying to do so?

Curves – counts in the gym category above, but add to Curves that it is a “social workout” and I do NOT like to exercise socially. The last thing I want when I am sweating and jiggling is to watch and be watched by, talk and be talked to by other people, usually complete strangers!

Competitive Sports – HA! I stink at competitive sports. I don’t play them, I don’t even watch them! No thank you!

And so on…

So I decided to start with walking. Walking is free, easy, and you can do it anywhere. I started a walking club at my workplace and started walking after work 3 times a week for 30 minutes. Sometimes other would walk with me, but most of the time I walked by myself. And I was ok with that, although walking with someone else seems to make it go faster. I downloaded some music of appropriate pace (here’s one good place to do that), and logged how long and how far I walked each day. A great way to hold yourself accountable is to place yourself in a position of responsibility. In my case, I created contests at work, and since I was the one “in charge” of the walking club, I had to keep it up myself!

When the weather was nice (here in Texas it is usually too hot, too humid, or raining), I would walk around my neighborhood. MapMyRun.com proved really helpful for keeping track of how far I was going and how fast I was walking.

And the pounds started to fall off. Now, keep in mind, I was also tracking my food and watching my diet, but the walking really made a difference. And I didn’t hate it! And some days, yes, I know this is shocking…some days I actually enjoyed it!

I also bought a bicycle, but it has turned out I don’t use it as much as I thought I would. I don’t feel like I am getting as much benefit from it, and the tires seem to run out of air often. Not sure if that is a reflection on the quality of the tires or on my excessive girth!

Now that it has started getting hotter, I do a lot of my walking indoors, with Leslie Sansone’s Walk Away the Pounds DVDs. If you can handle a little cheesiness, I highly recommend these DVD’s. They start off really easy (which I needed!) and they include some upper body muscle work (optional) which is something you normally don’t get from just walking around the neighborhood. I own several of these DVD’s now, and I really love them.

Sooooooooo, If you are like me, and the little voice in your head insists that you hate exercise, walking is a great place to begin. Walking is incredibly good for you, low-impact, and costs nothing other than time. Even 15 minutes a day makes a difference!

p.s. (here are a couple of excellent articles on the benefits of walking: One Two )