How Your Friends Make It Easy to be Healthy: Exercise
June: Creating an Exercise Program
This is my health diary. It began in March, when my son, Chris, and I shared with each other what we would give up for Lent. We missed the beginning, since Easter was earlier this year, so we only had the month of March left. I gave up drinking wine every day and Chris cut down on eating pizza. We were happy that we improved our diets by doing this, so in April I cut down on sweets and Chris stopped drinking soda pop. In May, Chris cut down on chips and I added a fruit or vegetable to each meal. This month, we began to make exercise goals.
Just telling each other what we intend to do and reporting on our progress helps us to stick with a goal for a month. It is said that when you work on forming a new habit for 21 days, it becomes permanent. We have found that after 21 to 30 days of eating in a different way, we have been creating a healthier lifestyle for ourselves.
At the end of Spring, we shifted from diet to exercise.
I grew up swimming and loved it. I performed in synchronized swim shows in high school and was in the ski club. My first job was as a lifeguard and I was a swim teacher. My love of swimming kept me in shape with no effort on my part.
When Chris and my daughter, Kari, came into my life, I exercised at home. I used Jane Fonda’s exercise program for awhile, I used exercise videos (including “Mommy and Me,” which included the children in the exercises), I watched exercise programs on t.v. (I especially loved “Yoga with Lilias”).
When my children got older, I joined the local YMCA so that we could all use the gym. After using the equipment at the gym for awhile, I was told that my muscles were more defined when I was at the swimming pool. After the kids left home, I joined a step aerobics class that I went to twice a week in addition to my regular exercises.
The problem is that I am always very busy. Whether from being too busy or getting sick, I periodically drop out of my exercise routine. And then it takes awhile to get back on track.
I read that three hours a week of exercise is all you need to live a long and healthy life. So for June, I pledged to do three hours of exercise a week.
Chris had been working out with a couple of gym buddies, sometimes for up to four hours in one day! For June, he decided that he wanted to consistently get one to two hours of exercise five days a week.
Chris’ Experience
Unfortunately, it didn’t go very well. Chris is an actor in New York. He loves it and he really works hard. The first two week of June, he got to the gym three times a week. Then he got very sick with the flu which was later diagnosed as strep throat. He was still sick through the first week of July.
After being sick, he noticed he was beginning to lose definition and felt unhappy about losing the gains he had worked for. Also, the stress and tension that usually gets released when he does go to the gym were no longer being released.
He got back on his feet July 11th, and headed right back to the gym. He was relieved and happy about getting back into it, and told me that he felt better each time he got more exercise.
Chris said that even if he didn’t have time, if he squeezed in 45 minutes, he at least got something done. Whereas in the past, he wouldn’t go to the gym at all if he didn’t have a whole hour for it.
My Experience
Doing three hours of exercise a week is not as easy as it sounds when you lead a busy life. I would get in 15 minutes or more here and there, but getting to the gym for a whole hours wasn’t so easy. Many times I’d have a chance to go to a hip-hop aerobics class, but my gym bag wasn’t packed and in my car, ready to go directly from work.
On a hot and busy day, I packed my swim bag and went to an indoor swimming pool to swim. I went to my hour-long hip-hop class a few times. I went to the park and walked. And often when I don’t have time, I’ll do the “Fit for 50” military exercises that Helen Mirren does from the Royal Canadian Air Force. I read about it in an interview she gave, answering what she does for exercise to keep in such good shape at age 68.
I felt like I was cheating when I counted an hour of housework as my exercise. By the end of the month, the times I got in some exercise added up to three hours per week, but I didn’t feel like I had actually accomplished my goal. I felt like I needed to keep working on this goal for another month.
Medical studies, though, do say that if you get ten minutes six times in one day, it all adds up to give you the same benefits as getting an entire hour all at one time.
To be continued…
What’s your experience with exercise? Please share your comments. And come back every Monday for new blog posts!
Thanks,
Angie
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