Exercise resolution fail
Over Christmas, my mother made that vow so many others have before her. She decided to take up some exercise in a bid to lose a little weight.
Do share, but I imagine it’s a resolution most people have made at some point. I certainly tried and failed any number of times before taking up triathlon, which was more by accident than design.
My mother denies making any exercise promises but I remember it, though admittedly I was taking a lot of painkillers over Christmas after slipping a disc in my back.
Whether Mum made this vow or not, what is undeniable is that recently she got a bicycle for the first time in a number of years. Less than one kilometre later, she decided enough was enough.
Her litany of dissatisfaction was long – her balance was wobbly, the rough ground of the park represented a potential menace to her health, the bicycle wasn’t equipped with a rear view mirror and above all, the seat was most uncomfortable.
She couldn’t quite understand why I didn’t sympathise over the telephone when she related this tale. I probably should have – after all, bike seats are uncomfortable. This I do know. I’ve had to get intimately acquainted with one for triathlons.
Because I throw myself at a various forms of exercise with varying degrees of enthusiasm, I am often the recipient of people’s plans to take up a regime.
Often it starts with a hiss and a roar, before tapering off and, eventually, it's quietly shelved. They’re not quite so keen to talk about that.
But I do understand. If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, it’s very hard to motivate yourself to carry on, especially if it's just a means to an end, like losing weight.
Frankly, what’s the point? Life is too short to waste time doing stuff that bores you rigid, just because you "should". Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
I’ve come to realise I’m best with variety. Right now, I’ve got an exercise pick and mix of dance class, a gym weights programme with a friend, swim squad and very long walks to entertain me. As soon as I can rejoin my running club I’ll be set.
While solo training sessions are still an important part of my plan, interestingly, the defining feature of the activities that work best for me is they are all social.
Ask any of my friends and they would not be shy about confirming that I love to talk. I'll never fit the description of the strong, silent type.
But it’s not just having someone to complain to that makes group activities so much more entertaining. The accountability helps as well. Knowing I’ll get an email or a phone call inquiring why I missed a training session has got me out of bed more than once.
Also, adding something new and interesting has revitalised me. I started ballet classes last year, and recently upped the ante to two classes a week. It's certainly challenging, but it engages my brain and coordination like nothing else
What is it about your exercise regime that makes it possible to keep it up? Or have you tried and failed to do so? Do we have any cheerleaders for unconventional forms of exercise? Do you prefer social or solo training?
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If God had intended me to exercise, he wouldn't have left the remote control within reach of the couch ;-)
Slightly along the lines of your starting ballet. I've just started getting personal training sessions from a martial arts practitioner, purely for exercise. It is a revelation as to how difficult very simple introductory movements are in terms of correct balance, maintaining a guard etc. And how physically exhausting punching and kicking is.
But for me it is stepping out of my comfort zone. I've never feared weight training and I am reasonably fortunate in that my physique responds quickly to it. But I've never had very good balance or agility. And even though I am in my fifties, I have suddenly decided why not challenge the notions of "that's just not my natural thing?"
Someone used to joke of me, "Your idea of dancing is standing with a beer can in one hand tapping one foot in time to the music." But the more I exercise the more it is the holistic mind/body thing that fascinates me. Balance, movement etc. And maybe things we think are inherently "just us" are changeable. I can feel the pull of ballet classes...
Also, different seats suit different people.
When my last saddle wore out, the bike shop talked me into getting a skinny hard one, instead of a nice padded one. Not long after, I started getting lower back pain that seemed to be associated with riding. Tried adjusting the saddle, but couldn't improve matters. At my next service I got them to install a nice padded saddle, like my old one. No more back pain. Bliss.
Sadly, I have yet to find a form of exercise I really enjoy. As a kid I loved gymnastics, but puberty put an end to that and I ended up too tall and curvy for it.
I go out running and swimming with my partner, who does triathlon and likes the company sometimes, but I don't find it that much fun. I've lost a lot of weight and got fitter, but it's definitely a 'because I should' thing rather than because I really want to (I have a family history of dodgy hips, so better to build up the leg muscles and keep the weight off now.) I'm still haunted by bad memories of running for PE at school, and I like swimming when I'm not ploughing up and down a chemical-saturated pool. Biking scares me, in Amsterdam I was almost in tears on my bike because I was so frightened (and my bum was sore!).
I enjoy pilates. Any suggestions on something else I might actually enjoy?
I'd say the same as Petra to your mother! You can buy comfy seats & rear view mirrors, and the other two factors are easily fixed by changing the surface she's riding on & either practicing a bit more or upping the speed a bit. Slow bikes wobble & don't balance as easily, it's a bit disconcerting, but you do have to speed up to get stability.
I'm excellent at making plans/promises about exercise & not following through. I do better if someone's keeping tabs on me - like having to log my distances on the Bike Wise Challenge recently. I have a training plan on my bedroom wall, at the moment I'm keeping up with swimming & climbing (because I do those with other people), but I'm way behind on the gym & running (because I do those solo). My running buddy got herself knocked up last year & I haven't found a new one yet.
I got accused by my running trainers of being quite negative for my motivations for keeping up my exercise regimes - the main one I quote is having "the fear" (the fear of becoming fat and unfit, states which I have very much been in in the past) but heck, it works for me. I do have quite a variety of exercise types though (running, balance and pump classes at the gym, dancing, I walk to work every day, and I have a bike too but she's been gathering dust for a while because of a flat back tyre and my fear of cycling anywhere not straight forward).
I completely recommend pole fitness and burlesque as awesome and slightly unconventional forms of exercise! You would not believe the amounts of strength you can build up from pole plus there's working on flexibility and grace for dancing. And I find that all of my forms of exercise complement each other as well - stretching after running helps my dancing flexibility, balance and pump and pole all interact to make me stronger, walking up and down dirty great hills helps my leg strength etc etc). You not believe the satisfaction it gives me to run a half marathon and still be able to bust out the full splits as required - flexible is generally something that runners ain't:)
Yer mum should count her blessings. In the short time she was cycling she was not sideswiped by a lorry, did not have have a bottle thrown at her and neither did she have to endure personal remarks about her mammary glands. All in all I would say she had a lucky escape. Thank God sanity prevailed in time. Just goes to show age and wisdom prevail over youthful folly!
Darth Michael; my sentiments entirely.
I have to keep my exercise program up or else I get so hyperactive that I am completely intolerable at work and at home.
Which roughly consists of weight training 5 days a week before work, indoor netball Monday night, hockey training Tuesday night, hockey game Saturday (and sometimes an extra game), and some light cardio Sunday.
Most people who know me think I am a bit nuts but I love it.
Wow... my NY resolution was to cut back a little, do a few less races... I failed miserably. As someone once asked Lance Armstrong - "Why do you do it? What pleasure do you take from destroying yourself up those hills?", response: "I don't understand the question... I don't do it for the pleasure, I do it for the pain!!!"
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I started biking to work around 15 months ago, I love it! It was raining this morning so I came on my scooter. I hate days like that, I really love to ride to work. Combining exercise with commuting is a real winner. It only takes around 5 minutes longer to get to work compared to scootering. It's only a short ride (around 6ks), and I don't go super fast, but it's a great way to work exercise into most days of the week.
I have also been swimming 1km twice a week now for around 8-9 years. Swimming is great - no sweating, no strain on joints and muscles, and you can do it inside so don't have to rely on weather or time of year - it doesn't matter if it's dark when you are inside. I go with my bf, so there's the added pressure not to wimp out and miss a swim - I thoroughly recommend excercising with someone else for this reason.
Ann, I think you could easily rebuff 3 of your mother's 4 complaints about biking. 1. wobbly balance - practice some more! 2. rear view mirror - buy one! I have one on my bike, it's great. 3. uncomfortable seat - buy a new one! I have a bike with seat suspension and a seat which has never once been uncomfortable as it also has springs.
In terms of the uneven ground. If your mother regains her balance, I suspect this will not be a problem for her. Maybe she needs to ride on some paved areas first and then move back onto unpaved. Biking really is great and she's doing herself a disservice by not sticking to it!