Moderation

In trying to become fit, one of the hardest things to exercise is restraint in consumption of things that are best avoided.

Winter Work-out

I'm already missing the idea of snow shoveling as my favorite winter exercise.

Spring is only a month away.

exercise

(haiku)

I hate my treadmill
exercise works its magic
I love my treadmill

Winter Wonderland

As I approach the end of my sixth decade in this unkempt body, it is newly surprising to me how lovely it can be to walk outdoors in the February sunshine, no matter the ambient temperature, as long as the wind is not blowing. March is for flying kites and for hardy children with red-chapped cheeks. Calm February is for strolling, for adults with a renewed sense of purpose and determination to keep physically fit, especially we who have always eschewed the latest in home gym exercise equipment. We, who long ago gave away the treadmill in the basement because we already had a laundry rack on which to hang our drying clothes. We wanted to free up the floor space, to set up yet another set of shelves to keep handy rarely-used kitchen appliances, like the crepe-maker, which is only brought out once a year for the sole purpose of creating magic with Thanksgiving turkey dinner leftovers. Extra wine glasses with gold rims have a special spot downstairs. They are safely stored, and appear upstairs only when special company is expected.

The world outside is different somehow than it was when I was a child, now that I'm taking a clue from my dog, who enjoys any and every experience life has to offer, as long as it involves fresh air. My mother was doting and tender-skinned. No matter how comfortable I felt, she would always tell me to put on a sweater when the August evening air dipped below "steaming hot" and left her feeling "chilly."

It is now the dead of winter, and I am surprised that I am willingly submitting myself to below-zero temperatures. I am awash in the natural elements, here on the hiking trail, and I'm happy. My canine companion runs beside me in full stride, eager to explore whatever corner of the frozen earth I decide we will adventure together today. Snow and ice have become once more the ordinary playthings of creatures immersed in their home environment. I pull down an icicle from a white-blanketed tree. I scoop up a handful of instant ball-throwing target-practicing perfection, and toss it as far as I can. The fluff falls apart, showering the trail ahead of me with shimmers of crystals. They glimmer in the sun.

I am one with my cool world, oblivious to the cold.

I don't even notice that the atmosphere is frigid and unforgiving. I am blameless, and moving briskly, my hairy friend on his leash cheerily trotting beside me. My white breath-puffs march out before me, as those overhead of a coal-fired, steam-engine locomotive flying down the tracks. "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..." It may be winter, but I am exercising, and it is fun.

When I was a younger person, I always bundled up carefully against the winter cold. I fought to spend as few minutes as possible away from my favorite reading nook, curled up by the fire. I endured my February hours reclined, a book propped up on my knees, my glasses balanced on my nose. I sipped cup after cup of hot black tea, fragrant and delicious, long-steeped and sweet-and-sour tangy, with lots of fresh-squeezed lemon and an overly-generous heaping of sugar. I pulled tight around me my heavyweight terrycloth bathrobe. I tucked my feet under, fearful lest a bit of cool air attack my bare ankles, which were left uncovered at the bottom of my flannel pajama pants. Aside from turning pages, the only time I moved was to get up and put more water on the stove, to refill the teapot, or to exchange the excitement of one finished classic novel for the next yet-to-be-explored treasure. I had a huge pile borrowed from the library. Exhausting the words of one favorite author, I would always discover yet another, and dive in headfirst.  My winter joys seemed limitless.

Using a Walker

(a haiku)

why did I not,

every day of my life,

walk an hour outdoors?

Helping Out Work-Out

It pays to help out your friends and relatives, when a free exercise workout is one of the fringe benefits.

Snow-shoveling, here in New Jersey. It seems it never ends.

 

Earning a Gold Star

Every evening before I fall asleep, I review my behaviors for the day, to assess whether or not I was successful in actually completing any activity I would label as physical exercise.

Through this process of assessment, I have come to the realization that I do wake every morning with the thought that I want to motivate myself to exercise, and I do begin working my exercise action plan even before I open my eyes.

This is a huge change for me, from last year to now. I am conscious of my exercise action plan, and I work it.

I am giving myself a gold star!

Only Heroes Exercise in February

This morning I did not even complete my usual "Body Awareness" exercise, of consciously trying to become aware of my muscles and slowly moving each one, which I normally do, to wake up and get circulation going before I get out of bed.

February has, thus far, been a terrible adventure in Extreme Inactivity. And we're only four days in.

The temperature is expected to remain below freezing for the foreseeable future, that is, on the weather app on my iPhone, as it extends out to look ten days ahead and give a computerized guess as to how cold it will be. After today's expected high of 36 degrees, on only one other of those ten days is the temperature expected to climb above freezing. All the way up to a balmy 34 degrees Fahrenheit.

As I sit writing, in my flannel pajamas, I realize that I will have to go out in that, that frigidness, and it would probably be helpful to be in excellent physical shape in order to deal with nature's elements. I have a Red Cross training tonight, which will leave me walking to my car in 30-degree weather, which I don't mind too awfully much as long as there is no wind, but tonight's class doesn't end until 10:30, which is long after they roll up the sidewalks here in this little town. As long as my car starts, I will be fine, but weather like this reminds me of all those who do not have reliable cars. I am then stirred to think of all the people in the world who do not have the wonderful conveniences and the easy life I do, and then I think of all the people who do not have the basic necessities. It is a short trip from there to all the starving children in China for whom I ate the last of the cold peas on my plate when I was seven, to appreciate what good things I had, when some people have nothing. February is a cruel month, and I am selfish and ungrateful not to exercise vigorously all the way through it.

Resolution

I want to spend more time exercising than I spend writing about exercising.

Maybe I should make that my New Year's Resolution.

Oh, wait...