I have a very strange relationship with exercise. As a child, my first exposure was to ballet; when my feet were found to be pigeon-toed, I ended up in braces and they decided dance would help me. I loved it and wanted to go on, but it was cost-prohibitive after a while. In elementary school I did the standard go to gym class every other day stuff. In the early years, they mostly taught us the do-si-do and some other crazy country dance. We played dodgeball (called kickball in our school, as the boys loved to kick the ball at the girls to rid them of cooties) A LOT, where not only our bodies, but our self-esteem was hurt badly. You remember not being picked for the team, right? Yeah, me, too.
As I grew older and my body settled into its right places and size, I didn't need as much to think about exercise, but you can bet that I was striving to be the best at the President's Fitness Test every year. Sadly, while I passed the test every year, it wasn't with flying colors. Why??? Because I could not and probably still cannot climb the stupid rope. First of all, they were making you do this inane task with no gloves on a very worn rope and only your sneakers to propel you upwards. What the what were they thinking? You probably noticed, as did I, that the gym teachers never demonstrated their ability to climb the rope. Had they, we might have had a baseline or even a technique to copy. Of course, there were always those few annoying sporty chicks that could do it without any issues. I hated them.
Fast forward to now. During my last WW journey, I slowly added walking back into my routine, and my weight dropped fairly quickly. I was pretty stoked about that because, hey, you have to walk every day anyway (at least somewhere) and I love walking. Using that logic this time around, I began to amp up my walking schedule, especially on really nice days. If you are familiar with New York City's weather this winter and spring, you know the groundhog lied and we're stuck in a purgatory between the seasons. In any case, since I do work in the midtown area and a lot of the space around is underground, I started adding tunnel walking to my routine.
While this all was working for me at the beginning of my latest attempt at weight loss, I found that just walking wasn't cutting it as the time went on. At least every month, the gyms in NYC are running specials and I never ever take advantage of any of them. This time, I was determined to find something for me and make it work. I'm tired of being the size I am, especially since I was doing great 4 years ago and keeping it off until my illness kicked in. After that, I was sad all the time and had zero energy to put towards a weight loss program, let alone exercise.
Good news: I've found something I really like and even though it's been only a week, I am really feeling good about this choice. I've tried most of the machines and have found two that I know are really good for me at this stage. Each time I go, I am finding that I can push myself just a little bit more. I'm more aware of what my body can handle and having so many friends who are already fit and have the knowledge to guide me, I am on the right track.
What are your feelings about exercise? Do you love it, love to hate it or just can't stand it altogether? What works for you? What doesn't? What tips to you have a for a beginner. I'd love to hear it all, so hit the comments and let me know. Oh, and become a follower while you're here. I love you for it as much as I now love exercise.
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