Thinking Outside the Gym
January 21st, 2009
Most people who sign up with a gym often find it a struggle to continue and regardless of their best intentions stop going altogether.
I am one of those people. I joined a gym back in the day when leotards, leg warmers, boofy hair and head bands were all the rage.
I loved aerobics and went 5 days a week to start with. I loved the whole ‘flashdance’ feel to the scene. I along with 50 similarly dressed women would strut around the room trying our best to look as good as Jennifer Beals did in that movie. She’s a maaniac, maaniac on the dance floor. Yep, it was fun to start with but pretty soon I got fed up with flashdance and Jennifer Beals.
It wasn’t long before 5 days turned to 3 days and then 1 day. Eventually I stopped going. My leg warmers and leotard, always destined for the spare drawer soon found their new permanent home.
For me the trouble is I get bored. I need to be entertained when working out. I don’t enjoy exercise, I’ve made no secret of the fact. So I am always looking for ways to get my heart rate up and have fun at the same time.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have a great deal of admiration for those who commit to gym and enjoy it. Good on you!
If you are like me being entertained is vitally important to start and continue with exercise.
If I were an animal I’d be a dog.
Dogs love to be entertained. Exercise for them appears to be a real joy. You throw a ball, they run off like little nutters and retrieve it. If you have one of those fancy dogs they will even return it back to you. Then, they look at you with eyes wide, panting with wild excitement demanding you throw it again.
My dog carries on a treat when we take him to the park. He howls, cries, barks and just about rips the car door to shreds when he catches sight his beloved park. Once released from the car he runs around furiously.
He doesn’t know it but he is very lucky. He loves to exercise and doesn’t even know he is doing it. To him it’s just fun, it’s a game.
I, like my dog need to find exercises that are fun. I’ve put together a list of things I do including some I want to try that help to keep me in shape and I enjoy.
- Walk the dog
- Run on the beach
- Play catch on the beach
- Chase my dog around at the park (he always wins)
- Wall ball (tennis racquet, ball and a wall)
- Steps (run up and down them until you can’t no more)
- Swim (beach or pool)
- Hills (run up and down them until you can’t no more
- Gardening
- Hula hoop
- Skipping (don’t do this one if you have a dog near you)
- Long walks (find new places to keep the interest up)
- Hiking – one of my favorite things to do
- Sprints – Quite often we sprint on the beach. It’s fun, try it!
And finally, I just couldn’t resist ;)
January 22nd, 2009 at 4:01 pm
I could never, ever make a successful go of a gym membership. I’m not fond of being surrounded by people, so exercise, for me, is a solo activity.
It’s also one that I haven’t had nearly as much time for since my dog got paralyzed, but some of the things that used to be fun, for me, were walking the dog, taking my MP3 player and heading out for a solo walk, playing on the swing set at the park (again, with soundtrack), or just running errands around town on my bicycle.
If you got the knees, reading comprehension, and coordination for it, learning t’ai chi via internet is a good way to banish boredom and lower blood pressure. (That last bit is purely anecdotal, by the way.)
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Hi Sharonda,
I’m really sorry about your dog being paralyzed. I can say that if my little bloke suffered a similar fate that I would really struggle as well to get any form of exercise.
T’ai chi is very popular although I haven’t had a good go at it. Perhaps I should try again this year.
Thanks for stopping by and give your doggie a big hug for me :)
Sal