Exercise Baby Steps 1

Exercise. Yes, I know...it's a dreaded word for many people. I'll be the first to admit that for many years I lived in terror of it. I went from being a relatively physically active child to a quasi-hermit bookworm. This change in behavior had a negative impact on my physical health.

I had problems breathing after just a short run, I couldn't lift heavy things and, as I became more more out of shape, I avoided all of the things that made me feel "bad". Hilariously, if I had done those things in baby steps, all of the bad health problems would have gone away.

When I was a freshman in high school, my PE teacher, Coach Cherry Robards, took me under her wing and helped me see how good exercise could make me feel and that I could be good at it. In four years, I went from weighing about 170lbs (77kg), wearing a size 14, to about 125lbs (56.6kg), wearing a size 8.

Over those years, I learned great things about my body's ability to do a wide variety of physical activities.  It was wonderful and it helped me grow a lot as a person.

Fast forward a year after graduation...I weighed 95lbs (43kg) and looked like a concentration camp survivor. No, this wasn't because of exercise, although some people do exercise to this extreme. It was because I was severely depressed and had no appetite. I wasn't eating or exercising.

Luckily, I came out of it and started gaining weight. I looked healthy and I felt a lot better but, between a fear of being chopstick thin again, a lack of exercise and a medication I was taking, I eventually got back up to my original high school freshman weight. Only this time, my doctor was telling me that, due to the medication I was taking at the time, I could continue gaining weight until I died. I don't know about what you would do but, when my doctor basically said, "Exercise or die," I started exercising.

My skills were rusty and I had forgotten most of the things I had learned in Coach R's long ago classes and team practices. I basically started over from level 1. I did what I've always done best, I gathered information. I read magazine articles, I collected and watched videos, I asked my more exercise oriented friends for tips, etc.

 I lost weight and gained some of it back, when I got lazy about my exercise habits and/or too processed food happy. Now, I know that weight is only a general indicator of health and that, while I need to exercise and eat well, it's more important to be able to do certain things than it is to be a certain weight/shape/size.

I've reached another of those starting over moments. This one is following a several month junk food/exercise laziness binge. There is no way I can do the level of exercise intensity or hours I was doing just 6-9 months ago. I was working out 15-20 hours a week and that doesn't include any of my normal walking to the store or hiking with friends time.

I'm starting out at level 1, again. I'm taking my first baby step of the get healthier process. I challenge you to take it with me.

I've challenged myself to do 15 minutes of cardio a day and 10 minutes of strength training 3 days a week. As this gets easier, I'll add more time and exercises until I'm at my goal result level. = )

If you can't do 15 minutes, do 5. It only matters that you start and continue, not that you do an arbitrary number or length of time. Eventually, you will work your way up. I know you can do it because I've been there.

If you take the baby step exercise challenge, please post and let me know how/what you are doing.

You can do it!!