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Tony’s Tip No.8 — Do Life! not “exercise”!
Incorporate “movement” into your life…
Some of my “tips” are ones that I actually come up with myself.
Some of the “tips” I share here are ones that come to me from various “Health & Ftness motivational” lists that I’ve signed up with at Walgreens, WebMD, my health insurance company, a website called “RealAge” and a few others.
The tips come to me as tweets or emails.
I got this one a couple days ago. . .
Do at least one active lifestyle activity this week. Try working in the yard, washing the car. Walking to do an errand or cleaning.
. . .and my reaction was:
“DUH!”
Hey, I realize that Read the rest of this entry
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Trauma, Drama, and challenges this week… …wish me success!
Morning Trauma
I can’t find my Omron Pedometer. It is gone. And I’ve gotten used to wearing it every day.
In fact is now part of my “morning routine” to put it on. Which is a problem. What I’m doing in this “Journey to Health & Fitness” is one, by one, setting up good habits, rituals, routines, replacing old patterns of behavior with new, better ones.
And to do that requires repetition. Lots of repetition. And until the “new” becomes “habit” and the “habit” becomes ironclad rock solid do-it-without-thinking-about-what-you-are-doing type behavior, any deviation can be deadly and devastating.
And it bugs me. A lot. — I’m actually AMAZED at how much it is bugging me. I’ve rouned up all the usual suspects and put them in the line-up: under the edge of the bed, under the edge of the desk, under the edge of the kitchen cabinets, inside the pocket(s) of the clothes I wore yesterday.
I’ve even canvased the neighborhood (literally) — I went out on my balcony and the bridge that crosses the court yard and looked at the sidewalk and the stairs to see if I could see it lying there.
2014.05.03 4.50 AM — My Come to Jesus moment
In a bit I’ll put on shoes and go look in my truck to see if it fell out of my pocket yesterday when I went on an errand. And I’ll check the laundry room to see if it fell out there while I was doing clothes.
BUT IT bugs the crap out me that I am not wearing it!
Recording that little number into the spreadsheet each morning from the day before was an act of validation. It is/was actual numerical quantifiable proof that I was indeed MOVING my body!
siiiiiiiggggghhhh
I hope I find it. I don’t want to have to buy a new one. Buying a new one isn’t in the budget.
Doctor Drama
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Best Laid Plans . . .
Sometimes you have to make adjustments:
My game plan from Saturday, which somehow I thought was Sunday was:
Monday – Go to Braums to do some grocery shoping & do 1 basket of laundry
Tue – Go for a walk in the park.
Well, friends, neighbors and the odd cuzzin or two…
Plan “B”
Sunday – Realize it wasn’t Monday and go get groceries
Monday – Pretty much a rest day – a few od things around the house that didn’t qualify as “exercise”
Tuesday – Laundry – 3 loads, two baskets.
Tomorrow – Wed, another rest day.
Yes, I know. Sad, that regular mundane things count as exercise — Ooops! I meant to say: “the activity that shall not be named!”
BUT on the other hand….
I’m moving! Woot!
I’m challenging my body to build itself back up.
I’m not giving up. Uh-huh! Uh-huh! Uh-huh! (doing happy dance while typing which is in itself pretty phenomenal!
Woot!
See ya on the dance floor! (eventually)
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Exercise – Rest – Exercise
Yes, I used the “E” word… Eeeeeekkkk!
I know that I have declared publicly that I am NOT going to Exercise however, for this post I need to use the e-word for the sake of clarity.
To recap: “Exercise” is any activity which produces a physiological effect that causes your heart rate to increase for a set period of time and causes your respiratory system to speed up.
In “Plane Anglish” = IF your heart is racing and you are breathing heavy, then it is exercise.
So to “exercise” you do not have to “go to the gym” you just have to “do the laundry,” or “mow the yard” or” go get groceries” or enjoy a “walk in the park”
The key is . . .
That your heart rate has to speed up and your breathing has to increase long enough for your body to say “uhmmm wow, this dude is serious about this.”
Your body is lazy. It does not want to work. And face it, anything that gets your heart going and chest heaving is WORK!
The “work” may be climbing the stairs at a baseball park to enjoy a great afternoon watching the Cardinals, but climbing those stairs still counts as WORK even if it is in the pursuit of fun!
It may involve rolling around on the floor playing with a passel of puppies, but when you get up, if your heart has speeded up and your breath is starting to make noises like an old-time steam engine then that is work! Even if it is FUN work.
For those of us in truly abysmal shape . . .
. . . like “Moí”
Just getting up from my computer and sorting the laundry leaves me huffing and puffing and making sounds like the proverbial big bad wolf.
Sad, but true.
The POINT, friends, neighbors, dearest readers, and the odd cuzin or two… It does NOT MATTER WHAT YOU DO AS LONG AS YOU DO SOMETHING!
For those of us who are either starting for the first time or climbing back on the “exercise wagon” after falling off, well a little goes a looooooooooooooooooong way!
Rest after exercising . . .
What really goes on in your body when you start an exercise program.
Just so you know, this information that I’m telling you can be verified from numerous reputable sources, but I’m saving you a lot of time reading… grin …by providing a much more entertaining version of what’s going on… Read the rest of this entry
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Sharing with the World: “Stuff that makes me Blush…” (Part Two of ???)
The saga continues…
If you are jumping into the middle of this series then be sure to go back and read Part One.
Things will make a lot more sense that way.
I feel like there should be a voice over. like those you see on TV shows that have an ongoing story line… Kinda like the Game of Thrones… At the beginning of every episode, the dude you never ever see but who has that wonderful deep voice and starts out saying “Previously on …”
Yesterday, actually around 2 am this morning, on Wed, I presented you with two thoughts / concepts:
- My body, is NOT happy with my most recent determination to become fit and healthy and to enable myself to dance again.
.. - As a writer of a blog about fitness and health; as a writer telling the story of one persons journey toward fitness and health, starring well “Moi”, I am faced with an ongoing question about just how much to share. And right now I’ve reached a point where, in order to further the “story” of my journey, I am about to go past my comfort zone and share what to me is embarrasing.
We will assume that the deep voiced dude that you never ever see is finished with the voice over and that ya’ll are caught up — And this episode is beginning:
So.. here it is.. In plain ANGLISH as it were…
I am out of shape.
Disgustingly out of shape.
I am NOT fit.
I am NOT healthy.
Even though I understand that there are reasons for why I am where I am,
the bottom line is that I,
me,
Moi,
the spirit that inhabits this suit of flesh…
I, have become so out of shape that every day simple tasks are herculean efforts!
I didn’t used to be this way. But there it is. I am a blob.
I am inhabiting a mass of muscle and bone and blood and I find it difficult to well,
. . . uhmmmmmm. . . MOVE!
At all.
EVERY movement is difficult for me. EveryTHING I do is difficult. And, I do mean EVERYTHING!!! Even sitting and typing or using the computer causes my arms to ache after a while. Showering is difficult, doing laundry is difficult, cooking a meal is difficult, going to the store or running errands or filling up the truck with gas . . . Standing or walking for longer than 10-15 minutes at a time causes my lower back to hurt and my knees and my legs and.. well you get the idea.
The oh-so-sad truth is that right now, for me, the following counts as exercise:
- Doing a load of laundry
- Cooking a meal
- Taking a shower and getting dressed
- basically any activity that involves moving for 10 minutes or more is a workout.
- Taking out the trash
- Going to the grocery store.
- Going to the drug store.
- Running any kind of errand.
After doing ONE of these things, my heart is racing. My chest is heaving. I’m out of breath. I am flushed. And I need to rest. After 10-15 minutes; after going down then coming back up one flight of stairs…
I.
Need.
To.
REST!
because I just did a workout.
And it is EMBARRASSING! I hate that I’m like this. I hate that I’ve allowed myself to get like this. I kick myself for it an beat myself up for it mentally and and and…….. Aaaarrrrrrgggghhhhhh!!!
and, frankly I don’t want to admit it in public to anyone.
That’s why I’ve kinda sorta “vanished” from sight… Because honestly, in complete candor, I don’t want people who knew me when I could dance for hours and shut down the ballroom or shutdown the Roundup, to see just how bad things have gotten.
I mean, come on! I’m a Eight- Time- Friggin- World- Champion! for gawds sake! But I don’t look like it any more. I certainly don’t FEEL like it anymore. I can not call myself a dancer any more – at least not in a physical sense.
And I don’t want people to know just how bad it’s gotten.
BUT… things have changed —
…some sort of mental switch has flipped. I don’t understand exactly why and I don’t really care why — the important thing is that it has FLIPPED!
I realize that before others believe that switch has flipped, they’ll have to see the results. And that will take time.
I also know that I’m embarking on a very VERY VERY extremely difficult path. And I know that the hardest part will be what at first glance seems to be the easiest: the stuff at the beginning.
And I know that in order for me to move forward, well people have to know.
The thought occurs to me that what I am facing now, and, what I’m doing by professing all this to the world, may be something akin to doing step the first bits of a twelve step program.
I don’t know for certain, but from what little bits I’ve heard about how these programs work, is first you have to (1) admit you have a problem (2) then you have to profess that problem to the people around you I could be wrong. I’ll research it later and share what I find…
BUT.. I know that if I am to achieve my goals then I have got to share all of my story, even the bits that make me blush.
I don’t want to… but I am . . .
…because I am now absolutely pissed off at myself…
AND because I truly devoutly miss dancing…
AND because I hope that this blog (all kidding aside) does indeed one day turn into a “before & after” “how he did it” story sorta like Jared the Subway guy.
In my wilder flights of fancy, I do envision myself using this material in writing a book about my experiences, then it is important that I share some of that embarrassing stuff.
AND because I “do better” when I have an audience, whether it be real or imagined — it doesn’t seem to matter; if I think I’m “performing,” uhhhhmmm, then well, I perform. LOL @ myself!
Hey, we all have character flaws.. (get it? “character” flaw a “character” well “performs” in a… never mind…)
AND…
AND…
I want credit for doing what at first glance seems “ordinary normal day-today things” because for me right now they are not ordinary. They are not normal. They are not day-to-day. They take effort and planning and strength of character and perseverance and actually doing them COUNTS AS A FRIGGIN ACHIEVEMENT! As meeting a goal.
Folks, don’t slam me for this comparison, please, but I wonder if this is how an alcoholic or drug addict feels?
For such a person, every single day sober is a victory. Every single time “saying no” is a victory that should be recognized. There is a parallel — for me, every moment of movement longer than I did the day before is a victory. Every time I eat healthy sized portions or whatever “IT” may be that is positive then that is a friggin victory and should be recognized as such even if I’m the only one doing the celebrating!
PLUS…
I would really like for you folks reading this to send me warm fuzzies and positive comments and applause and “attaboys” and kudos to help keep me moving forward.
At least at first.
I know that in the final analysis that this is a battle that I have to face on my own. I know that it will be a battle that is largely unseen, but right now, at the kickoff, at the beginning, well… warm fuzzies would be really really nice.
The beginning is a tricky time; a critical time. I know from personal experience how quickly one can become sidetracked and thrown off course and well, defeated.
I don’t want that to happen. I really need a support group and for now, well you, my dearest readers, are it….
To do this… to make all “this” to really work this time round, for me to succeed, I need help. Wherever I can get it. From my friends, from my readers; from everyone.
I need all of you guys to understand that when I write in my blog and say something like:
“I did laundry today”
That task is not some simple mundane curiosity, a mere routine chore, a passing thought, a whisp of activity.
No!
It is a frigging OCCASION! It is a monumental ACHIEVEMENT! It is a goal met!
It is something that should be applauded and recognized for what it is, the product of a MAJOR FRIGGIN FFFin EFFORT on my part!!!!!
It is in every sense of the word. Exercise!
An educational moment
— depression in men isn’t discussed in the media as often as depression in women so dearest readers, this may be news for you. It was for me:
I learned an interesting thing when I first started reading about the “signs” or symptoms of depression in men: Depression in men often manifests itself as anger and aggression.
Being, basically a nice guy, at least in my own mind, I see things like anger and aggression as NEGATIVE things.
Things which I do not really wish to display, either in person or in my writing.
So when I find myself saying or typing things like “MAJOR FRIGGIN FFin EFFORT” well that is a big deal and it is a symptom of the depression rearing its ugly head.
MOST of the time, as I type them an they appear on the screen in front of me, I go back and take them out. I mean, there are choices in how to present things and well why make you guys suffer through poor choices?
But not in this post. I want them there. Because it makes a point. It adds emphasis.
I want my readers to understand just how REAL this is to me. In other words I’m not trying to put a happy face on things for the sake of lighthearted entertainment.
My goal is to give anyone reading this a real honest to goodness taste of the kind of stuff that is running through my head.
Because what is running through my head cycles into what I do with my body
which cycles into what goes through my head
which..
well I think you get the idea.
So…
…right now, because of the awful combination of all too frequent bouts of depression combined my truly disgusting awful terribly low level of fitness, means that
quote-unquote “normal things” that most folks do every day
are just not “normal things” for me. Each one is a goal that has to be set, a task for which one must gird one’s loins and put forth maximum effort in order to achieve.
And as a reminder, I’m sure I’ve mentioned that currently (in regards to the whole dealing with depression thing) I am in a “GOOD PHASE” right?
The bad phases were the months where nothing was posted to this blog. It wasn’t pretty. Trust me on this. I know. I was there. I DO NOT WANT TO BE THERE AGAIN.
And that dearest readers is where we are going to leave it for today.
Almost…
One final thought…
As I write this I’m experiencing something of a relief. I feel as if I don’t have to pretend anymore that “things are going great..”
No, they are not going great. But I feel as if they are going “better”
Watch for part three tomorrow morning on the 8th…See ya on the dance floor (eventually)
5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 