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Continuing On the Path to Fitness

By Barbara Radisavljevic of Barb's People Builders

Recently I wrote an article on another site (see link below) on my official orientation and first activities at the Kennedy Fitness Club in Paso Robles, California. I had joined reluctantly after some prodding by my husband and doctor. I had been diagnosed with both high cholesterol and high blood pressure, and my clothes seem to be shrinking. Everyone but me seemed to think joining the health club (which both my husband and doctor happen to belong to) was necessary.

I had been perfectly happy with the exercise I got in my daily routines. I have a garden I like to work in during the spring and summer and early fall and which I must work in at certain times. I like to get out for walks -- as long as I have someone to walk with, and the weather is neither too cold, nor too hot. Unfortunately, I had to admit that only certain seasons in the garden required enough exercise to make me huff and puff -- routine watering involved more standing and waiting than moving around. Hoeing and pulling weeds worked well, but there weren't always enough daylight hours when I was free to do those things. Also, the same weather conditions that discourage me from walking also discourage me from gardening. My walking partner moved ten years ago and my husband has only recently recovered enough from two hip replacements to be able to keep up with me on a walk of more than a couple of blocks.

Thus, when one of those roving medical test units came to my husband's gym and he dragged me in for an allergy test, I decided it was time to expose myself to the truth and also get a test that tells you how much body fat you need to lose. The truth wasn't pleasant. I need to lose 15 pounds of fat. My weight loss methods during the past five years tended to add -- not subtract -- pounds. So I gave into the pressure to join the Kennedy Fitness Club.

I should mention that Kennedy Club Fitness was not my first experience with a club. When we lived in Thousand Oaks 30 years ago, I joined an aerobic exercise class in a sports club. I think I liked their spa best, but I kept with the class until they made it coed. Then I felt funny about being on display in front of the opposite sex. I wasn't fat then, but I felt exposed running around in leotards. So I quit. I was still getting a lot of exercise at work then, and when I quit working I found someone to walk with on a regular basis. That's still my preferred form of exercise. I had a brief experience in a smaller exercise club,as well, but I do hate doing exercises for their own sake, and that didn't last long. I tried a class in belly-dancing, but I couldn't get the hang of it. So my track record of staying with classes and fitness clubs isn't impressive.

I need for the Kennedy Club experience to be different. In many ways, it's different already. I had three orientation sessions to help me learn how to use the equipment, and my guide (trainer) also showed me alternatives to any machines which seemed to hurt me. The club itself is clean and attractive and feels like a club. It has a snack bar and lounge that encourage conversations. Best of all, I know people from outside the gym and almost always bump into them, so I don't feel alone in my efforts to keep fit.

Even though these things are true, I don't want to go. I'm not one of these people that just loves to go workout. For me it's a discipline akin to regular dentist visits or trying to eat carrot sticks instead of chocolate or cookies. It's something I know is good for me, something I must do to remain healthy. Although I would jump at the chance to take a walk with someone on a lovely day, I have to force myself to go to the club, and I cannot envision myself actually looking forward to it as my husband does. It's one of the centers of his social life. For me it's another chore.

Like many things in life, the hardest part is making myself start. Just as some days I don't want to do business chores such as bookkeeping or listing books to sell on line, I find that if I make myself start, I can begin to be glad I'm doing it and I can happily finish what I started. Going to the club is the same way. After a quick start of going four times in nine days, life intervened during the holidays with extra work and a trip out of town, and I skipped two weeks. Now I am having to motivate myself to go back. I started back last night.

I have to tell you that I had to push myself. Sitting around reading the paper and doing some of my various online activities seemed much more appealing. But I had promised myself I would go and my husband paid for the membership, and so I went. Since we had walked a mile the day before, walking seemed good, so I decided to use the treadmill. I promised myself I would walk a mile and try to do it in half an hour. It actually took me about 31 minutes because I'd gotten off to a slow start. This is the first time I've stayed on a treadmill more than ten minutes. What helped me stay longer? This treadmill had a little TV screen and there was a wildlife show on. I didn't have sound, but at least there was something to see. The thing I hate most about exercise is the boredom. After I finished my mile, I moved over to the stationary bike and rode for half a mile. I was pretty tired, since I'm out of shape and I had also been exceeding my target heart rate for a few minutes. It didn't seem wise to push myself any harder last night.

The question now is how to keep to the schedule of three nights a week. I need to find a way to make myself look forward to this. One way would be to load my new MP3 player and take it with me so I could listen to something I enjoy that's a treat. Getting a couple of audio books from the library store got me through a lot of kitchen work during the holidays, so downloading a book I want to read might make me look forward to the gym. My trainer said I could prop a book up on the machines, but I can't get the distance and the print size coordinated with my trifocals. Besides that, it's kind of hard to read when you're moving. Ideally, having a friend on the machine next to me that I could talk to while "walking" would motivate me most, but people working out on those machines are often working too hard to talk. It doesn't seem to be a problem on a real walk, since you are closer together and maybe not working quite so hard.

Another thing that will help is having goals. If I decide ahead of time that I will walk or ride a certain distance, and I can stop and go home when I finish, I don't feel as intimidated as if I were going into an open-ended situation. If I feel more energetic once I start, I can always keep going past my goal, but having a limited goal helps me to get started. And getting started is the hard part for me. Once I get going, the machines themselves provide some motivation. You can see how fast you are going. You can see how far you are going. You can see your heart rate. That is much better than just getting on the treadmill and moving in a state of limbo to nowhere. Watching the gauges move is the only thing that makes me feel I'm actually getting somewhere along the road to better health.

I realize that this road is a long one. I'm not going to reach all my health goals in one session, in one week, or even in one year. I know I will need to keep getting quality exercise for life if I'm to stay healthy. Each of us needs to pick the path that it will be most pleasant to stay on. For my husband, it's swimming. I hate the water and he loves it. His way would not work for me. What I would choose is two mile walks with a friend several times a week as I used to have, but since that's not an option now, I have to choose the closest thing to it. That seems to be what the gym has to offer. So I will continue down that path as long as it is the best option. I would love to hear how the rest of you are meeting your fitness goals and how you motivate yourselves to keep at it.

drkelp Jan 6, 2010 21:05

Hi there. I will be 50 this February and began Zumba dance exercise in November. I have always said you gotta keep moving, however, I got lazy this last year & gained some. I enjoy dancing, so when I started to investigate this Latin dance, much like aerobics, I was hooked! You have to do something that is fun so you will continue.
Good luck..it's not easy.

I'd love to get my exercise by dancing, but I'd feel funny taking a dance class without my husband. Sometimes I will put on a polka CD and dance around the room by myself, but I think before I do that again I'd better build up my cardiovascular system a bit. LOL, tonight my heart rate was already up to 125 by the time I got from the parking lot into the gym and onto the treadmill. At 2 mph my heart rate went back down to 112-115 I'm supposed to exercise at. The polka is much more active than the treadmill at the speed I'm going now. I hope to work back up to my normal walking speed of 3 mph in a few more weeks.

Those darned health police get everywhere, don't they?
How can any health club advocate 'three nights a week'? Don't they know that there are seven?
In my 52 years of ill health (several kinds of cancer) I have learned one thing - THE HEALTH POLICE KNOW NOTHING!
We are not all bound to be some AVERAGE or IDEAL body shape or weight.
They impose their rules by quoting statistics but let me ask you a question - How do they know you will 'live longer' if you lose 15lbs? Did they EVER bring someone back to life and say 'OK - you did it your way - now do it ours and see how much longer you live'?
From the tone of your intel you are under some stress to comply with the health club regime - STRESS IS A KNOWN KILLER!
Maybe you should ask yourself what YOU want?
You seem to have a fairly good routine to keep you fit - maybe that 'extra' 15lbs of fat is contributing to your health - not damaging it.

I'd love to agree with you. In this case, the health police are my doctors and my husband (who wants to keep me around long enough so he won't have to get rid of all my unsold books when I die.) If I were only concerned with my looks, I probably wouldn't bother with the gym, but abdominal fat seemingly is more unhealthy than fat in other places, and my fat is in the wrong place. The body mass test showed that. I'm in the process of charging my new MP3 player so that I can take it the next time I go to the gym.

Thank you for sharing this detailed exercise intel with us, Barbara.
You are to be congratulated for you fortitude and dedication to keeping healthy.
Keep up the great intels.
Frederick

frederick Jan 7, 2010 10:56

I understand you hating the boredom, totally. But it's only boring at first. Once you start getting used to it, after daily exercise for a few weeks, and your performance goes up, you'll find yourself concentrating hard on every breath, every step. Running is a mental sport! It's just like juggling - you can't break your concentration. Hang in there for a few more weeks, and most important of all, keep a written record of your times. As the numbers go down, you'll get stoked. I'm just worried we won't see you as much on Qondio because you'll be spending all your time pounding out record miles on the 'mill.

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