who can’t walk the dog…
What I’ve learned about exercise.
I am not one to gravitate towards exercise. In fact, most of my life I have been very opposed to it. I used to think it was because it just wasn’t something I wanted to do, but after pondering on it and discovering new ideas, I believe I have a new answer.
I went to the doctor a few months ago and my blood work came back with bad numbers. Cholesterol was high, pre-diabetic, kidney numbers weren’t good, and for the first time ever, my blood pressure was up. Of course the doc prescribed meds. I had never taken medication before so this was not something I wanted to do.
After doing some research on the prescriptions, I REALLY didn’t want to take them. The side effects are crazy scary. The doc also told me to join a gym and lift weights. I knew this wasn’t something that I would be successful at on my own, so I looked into going to a personal trainer to see if I could afford it.
I found one who offered boot camp classes for a very inexpensive rate so I started going to them. I went for four months and lost a little weight (but also lost inches and body fat!) and discovered I actually liked the classes and could do the exercises because we got to rest. Let me say that again. Because we got to rest.
Let me explain. The reason I could do the exercise is because we would do an exercise then stop and rest before doing another. It wasn’t continuous.
This got me to thinking. When growing up, my gym teachers would make us run laps or do sit ups or something until we collapsed. If we weren’t completely out of breath and gasping for air, they just weren’t happy. Bunch of Nazis. Gee, could this be why I didn’t like to exercise??
I was so happy to have found something that actually worked and that I liked! Then, the pandemic hit and my classes were cancelled.
So I have been doing exercises at home. And, yes I still rest in between each set. And it’s the best rest ever.
