I've been thinking about this post for a while, and after lots of percolation, I find myself in the year 2012 writing about an extremely unlikely topic: Exercise.
*Note this is not an accurate depiction of Miette as my personal trainer - anyone who knows my cat knows he would be driving a fully automated child-sized car. He would never be caught expending so much effort on riding a bike.
Like lots of pale bookish types, I always thought I just wasn't cut out to be An Exerciser. It's not so much a lack of motivation to jump around and sweat and then fall down, out of breath (although that's part of it). For me, it was always:
1.) The trappings of exercise: the gym, the clothes, the equipment, the shoes.
I'm not sociable enough to go to a gym, and I don't want a ton of equipment and accoutrement filling up my house.
Keep reading after the jump!
I like walks, so those have always been in the mix. We tried running for about six months, and came the conclusion that I, at least, am not genetically predisposed to be a runner. And a few years ago, in a fit of optimism, I bought a really nice exercise bike. But this brings me to another stumbling block:2.) It was deadly tedious.
To feel as if I'd done any work, I had to dedicate at least 45 minutes. It was a slog. This brings us to stumbling block three:
3.) It takes up so much time.
At the end of last Summer, I decided I wanted to try really hard to find a good fit - working a sedentary job, being a bump on a log in cloudy Portland made me certain I needed to find a workout I could do every day. It helped that I knew, from my past flops, what I was looking for.
- Something short and intense.
- Something that required very little equipment.
- Something I could do here, in my home, would be a huge plus.
A friend recommended Zuzana Light's workouts (that link goes to her Youtube channel.) She is the co-founder of Bodyrock TV (* please be forewarned that the ladies on these channels wear pretty tiny clothes to lead the workouts, and they might be a bit too saucy for many sensibilities *)
A choir of angels sang out - THIS IS It! My ideal workout!
The workouts are short (averaging 12-16 minutes) most are bodyweight-only (meaning you only need yourself and a timer) and they are very intense (and I think, very fun - no slogging here.) And (maybe best of all) they are free!
Since September, I've been doing these interval-based workouts 5-6 days a week. I play some Ramones or Stooges or Tears for Fears (hey - Break It Down Again is such a good workout song!) Something like this or this can be knocked out in 20-25 minutes (including time for stretching, etc.) and I feel so good for the rest of the day. I've said goodbye to several dress-sizes since I started, which wasn't my sole intention, but nice.
I'm happy to finally write this post. I thought about all the freelancers, cottage-industry owners, and parents that work at home, and thought there was a chance it might be useful to somebody -The Unlikely Tale of How I Became an Exerciser.