I have always been in shape, I tell my friends. Sometimes I have been in better shape than others, but I have never been out of shape. Even before I was involved in training and competing in organized athletics, I was running, jumping, and climbing around my house and neighborhood. I could shinny up a door frame, to the delight of my Stearns cousins at age 4 and I don't think I ever sat still when playing with friends from the school bell until dark. We invented many a game before the street light came on.
I have just always felt an intrinsic joy in movement and I do believe that that is one of the keys to lifelong fitness. At some level you absolutely must enjoy moving or exercising. That doesn't mean there isn't discomfort from time to time and that parts of your routine aren't solely purposeful and aimed at some end, but you must include something enjoyable in the regimen. If not, you simply will not stick with it and you'll be like so many who repeatedly start then stop and then beat themselves up for stopping. It's just a no win cycle.
If you like to bicycle, do that. Can't wait to play hoops with friends, do that. Walk and talk with your spouse, do that. Make that the basis of your routine and then, over time, add a few more things to round out your fitness. And always try to make it as fun as possible.
Yesterday was cardio only for me. I cranked up my Spotify 70s radio in my blue tooth earbuds and took a comfortable jog around the lake in the unusually dry August air and then did a series of sprints, working up to three 95% runs at 150 yard and then finished with an 80% effort for 200 meters. I have been bothered by a chronic strain or adhesion in my left glute for almost two years so I am reluctant to run full out unless I'm feeling absolutely no irritation. Yesterday was not that day. I do love the feeling of full speed running, though.
Since I do my sprints next to the neighborhood pool I finished with 250 easy yards feeling myself relax in the cool water. I was tired, and there were some points during the workout where I was struggling for breath or felt the muscle ache and burning lungs of exceeding my anaerobic threshold , but I was able to find joy in each part of the workout.
I have just always felt an intrinsic joy in movement and I do believe that that is one of the keys to lifelong fitness. At some level you absolutely must enjoy moving or exercising. That doesn't mean there isn't discomfort from time to time and that parts of your routine aren't solely purposeful and aimed at some end, but you must include something enjoyable in the regimen. If not, you simply will not stick with it and you'll be like so many who repeatedly start then stop and then beat themselves up for stopping. It's just a no win cycle.
If you like to bicycle, do that. Can't wait to play hoops with friends, do that. Walk and talk with your spouse, do that. Make that the basis of your routine and then, over time, add a few more things to round out your fitness. And always try to make it as fun as possible.
Yesterday was cardio only for me. I cranked up my Spotify 70s radio in my blue tooth earbuds and took a comfortable jog around the lake in the unusually dry August air and then did a series of sprints, working up to three 95% runs at 150 yard and then finished with an 80% effort for 200 meters. I have been bothered by a chronic strain or adhesion in my left glute for almost two years so I am reluctant to run full out unless I'm feeling absolutely no irritation. Yesterday was not that day. I do love the feeling of full speed running, though.
Since I do my sprints next to the neighborhood pool I finished with 250 easy yards feeling myself relax in the cool water. I was tired, and there were some points during the workout where I was struggling for breath or felt the muscle ache and burning lungs of exceeding my anaerobic threshold , but I was able to find joy in each part of the workout.
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