EXERCISE

 

          This topic may have been blogged about in the past, but it’s heavily on my mind these days, so I’m going to blog about it. As I’ve stated before (I think), I hate exercise, hate it, hate it, hate it. I also hate sweating, hate it, hate it, hate it. I was perfectly happy going about my business without exercising, walking, doing anything that demanded regular physical activity.

          It’s probably been close to 20 years ago now when I was FORCED to exercise five days a week for four hours. I hurt my shoulder at work and the MD looking at my chart said, “We’re not going to just fix your shoulder, we’re going to fix you.” I guess the L&I folks went along because I was SENTENCED to work for four hours at my job and have physical and occupational therapy and directed exercise the four afternoon hours.

          I’m not going to kid you, it was HELL!!! Unfortunately, or quite possibly, fortunately by the time the four-week sentence was completed, I felt better than I ever had in maybe my entire life, at least my life after the age of 50. I felt so good, I joined a gym and got up at 4:30 am to go work-out before it was time to go to work. Amazing, huh???

          Once I retired, I even hired a trainer for a while to encourage and teach me how to work out better. I loved that, and loved the trainer whom I haven’t seen for a very long time now. I hope he and his family are doing well. I continued to go to the gym for many years after that. It was 24-hour Fitness and I had a life-time membership. Somehow, they screwed me out of my membership and pissed me off, so I stopped going. I haven’t really been in a gym since then.

          That didn’t mean I stopped exercising because my neighbor walked her husband to the bus stop every morning and proceeded on a longer walk after that. I joined her and we spent early mornings, rain, shine, freezing, whatever Mother Nature threw at us, walking for an hour. We kept this up for years and then her husband retired too, so we didn’t need to walk at 7:30 am. Our walking times got later and later; and now, she pretty much walks without me or with her husband.

          I do have good reasons for my lack of walking however. For some of that time, I had two hip replacements, but was soon walking again after each one. Shoulder repair took a while before I was back in my walking shoes. Regrettably, I developed another physical problem which put walking very low on my want-to-do list. I have peripheral artery disease (PAD) in my calves. I can walk for about 2500 steps before the pain in my calves becomes excrutiating.  I then have to stop and rest for a few minutes and/or massage my calves before I can continue. Then, it’s another 2500 or so and the same again. Meanwhile, my walking partner can usually complete our hour-plus-long walk in half my time. She says she doesn’t mind, but I feel like she’s sacrificing her cardio workout to stay with me.

          There are the Enhanced Fitness Classes at the Senior Center. I do try to faithfully attend these three times a week. I’m not always successful, but I do try. These classes offer cardio, stretches and some weight work. I feel better when I attend and I really like the instructor and some of the other attendees are very nice folks. I’ve made a couple of new friends through this class.

          Finally, when I had hip and shoulder surgery, I was given physical therapy. From that and my fitness class, I’ve pulled exercises and stretches that I attempt to do every single morning. They don’t make my heart pump very hard, but they do stretch out all the muscles from my toes to the ends of my hair. They keep me feeling more or less fit.

          When I think of my mother or my grandmother and how they never walked all that much or did anything in the way of exercise, I find myself a bit envious of their lifestyles. At the same time, I have to acknowledge the fact neither woman would have been able to cart the various heavy pots, bags of dirt and other stuff around without some assistance. They would also not have been able to do the things I’ve done this year all by myself…okay, me and I helped too…like pressure wash the deck and house, stain the deck and this week, scrape and paint the north side of the house and apply paint.

          These thoughts make me wonder how they spent their time and whether they felt fulfilled. Were they lonely with days that passed far too slowly? Did they wish they had gardens or homes that required lots of care and maintenance? Would they have been able to do what I’ve been doing at the same age? I don’t know and cannot ask them because they are no longer available…wish I could though.

          As I said in the beginning, I do hate exercise and sweating, but how my life would be if I didn’t exercise and sweat keeps me at it. And, to be perfectly honest, when whatever chore, walk, exercise, or pretty much anything that leaves me tired and sweaty results in that HUGE feeling of accomplishment…well, I love that feeling, love it, love it, love it.