Body Maintenance

November 28, 2005

At the age of 51, I finally found an exercise routine that works for me. The road here was paved with torture, failure and embarrassment. So much embarrassment. Especially in the early years.

I am not what you would call a co-ordinated person. My limbs and my brain are on speaking terms but they are not friends. I can walk in a straight line. I can move my arms where they need to go. But walking in a straight line and moving my arms where they need to go at the same time is asking a bit too much.

My athletic career has included but isn’t limited to figure skating (failure: see above regarding the movement of arms and legs at the same time), swimming (if my face can stay out of the water and breathe whenever it wants to I’m not bad), snowboarding (fine until balance requires more that just my legs to participate), badminton (off the team before the first try-out even finished), the gym (nothing like a room full of fit, co-ordinated keeners to make you feel like a skinny loser), x-country skiing (I made the team because they didn’t turn anyone away but anything more than the classic technique on a flat straight away looked more like a snowy version of the Tasmanian Devil) and x-country running (again, I made the team because they didn’t turn anyone away but I also never finished last, often second-last but never last and that success gave me enough of a boost to join every year and I’ve had a soft spot for running ever since).

I have it in my head that if you are exercising it means you are trying to work the hardest, sweat the most and be the best. I will never be any of those things so no wonder “exercise” doesn’t fill me with motivation. An older and wiser woman has introduced me to the concept of body maintenance. Somehow, I’m finding body maintenance much easier to incorporate into my life than exercise. I’m no longer trying to outdo myself and everyone else, I’m just trying to keep my body moving freely for as long as possible. There is so much more motivation when I think of it like that.

So what’s working? Once a week I go for a run in the woods. I always thought that you had to run at least three times a week or it wouldn’t be worth it. That might be true if you’re trying to get faster or win more races but I’m not interested in all that. I only want to run once a week and I prefer to do it in the woods. So that’s what I do. Once a week and that’s it. Secondly, I joined a yoga studio. I LOVE IT! I go three times a week. If I have to miss a class for any reason I just sign up for another one. So far, I haven’t had an urge to skip a class and that’s a new feeling for me. I have been going three days a week for a year now so I feel like it’s going to stick. Well, it better stick because my options for things I like and can actually do are shrinking.