exercise

[quarrel]

I've kept things simple and unstrenuous so far since I basically started cold. The goal, arranged with a friend for mutual support, was originally 60 minutes a day, every day. It's dropped to 30 for both of us: for him because he doesn't have the time, for me because I can't handle it. I've got a jumprope for cardiovascular work, and I'm doing crunches and pushups every other day for muscle tone. I'd like to be doing pullups as well, but I don't have a spot to do them.

Results are mixed so far. On one hand, I've already felt improvements after one week. On the other, it's a big relative improvement over practically nothing. Jumping rope is surprisingly difficult, and even now I can't sustain it for even ten minutes. My legs tire too fast. If things don't improve, I'll need to switch or supplant it with something like biking or hard walking. Over the Olympics I walked around Vancouver something like five to ten miles per day for three days straight and it didn't tire me out, so I can't consider it a workout. It wasn't a strenuous pace and it was spread over the course of an entire day.

Comments

[ladyperegrine.livejournal.com]

I don't think enjoying life is hedonism; I think it's beautiful. I don't think enjoying exercise is a gimmick; I see it as a way to celebrate what my body can do and likes to do. If I feel like I'm torturing myself, then I just don't see the point in...well, any activity, really, exercise included.

I feel like your ideal here seems somewhat robotic? Human psychology is messy and sometimes distasteful but it is what it is and I kind of want to celebrate it in all of its absurdity. Maybe we are all basically hairless monkeys with big brains; if so, I'm okay with the dichotomy of our base and our sublime aspects existing together.

I know both people whose parents were lax about diet and exercise and people whose parents were obsessive about it...and it doesn't really seem to have a correlation upon their diet and exercise now. Have you read studies that show otherwise?

I honestly don't see exercise as a "decent and responsible behavior" either, because there are a lot of people whose exercise is curtailed by disability or lack of time (such as those who work several jobs to pay their living expenses.)

I agree that sometimes our parents do leave us with less-than-desirable patterns of thinking or behavior. I think that's when therapy helps.