I have struggled, people.
Struggled!!!
It has always been this strange enigma. Even before I had kids.
The question? Where and how and how to fit fitness into my life.
I don't think my question is at all unique. I think most women find themselves on this lifelong quest to figure out how to make exercise work. Work within your schedule. Work within your body's constraints. Work withOUT being totally BORING!!
Let's face it, most forms of exercise are tedious.
Years ago, it was yoga. And while I appreciated the new-found flexibility, the repetition wore me out. If you've done one Sun Salutation, you can pretty much expect to do about twenty more.
Believe it or not, I did try running. You know, they say college is the time for experimenting!
I should preface this with the fact that I have asthma. A very mild form of exercise-induced asthma. That's right, my lungs actually REJECT exercise. Nice! I went to a pulmonary specialist (that's a "lung doctor" for the rest of you) and he determined, with all his fancy machines, that I have the lung capacity of a smoker. (Making me all the more thankful that I never once decided to experiment with that nasty habit!)
But I dislike taking medication, especially for something that is not actually going to kill me. So, when I had decided, on that fateful day, to make myself a runner, I knew it was going to take a while. I woke up early, ran as long as I could - which totaled about thirty seconds - then walked until I could breath again (probably five minutes), then ran again. I wasn't following any kind of program, I just did what felt OK. And eventually, about a month later, I had worked up to running for ten minutes straight. Yay, me!
And then I quit.
Running, as it turns out, was exactly what I thought it would be - very. boring.
Maybe I had an inability to hit that all-important "Runner's High," due to my inability to keep breathing long enough to actually get to one.
And I know LOTS of people LOVE running - my husband included. Shoot, a couple of years ago, he ran an "Ultra Marathon." 50 MILES, people. 5-0. I mean, what? But he did it, and I was (and still am) very proud of his accomplishment. But running just isn't for me.
I joined a gym. "I'll do the elliptical," I told myself. At that time the elliptical was all the rage as the ultimate form of getting fit. And with the level selection, I could actually pace myself and keep breathing for longer amounts of time.
But the elliptical, that powerhouse of fitness, proved to be, well, boring. Even my feet hated it. I would keep adjusting - positioning my feet higher up, no, maybe farther down - hmmm, I walk like a duck (per my sister) maybe I need to angle them out? No, nothing worked. After ten minutes, my shoelaces would feel too tight and my poor tootsies would be longing for a real floor. Twenty minutes, and they would start to turn numb. So was my brain.
I should do videos! - my next big decision. But nothing ever really stuck. Not Crunchless Abs, or Tae-bo, or Yoga Booty Ballet. Nothing ever really held my interest and I never did any of them consistently.
Classes!, I had said to myself. That's the ticket! The closest I came to consistency was when I had done Les Mills' Body Pump when Miss Priss had been a scant two years old. There was music and other people and teachers that I really liked. I have a very distinct memory of standing in a dressing room at the mall, in the midst of trying on pants, and realizing that my butt looked almost like a Victoria Secret model.
Really! It really did!!!
I know, without pictures, I have no proof. But I can testify that I was feeling very good and (perhaps overly?) confident about myself!
Which lasted about three months. Why? Because my knees hurt. My knees were sore ALL the TIME! And remember, I don't do drugs. So I quit.
"There has to be a better way," I thought, "than doing 200 squats and lunges."
Zumba was the next fad to drift into my crosshairs. But it is a fad that I really, truly love! However, it can feel a bit like dealing with multiple personalities. The music and pace are determined by the teacher. So one class may have more hip-hop, American music with a teacher who will demonstrate multiple levels. And another class can have all Latin music with a teacher determined to make you pull something by the end of the hour. The gym I belong to now, here in Virginia, has Zumba classes at pretty much all the wrong times of my day. The only ones my life permits me to attend are Tuesday afternoon and Friday morning. And while the long breaks in between do give my knees a nice rest, it is not the type of schedule that is going to give me Vicky's Ass again.
All the while I had been checking out celebrity bodies and googling what type of diet and exercise they were using and who their fitness gurus were. (Let me set the record straight right now - I do NOT "follow" celebrities. I don't care much what happens in their late-night escapades, who wore it best, or who is fueding with whom. But I do enjoy reading the covers of the trash-talk magazines in the checkout line!) I can't recall where I first saw Tracy, or which celebrity they were talking about in reference to her. But, somehow, I landed on her website, and then signed up for her email list. I was fascinated. Still, I wasn't sure what her program was, exactly, and her videos were pretty pricey. I really did not want to add another exercise video to my already bulging TV cabinet.
Then her book, Tracy Anderson's 30-Day Method, came out. Finally! I could learn more about her and her program.
I devoured the book in a day.
And how did I like doing the workout?
Weeeellllll.... I never really got around to it. I did some of the exercises. But they are very different, and I never felt like I was doing them correctly.
Then Tracy (yes, we are on a first-name basis) released the Metamorphosis program. 90 days. All on DVDs. It was so enticing!
And expensive.
Did I really need this? Was it really going to work? Was I really going to STICK with it???
A good six months later, I finally caved.
And I am so glad I did! I am in LOVE with this program!! It is like nothing else out there! And since the workout changes every ten days, boredom is a thing of the past!! I am currently on Level 2, and am so excited for Friday to get here so I can begin Level 3!!!
However, I can never truly trust my Will Power to hang in there for very long. Which is why I am typing up this post. Hopefully, telling the Whole Wide World (on the Web, anyway) my intentions will lend some accountability.
At the very least, it gives me something to write about!
So there it is. The Metamorphosis of my Quest for Fitness and now, hopefully, the Metamorphosis of Me!
