Letters to the Editor
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exercise was an intolerable use of my time, as well
until I no longer had a TV at home and the treadmills and elipticals at the gym did. Now I do 45 mins a day and get the distraction and brain rotting enjoyment of bad early-evening TV and I feel better, even if the weight isn't really moving. Sometimes some distraction is all it takes for people who don't like team sports or other "fun" exercise. I was turned off for years by forced runs in PE (chronic old lady ankles) and team sports (god awful.)
DDR *would* be great, but in order to get any workout out of it at all you have to be good at it. I'm not, so my skill level of DDR doesn't allow any more exercise than standing and... moving my feet slowly. If they could attach a video game like system to an exercise bike or other equipment, I'd be all for that.
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I hear that
I'd rather go to the dentist than go to the gym (if I drag myself there twice, it's a really good week), but I'll play ice hockey as many times a week as I can afford. I get no satisfaction out of exercise that isn't, in and of itself, fun. Even with TV and books and music and movies on my Zune, every minute at the gym is excruciatingly, spirit-crushingly boring. Unfortunately, a month at the gym costs less than a single hockey game.
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Don't forget regular dance!
My husband's aunt made it almost to 103, doing ballroom dance competitions until six months before the end.
I've long thought that we should have adult-sized equipment at the playgrounds too. I love to swing and climb up castles.
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DDR works
I hate exercising. It's awful. I don't understand people who run for "fun." (I think they are all lying, by the way). But I bought DDR a few years ago and I credit it (and a better diet) with losing close to 30 pounds. It's fun. I can have my girlfriends over (they bring an extra dance pad so we can have dance-offs) and, as long as we don't imbibe in too much wine, it's a rather fun (albeit dorky) evening. Plus, it's wicked fun watching Husband try to master the thing- he's ridiculous looking.
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No Pain No Gain, My Take
You don't need a DDR to get a dance workout....all you need is a surface to stand on. I was going to add music, but even that is optional (but many of us find it helpful).
As for the whole we're not lazy, exercise just isn't fun argument...it's a little incomplete in my opinion. If one is genuinely interested in improving his fitness level, I'd like to assume that person would pro actively seek out and investigate new forms of exercise. I hear there's this thing called the internet, and it's chock full of information, some of it's garbage, no doubt, but some of it is legit.
If you're prepared to devote 30 minutes to playing DDR, why not find a friend, and take a thirty minute walk while having a conversation? You could even walk for a longer period of time. Also, when starting a new fitness regimen, it's often a good idea to enlist a partner in crime, so to speak, so that you can both motivate each other.
For very sedentary people, no matter how "relaxed" their initial foray into fitness is, there's going to be some "pain" at the beginning....this passes with time. Incidentally, if and when you find fitness activities you consider fun, you may actually be shocked to learn that you start to push yourself harder and harder, actually seeking out more of the aforementioned "pain." [for the record, I'm not advocating blowing out knees, breaking bones, or incurring serious or minor injury, the "pain" I'm talking about is fatigue and muscle soreness]
Mental pain and emotional task-based misery is an entirely different issue. And, yeah, it's kinda up to everyone on an individual level to stop being lazy, and find an activity they enjoy.
No Pain, No Gain, as far as I'm concerned means, you should be generating a sweat and elevating your heart rate. Fun, sweat, and an elevated heart rate are not mutually exclusive.....exhibit A: Consensual sex.
Also, I really liked a few of the posts I read before composing this letter. Hopefully we've encourage/helped someone to be more active...this is a good thing. [Also, wrt fitness, it's not a numbers thing....please don't obsess over your weight on any given day, as there are countless variables that impact this. When starting out, try to concentrate on how you feel and your energy level....you may, *gasp* gain weight initially as you put on more muscle, which is denser than fat, this is a good thing and will boost your metabolic rate in the long run. Also, ladies, do not be averse to putting on muscle, you're not going to start looking like Lou Ferrigno or Arnold Schwarzenegger, unless you have very similar genes, take steroids and/or have an affinity for green body paint]
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Pain or fun? It's all in your head...
As a clinical psychology doctoral student specializing in meeting the needs of an older adult population, I spend quite a bit of time thinking about these sorts of issues - getting people moving more so they will feel better mentally and physically is a huge task of my, and many other, professions, especially in regards to the growing numbers of older adults out there. I loved this article and its common sense approach to why many aren't exercising and how it's never too late to change the negative mindsets that have contributed to a less-than-healthy lifestyle. I was motivate to write, however, mostly when I read btrader's post. Though this poster seemed to frame him/her self as a supporter of the author, I thought the tone of the post reflected exactly the attitude Harding was trying to dispel - i.e., the idea that exercise is pain, you will suffer more pain the more sedentary you've been, and this is basically your fault for letting yourself be sedentary. There's no need to get fun toys and take enjoyable classes to reframe exercise as new, fun experience, but rather you should just dig in and commit to a no frills routine and just stick with it for a change.
Well, nice for some, but Harding endorses a more radical approach - let's not miss her point. For those of us for whom physical activity has historically been a drudge, even a punishment for our sins of enjoying good food and too many hours of bad tv, a paradigm shift might be necessary to allow us to both enjoy our lives and get more physical activity. Why not enjoy playing Dance Dance Revolution or Wii Fit with our girlfriends, even well into our senior years?? Why can't we have a great time moving our bodies in our own way without conceptualizing it as work/punishment/exercise?
In the absence of illness or disability, when movement is fun, pain simply doesn't factor in. Yeah, you might be sore the next day, but when it's not a drudgery, you'll probably get right back up on that (metaphorical or actual) horse and do it all over again without hesitation. That's not pain, that's a childlike joy in moving around and being alive. Who wouldn't be in favor of that?
Thanks Kate, for addressing this important issue from a mental and physical standpoint!