Just Keep Moving

Good day, everyone!

I feel honored to have been asked to post a few words about exercise on the Nutrition Health Net website.

Glen walking on the Pinellas Trail

Let me begin by telling you a little bit about myself. I am a sixty-three year old, Caucasian male who has misbehaved a lot in my life time and I have the scars to prove it! My daughter reminded me once that I have smoked more joints than I ever smoked cigarettes. However, I have now been clean and sober for over twenty-six years. What I hope to bring to this discussion is a layman’s attitude about healthy living. I consider myself the voice of the masses because I am just like a lot of you. I have time to exercise, since I am retired, but I do not have money to throw at exercise equipment and fancy health club memberships. I have one artificial knee and an “original  equipment” knee that should be replaced, but I can’t afford it. My hearing is shot and I have to use drug store cheater glasses to read what I am typing! I don’t have a “Charles Atlas” body, BUT-and here is the important thing, my AEROBIC ENGINE is in great shape!

What I am NOT is Chef Bren and Dr. Donna! They bring so much to the plate (pun intended!) when we are discussing healthy living and I would NEVER pretend to be in their league!

Now let me tell you a little bit about YOU! Since you somehow found this website, you must have at least a passing interest in improving your health. My guess is that more women are reading this article than men. That’s OK, though. We all know that wherever the girls go, the boys will eventually follow! You are probably not happy with your physical appearance. For men this may the continued presence of those “love handles” and for women, it may be that annoying little “keyhole” shape at the top of your thighs. What I am telling you is that you need to get over it!

Sure, we all want to look like some beautiful or handsome person, but what is really important is your aerobic engine. You need to do SOMETHING every day to get your blood moving-that is the ONLY point I am going to make in this article or any other article I write here. I hope to walk a fine line between encouraging you and making you feel guilty! I want you to look at your day before you go to bed and say, “Yup, Glen would have been proud of that effort” and not, “Oh crap, I really don’t want to look at that website and see Glen’s comments again!”

So…having said all that, let’s get started!

I suppose that I have to say that you should check with your physician about a physical workout plan before you start. That seems to be pretty boiler plate for exercise websites. So do it. Your doctor has given you some  guidelines as to what you can and can’t do. You should probably follow them since you paid good money for his or her opinion!

Now I don’t really know what kind of shape you are in. If you are an Ironman triathlete, maybe you should just skip forward to Chef Bren’s articles about healthy cooking! For the rest of us mere mortals, what you have to do is begin to remake how you THINK about exercise. Most folks these days are so busy trying to earn a living and care for their family that they have little or no time for themselves. Let me share an epiphany with you-IF something happens to YOU, what then? WHO is going to take care of your kids because you were having dinner at the drive through? Sure, your kids are on the way to soccer practice (or some other physical activity), while you sit in the bleachers and eat their French fries! Now don’t get me wrong-I have French fry flashbacks, too! The difference is that I exercised somehow today so that even if I do eat the “bad” meal, hopefully, at worst, I’ll break even! None of us are Saints! All we can hope for is to keep our blood moving around without all those bad things clogging up our system!

I live in a condo. I have seen people in our condo stop their car at the mail boxes after work, check the mail and drive to their parking spot. This is standard fare throughout the entire country, I’m sure. So your job is to drive home after work (assuming you work more than two miles from home-otherwise my question is why did you drive in the first place?) and proceed directly to your parking spot, garage or whatever. Now get out of your car and WALK back to get your mail! What a concept! Exercise!

Now take this a step further, tomorrow walk a little FASTER to the mail box!

The next day, walk to the corner of the block and back to get your mail!

I think you are getting my drift. Exercise is where you find it!

So that is my tip for this article-WALK somewhere! I don’t care where; I don’t care how far; I don’t care how fast. I just want to know that the next time we visit, you can say, “OK, I’ve done that. What’s next?”

Until next time, keep breathing!

Glen