Physical Fitness

Well, so much for my resolution to write more often! What's that saying . . . about good intentions paving the road to hell? Hmm . . .

Anyway! My burning passion recently has been physical fitness, or better, getting back into shape, or even BETTER, getting back into my clothes that don't quite fit anymore . . . well, I can squeeze myself into some of them, but they don't look the way I would like them to! But seriously, after the five weeks I spent in bed this winter with pneumonia, I was really out of shape!

I love to run and have been doing body-building this past year at the gym. Ok, now you're wondering - what is this 40-something couch potato doing picking up body-building at this late stage in the game? And well you might ask, especially considering that I have never been what you would call the athletic type. I tried swimming in junior high, but wasn't very good at it. After that there was a long stretch of complete inactivity until I started running (jogging is more like it) at around age 30, but I was never very consistent about it. There was one spring about 10 years ago when Francesco and I did a lot of biking around Puglia . . . but that's about it.

Then, last year my younger son, Gabri, took up Taikwondo. He has it 3 times a week for an hour and last year his hour followed another hour of watching Danny play basketball. Two hours of doing nothing was just too boring, so I started going to the gym downstairs from Taekwondo to kill time. At first, I just did what they call CardioFitness, which means running on a treadmill, pedaling on a stationary bike, climbing the stair machine, etc. Then I slowly started using a few weight machines, doing what they call just plain old Fitness. And I started to like it, but if something else came up in that hour I felt no remorse about skipping the gym.

Last fall when we started back with the Taekwondo/gym routine they gave me a form to fill out asking what my goals were in the gym and I chose "muscle definition" as my option. Little did I know what I had got myself into! Suddenly I was thrust into the world of body-building! My workout program changed radically, the machines and exercises were completely different and . . . . I liked it! Now, I'm completely addicted . . . I never miss a day and if I can squeeze in an extra day, I do! I haven't seen any great change in my body -- don't expect to see me all muscle-bound or anything -- but I really enjoy the workout. I also like the personal attention from the trainers who follow you around and help you if you can't finish a series of repetitions. And NO! they're not cute! One is an ex-boxer who miraculously survived a terrible car crash and has black teeth! The other is bald with Dumbo floppy ears! But they are both nice guys and give me support while I'm working out.

Then there's running . . . it's something I really enjoy. When I do it well, I mean when I can run and feel strong in my legs and lungs, it's the best feeling in the world. My running experience has been revolutionized since I bought an MP3 player. It is teeny tiny and has a clip on it, so I can clip it to my pants while I jog. Running to music is a completely different experience than running without . . . you can run to the rhythm! I have worked back up to 5 kilometres (at first, after I was sick, I could only run a couple of blocks at a time) four times a week and am happy with that for the meantime. Last year I was running 9.5 kilometres, but my knees started to hurt.

When people ask me why I do body-building I always talk about the history of osteoporosis in my family. I also have scoliosis, so anything that helps to strengthen my bones is welcome. But, it's really so much more than that. How can I explain the satisfaction of being able to lift more weight this time than I did the last time? It's just nice to feel physically fit!