...that I went to Blogger ;-)

 http://eclecticdomesticworksout.blogspot.com/

I used to think exercise, in addition to being hard and making me sweat, was mind-numbingly boring. I thought cardio was 45 endless minutes on some stationery bike or treadmill that you had to drive to a gym to use - and I was not willing to drive somewhere just so I could be bored to death. I think I'd rather be chunky. When I started exercising, what I did was walk about 2 miles every night and do the two weight moves I knew using eight pound weights. I lost some weight doing that, but I hit a plateau very quickly and also got bored, and I did not know where to go from there. Thankfully, one night I was browing on the internet and stumbled across Video Fitness. 

Video Fitness is a place where at-home exercisers (many who are very advanced and knowledgeable from years of experience) discuss exercise DVDs and videos, the instructors who produce the workouts, etc. When I realized that there was so much out there for people who wanted to get fit without leaving home, I dove in and began learning the language of fitness, and trying various programs that were recommended on the forum there. I purchased some (mostly used from Amazon) and received others just for the price of postage by taking advantage of the Share the Wealth threads, wherein kind ladies pass on programs they are no longer using to others who will give them a good home.

I also learned about fitness in general from the women there. I learned that a good fitness program includes cardio/aerobic exercise, strength training, and flexibility work. But in the DVD world, cardio, strength and flexibilty could be so many things - cardio can be simple Walking at Home with Leslie Sansone to complex choreography on a high step to kickboxing; strength training can be high reps with light weights, few reps with heavy weights, pilates, Lotte Berk isometrics; flexibility can be basic athletic stretch, yoga of various kinds, pilates again. For a while I was very confused, and I thought there must be some "right way", but I wasn't sure if I could figure out exactly what it was. Then I saw in someone's signature the quote "The best workout is the one you will do", and I knew that was the truth. So I just began trying different things in different combinations, discovering what I liked and what wasn't for me. As I did this, fitness just kind of snuck up on me.

My first cardio DVD was one of Leslie Sansone's 3 mile walks, and I thought it was hard. I admit I was pregnant at the time, but I know it would have been hard for me anyway. I huffed and puffed and sweated and was totally wiped out at the end of that one. But without realizing what was happening, I was getting in shape. After a while I could do a Leslie that required some jogging, and then I found I could jog on my rebounder for a full 25 minutes of a 45 minute workout. Now I could probably jog the whole thing. 

I had a similar experience with strength training. I started out knowing very few exercises and getting wiped out using 8 lb weights, and now I often use 15 lb dumbbells. I also struggled to get through non-traditional strength like Squeeze, in addition to having the challenge of learning the proper form for this type of exercise - now, it's not exactly a breeze to use the heavier weights or get through Squeeze or Pure Barre, but I know that continually challenging myself is part of the process, and I actually find it fun, despite the muscle aches that sometimes accompany this kind of work.

Regarding flexibility, I have always been naturally pretty flexible. But I have bad balance, and yoga and some athletic stretches challenge me there. I have been known to fall over. But I have seen improvement in that area, and expect to see more as I continue to practice.

So, if you think you might want to join the at-home-fitness journey, get thee to Video Fitness. And the next time I post I will tell you what I would recommend you start with, based on what I like ;-) I will do this based on cost, and tell you what I would buy if I had 50.00, 100.00, etc. up to about 250.00.

I have spent most of my life overexercising my mind, and letting my body languish. For the past year and a half my mind has been fatigued, so I have been putting more energy into developing my physical side. My fitness journey began only for the sake of vanity - I noticed my metabolism was starting to head south, joined in its travels by various body parts which were losing the battle with gravity. I just didn't want to get any fatter or flabbier. And I haven't - in fact, I have gotten progressively thinner, and even after my 4th child am rapidly approaching the size I was previous to having children at all. And while my vanity does like those external results, the reason I have kept up with exercise is because I love it. As a former poster child for the Exercise Haters of America Club, that is a strong statement, but it is the truth. I love how it is a challenge, and yet not a competition. Instead of trying to keep up with or surpass Woman X, what I am now doing is seeing my fitness as a personal project - what can I do with my body, and how can I change how it looks, feels and functions in life, both now and as I get older?

I know that a lot of you are like I was - you know that you should exercise for various reasons (beauty and health) but you don't for various other reasons (you simply hate it, or don't know where to begin, or think you don't have time, etc). This blog is for you, because I am living proof that you can overcome all those objections in your head. I am not going to tell you that getting fit is easy, or that it can happen in just 10 minutes a day or in just a few weeks (but I am going to tell you how you can do it at home). I am not going to tell you that it's free - I know you can indeed get fit using no equipment and books from the library, but in the course of this fitness journey I have spent at least as much as it would cost to belong to a good gym, and so I will talk about the fitness DVDs and videos I have purchased, as well as the small equipment a lot of those programs use.

I am also not going to tell you that you will necessarily get to the point where you are totally fat free and suddenly blessed with your dream shape. God has given you 1) DNA that determines how your figure is shaped and what kind of health you have 2) food that is a pleasure to eat and share with family and friends and which you don't want to obsess over eating, as well as 3) a limited amount of time to dedicate to these pursuits. How you work within the parameters of those variables will determine what your fitness results will be - and it's really a lifelong journey, anyway. Today I saw a sign in a gym that said "Glorify God With Your Body". And while I know that has many implications that are not related to fitness, I do think you can glorify God by caring for your physical body, especially because it can give you more energy for life - but He won't be glorified if you allow it to become a vain obsession. I will certainly discuss how challenging it is to walk that fine line between caring for our bodies and simultaneously accepting that they will eventually wind up in the grave, no matter how fit they might be while we live in this fallen world.

If the mood strikes me, I will write about topics not related to fitness, but that mood has not struck for quite some time, and since moods don't usually announce their visits, we'll have to wait and see if it chooses to pop in some time. For now, expect reviews of fitness DVDs, thoughts and struggles related to fitness and health in general, musings on vanity and aging, and things like that. I am not going to show you pictures of myself in skimpy clothing, record my weight and/or measurements here, etc. since I don't take pictures like that or track those things ;-) 

I'm not sure how comments work here at this blog host. You can always email me at sammycakes@sbcglobal.net until I figure it out.