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Basking in the glow of virtue
Nov. 3rd, 2007 09:26 pmI started a new exercise program this week. I've never been one for exercising to tapes, but when I saw T-Tapp being raved about all over the blogosphere, I decded to give it a whirl. Mind you, I've had the dvd for six months now, so it's taken me a while to find the time to whirl, but I'm doing it now which is what matters.
So far it's going pretty well. Do I think it's going to live up to all of the hype on the website? I dunno. But it gets my heartrate up enough to be aerobic and it works all of my major muscle groups, so it should get me in better shape regardless of whether or not it lives up to its promises (lose two dress sizes in a month! Be fit on only three workouts a week! Cure scrofula at the touch of a finger!). After six days, the exercises are already easier because my endurance has increased, so it's clearly doing something.
Here's what I like about this method:
1) The exercises are low impact and not too difficult, so I don't get frustrated and want to give up because it's too hard.
2) There's a 15 minute workout I've been doing, which is long enough to be effective, but short enough that I don't get bored. 15 minutes is short enough that I can convince myself to do it even when I'm tired and I can get a workout in even on short nap days.
3) There's a schedule: you do it every day for two weeks, then move to every two days and then three times a week. Having to do it every day in the beginning has kept me at it, since when I have days like today when I'm feeling lazy the thought that I would be undoing the past five days of work and have to start over again got me to exercise. At the same time, knowing that I won't have to do this every day in the future gives me something to look forward to and knowing that I don't have to do this every day until the end of time make me more likely to stick with it.
4) The video itself is fairly low-key, and has people of all body types on it exercising. It's very nice to have an exercise video that doesn't make you feel inferior with the bronzed god and goddesses demonstrating the exercises. This video sends the message that fitness is more important than what the scale says (although losing inches is a big selling point) and takes pains to use exercise demonstrators who look like the people who are using the video.
As I get older, I've come to realize that while self-improvement is good and important, there is a lot to be said to simply accepting things about myself and working with them instead of against them. So I've accepted that long exercise routines bore me and the only way I'm going to stick with it is to find something short and easy on the theory that some exercise is always better than no exercise. So far, it seems to be working.
So far it's going pretty well. Do I think it's going to live up to all of the hype on the website? I dunno. But it gets my heartrate up enough to be aerobic and it works all of my major muscle groups, so it should get me in better shape regardless of whether or not it lives up to its promises (lose two dress sizes in a month! Be fit on only three workouts a week! Cure scrofula at the touch of a finger!). After six days, the exercises are already easier because my endurance has increased, so it's clearly doing something.
Here's what I like about this method:
1) The exercises are low impact and not too difficult, so I don't get frustrated and want to give up because it's too hard.
2) There's a 15 minute workout I've been doing, which is long enough to be effective, but short enough that I don't get bored. 15 minutes is short enough that I can convince myself to do it even when I'm tired and I can get a workout in even on short nap days.
3) There's a schedule: you do it every day for two weeks, then move to every two days and then three times a week. Having to do it every day in the beginning has kept me at it, since when I have days like today when I'm feeling lazy the thought that I would be undoing the past five days of work and have to start over again got me to exercise. At the same time, knowing that I won't have to do this every day in the future gives me something to look forward to and knowing that I don't have to do this every day until the end of time make me more likely to stick with it.
4) The video itself is fairly low-key, and has people of all body types on it exercising. It's very nice to have an exercise video that doesn't make you feel inferior with the bronzed god and goddesses demonstrating the exercises. This video sends the message that fitness is more important than what the scale says (although losing inches is a big selling point) and takes pains to use exercise demonstrators who look like the people who are using the video.
As I get older, I've come to realize that while self-improvement is good and important, there is a lot to be said to simply accepting things about myself and working with them instead of against them. So I've accepted that long exercise routines bore me and the only way I'm going to stick with it is to find something short and easy on the theory that some exercise is always better than no exercise. So far, it seems to be working.
