What’s the most fun way to exercise?
Your body can stand almost anything, it’s your mind that you have to convince.
Author Unknown
While learning gymnastics, we used to start with a warm-up run of 3x 400m run on the track, followed by a 40-minute warm-up which included detailed stretches and jumps and leaps and splits. Every exercise was a competition as all of us excelled at different things. I had a friend with springs in his feet, he could leap up in a tuck jump to almost 5 ft in the air, enough clearance to somersault, and then there was A who could walk up and down stairs on his hands and I was able to flex beyond the 180 in splits.
This usually was followed by the event of the day, and including set up and dismantling we spent about a couple of hours every day on these. Again, all of us have had our preferences or specializations in the events as well. I was too tall and my flexibility ensured that one of my feet was always on the ground at any point in time. Theoretically, this made the Beam an easy event for me, but, as gymnasts, we never judged the height of the beam from where our feet ended, only from where our eyes were situated, so for me, that was the usual 3-foot clearance to my feet and the added 5feet 6 inches, to where my eyes were. Events were put away and were followed by fitness or abdomen exercises and this started with the usual 3X400m run and then abdomen and core strengthening exercises. This was a 45-minute cycle. In total, we must’ve spent about 3.5 hours to 4 hours every evening in just exercise. The only reason we probably went at it for close to 7 or 8 years non-stop (seemed like a lot more) was the fact that you could never predict who would be leading or excelling in the performance of an event or exercise at any point in time. The competition is what made it interesting. While winning meant a lot, eventually we realized that keeping at that top spot took a lot of effort. Gymnastics the way we were taught the sport, ensured we understood the spirit of sportsmanship. We understood the effort. We understood sacrifice. At no point while we were in the gym, did we think about anything but exercise. There was no time to shift focus, discuss other classes, hobbies, or interests, or even talk. If we were able to talk, we were able to do a few more sit-ups or a few more push-ups. And that’s just what we did. A little more every day.
“What seems impossible today will one day become your warm-up.”
Author Unknown
Getting back to exercise after a time leap of almost a decade and I started 2021 with the perfect exercise program. It had portion control. It had exercise programs. It had daily blogs to keep you answerable. And you could do it with friends and family across locations. But it was not the gym. It was not the same as exercising with your sibling and friends in the field. I did the program for a year. To the best of my ability as a SAHM. I even managed the diet control. I mobilized some fat reserves into muscles. And for a while it was amazing. However, the difference between the gym and the program became evident in a few months after the program stopped. The gym did not have holidays, vacations, or off days, we went there every day. What started as a 6-day week of exercise, eventually became 7 days where we met on Sundays to just sit around and faff. We never socialized beyond the gym and these bonds helped encourage us to perform better.
I missed this when I did the program a few years ago. Not having someone around you, huffing and puffing and wheezing in your ears, did not help at all. It got boring fast! And after a break, when you try to get back to exercise you want someone panting and groaning around you with you. I even tried the fitness gymnasiums for a few months. I hired a trainer who hovered around me while I groaned and moaned away barely able to complete the set that we used to refer to as ‘warm-up’ while in the gym. It got monotonous. I did not want to see the artificially pumped muscle men and their elegant slender wonder women floating around me. I missed the healthy stringy compact muscles of gymnasts. I missed the huffing and groaning of full-body exercises. We never had a ‘hand day’ or a ‘leg day’ or a ‘back day’. We had only one setting and that was the ‘full body’ exercise followed by practice and abdomens. And we had friends, who would run a few paces slow to ensure we finished together. So, if you ask me again, what is the most fun way to exercise? It would be with friends. Friends egging you on. Friends slowing their pace to match yours. Friends gossiping while running around the track with you.
And if it is something I would like the kids to pick up. It would be to find a group of friends to exercise with. The discussions, the competition, and just the camaraderie of exercising with friends shift the focus from exercise to fun. It makes all the difference.
“Instead of focusing on all the reasons you CAN’T do something, you need to focus on all the reasons you CAN do something.”
Matt McLeod
Just a little more 