Elder’s Exercise Rant

Elder and I clashed again this morning.

We switch sides often on this issue of exercise.

Today it was cold and raining steadily outside. This usually indicates I’ll be at low energy for the day. I’m rather like a solar panel, when the sun is shining outside I get fully charged; I’m bright and happy.

That’s probably why my hair fell out. Surely there’s a solar panel in my scalp that the sunlight desperately needed to get to. I do remember starting to lose energy around the same time my hair began to leave. What other reason could there be?

When it rains, I’m gloomy like Winnie the Pooh’s, Eeyore.

As I said earlier, it’s raining today. I’m feeling drained and Elder hacks my brain to say, “We need to exercise now, before lunch.”

That’s when the clashing began.

The tone of Elder’s voice reminded me of Rainman, “It’s Friday, definitely have to exercise on Friday.”

Good for Elder, you know. He understands that to stay fit and flexible we have to keep this whole body moving, not just the normal parts we use every day. We gotta stretch, we gotta get the heart pumping, and we gotta maintain strength in the muscles.

“But really? Today?”

He has deserved reputation for nagging relentlessly, so I gave in. (but my sneaky plan was to do as little as possible!)

Here’s our normal routine:

For timing and motivation we do it to music…

Tai Chi to “Bailamos” by Enrique Iglesias. Time 3:37
Cardio to “Livin’LaVida Loca” by Ricky Martin jumping jacks, sprints, fast march. Time 3:43
Strength to whatever suits my mood du jour; today it was “Fields of Gold” by Sting. We did Isometric exercises today. Time 3:34
(body weight and isometric exercises require no equipment, lessen possibility of injury, and most importantly, they work!)
Stretch to “Guiding Light” by Mumford and Sons (my new favorite!) focused on Hamstring stretches today which work wonders to reduce the back pain induced by too much sitting . Time 3:42

Roughly 15 minutes total exercise time including breaks in between.

All our stuff got done. And I have to admit, though I hate when Elder’s right, I felt more energized afterward.

Motivation and action; like the chicken and the egg. Who knows which comes first? Easy test, if you don’t feel motivated, act anyway and see what happens. Just start!

9 times out of ten motivation WILL follow.

Some days, like today, it’s Elder pushing me.

Some days, Elder wants to nap and I say “No Way! Get your ass off that couch.”

Even though we clash from time to time, we’re usually a good team when it comes to exercising. Nearly every day we find just 15 minutes to keep this body from rusting out and seizing up on us.

Move it or lose it.

Its not always easy, but it is always worth it.

What’s your biggest fight when it comes exercising?

“Bene Vivere!”