I just got a bump from Kyle, my Noom Goal Specialist, asking me to make a goal to help with something I struggle with, like exercise, or blah blah blah.
Exercise has often been a struggle for me. My job keeps me seated at a computer. I do have time for exercise, but at a certain point I lost motivation.
When I was in Albuquerque in the 1990s, I lived within easy walking distance of a gym. So I joined it and I used it. I went to bed early, got up early and went to the gym to start the day. That was great!
Then I moved to San Antonio.
No longer within easy walking distance of a gym, and no longer in the military, which forced me to be at least a little bit in shape, my fitness fell to the wayside. I got fat.
My problem was that I did not find any kind of fitness program that inspired me. Then P90X, and Insanity after that, changed my life in 2010.
But … my body continued to age, and, man, as much as I loved working out and bouncing around with Shaun T and Tony Horton, my body rebelled, got injured. At first I couldn’t comprehend it. How could my body betray me after all these years?
We all age. Some people do so better than others. If I’m honest with myself, I believe I’m actually better off than a lot of folks my age, so I shouldn’t complain.
So what could I do that would not hurt me? I tried getting back into yoga, but I found that it didn’t thrill me as much as it had years ago. Also, I managed to hurt myself doing yoga, too, because I simply cannot seem to keep myself from reaching outside the limitations of my body.
Consequently, the last few years my exercise program has looked like a lot of walking and some pushups.
As I understand it, pushups are probably the best all-around calisthenic exercise, so I got that going for me.
But the other part of that equation is walking.
When I first started walking around 2008, I killed it. I bought a pedometer and would walk around my kitchen island for hours at a time, while either reading my Kindle or watching some fluff on tv. I’d park far away, and if I could walk instead of drive to a destination, I’d do it. If I was on the phone, which I often was, I was walking.
I still have some of those good walking habits, but my dedicated walking time has fallen off lately. I’m going through a long-term relationship transition, and moving to a new apartment, so my game is a bit off.
Today, though, I told Kyle, my Noom Goal Specialist, that I’d like to walk at least 30 minutes a day. And so I shall! (Well, 5 days a week, anyway. Maybe more.)
It’s cold today, near freezing, but it’s sunny, so I’m headed out for my first walk in what I hope is a long series of them.
I’m almost 60 years old. Walking is good. Maybe I could build up to running at some point, but I’ma take it slow with some brisk walking at first.
Stretch goals in fitness are nice, but I need to be careful not to overreach.