The Unfit Person's Guide to Fitness
I don't know about you, but when I see pictures of these thin little things
in
spandex jumping around on magazine covers, it drives me crazy. I'm 5'2",
weigh
219.5 (-- as of Oct 2003. I've been losing weight), and I am not in good
shape
from a workout point of view.
I also hate to hurt when I exercise.
Not only that, but there's this cultural sense of guilt we have
in not being perfectly fit, as if we're committing a sin somehow.
Makes you feel like garbage about yourself after awhile. Me?
I say that the guilt is completely unnecessary, even if I do want
to be healthy. I'm not a bad person because I am short and
fat. I won't be a better person when I am short and in shape.
As I often tell people who compliment me on my weight loss,
and say, "You must feel so much better about yourself.", no, I don't
feel better about myself. It's just possible to run up the
stairs.
So, if you're overweight and take a cab if you have to go more than a few
blocks, what the heck do you do? What if walking a mile is quite frankly
out of
the question? What if that "gentle half an hour walk" you're supposed to
take
every day is really too much?
Stop feeling guilty about it, for one! You can start small and create an
enormous snowball effect in your fitness. Put on clothes and comfortable
shoes.
Pick a direction. Walk as quickly as is comfortable for you for five
minutes.
Come back at the same pace.
Forget about it until the next day. The next day, do the same thing.
When you've done it seven times, walk five and a half minutes instead of
five
before turning around.
Do that seven days in a row. Then walk six minutes.
Oh, sure, it'll take you about four and a half months to get to your target
of
walking a half an hour a day. So what? Do you perhaps have a deadline? Are
you
going somewhere? You know that exercise is good for you. Chances are good
that
you're not doing it because it hurts. It might be that your fitness level
is
pretty low. Hey, I've been there. I feel for you, because it really does
stink
to feel like that. I know what it is to want to get in shape, get in shape
now,
then push myself too hard, get injured and quit.
I don't do that any more. That's how I got to weigh 245 pounds and
exhausted
myself. I felt at all times more or less the way I feel now when I am just
recovering from the flu or something. Yeah, that's right, I felt slightly
ill
at all times.
As of this writing, I walk a good brisk 20 minutes a day. I get my heart
rate
up to 21-22 beats in ten seconds, which is about 70% of my maximum and a good
conditioning rate. (You should be very careful to find YOUR correct target heart rate, as this is fairly individual).
I can hear you saying, "But what if It's nasty weather out there. I can't
go
out in the rain! It's cold, It's yucky! Gray days depress me too much to do
that!"
Get outside anyway. I'm serious. I grew up near Washington DC, which has
abominable weather for a good portion of the winter--gray, yucky, dreary,
you
name it. You know what, that ickiness you feel from lack of light will
actually
be alleviated a bit if you get outside. No kidding. Even on a yucky gray
day,
thereis a lot more good sunshine for you to absorb than there would be in
your
living room or in your office. I now live in Vermont and work in New
Hampshire.
You want yucky weather? Try our winters. Falls are gray and rainy and days
are
about an hour shorter in the dead of winter than where I grew up. Believe
me,
the people who thrive up here learn to put on the boots and the polar
fleece
and get their butts outside into the sunlight while we have it!
If it's the chilly damp that is kicking up your arthritis? Again,
I genuinely feel for you. I have it, too, and have since I
was twelve. Yeah, yeah, losing weight is supposed to help,
but darn it, I hurt even when I weighed 117 pounds, ya know?
Exercise is actually good for arthritis, too. No, don't go jogging. That's
too
hard on your joints. But walking at a pace that gets the blood pumping a
little
bit (a LITTLE bit!) is going to help. You need strong muscles and to
increase
your bone density more than most, if you have this. Get out there and walk.
I
promise you that if you start really small and stick with it while gently
increasing your time, you will feel better. If walking five minutes makes
you
hurt too much, start with four and a half, or three and a half or even two!
you're not going anywhere, so It's a good idea to try. Your body will thank
you
and you'll be around a lot longer.
Now, cardio is all well and good, and I get a bit of it every day. But what
about other things? Strength training is vitally important, especially if
you
are or have been quite out of shape. Your muscles are working harder than
most
peopleis are. Think about it a minute -- if you're carrying 100 pounds of
adipose tissue (I was), it would be as if someone else were carrying a 100
pound backpack. You need to be stronger so you won't be so darned tired!
(Yeah,
yeah, ideally you should lose the weight. Ya think if you do all this
you're
not going to lose a little adipose tissue and put on some muscle?)
Fortunately, walking is a weight bearing exercise -- great for your behind,
your
thighs, your calves and you ankles. So what about the upper body?
Pushups. Okay, let's be realistic here. Chances are slim that you're going
to
be able to drop and give anyone one, much less twenty! that's okay. Can you
lean against a wall with your hands at pushup height and pump out a few?
Betcha
can. If you're strong enough to be able to do more than twenty this way,
you do
need something more challenging to get the upper body strength going.
Forget
those silly "girl" pushups, with your knees on the floor. that's not really
going to build muscle. Instead, once you've gotten to the point where wall
pushups are too easy, do them against your kitchen counter. When that gets
too
easy, drop the elevation again to a very sturdy table. After that, drop it
to a
chair and so on until you hit the floor and are doing pushups the old
fashioned
Marine way. Your upper body will love you for this. I have found that as I
have
put on muscle that the daily tasks of life are simply less fatiguing.
Obviously, at a desk job, I don't do a lot of heavy lifting, but yes, I do
have
to lift a big carton of copier paper every now and then. I have a family of
six, so the weight involved in lifting groceries is certainly a non-trivial
issue. While I certainly do like looking good, for me the primary motivator
is
that when I am physically strong, it is less likely for me to get
overwhelmed
by the daily things I have to do.
While you're working on this, you might also want to work on your
abdominal strength. Once you get to that full-fledged pushup,
you'll notice it works your abs, too. Building ab strength
is insanely easy. Lay on the floor. Now, see how much
of your body you can lift off the floor without using your hands.
Didja get your head up? Good. What about your shoulders? Great.
Whatever you can do, try to do it five times. Was that
easy? Do more. Did that hurt? Do enough until you can feel
it, but not enough for it to be painful. Now, every ten days,
increase the reps by one. you'll be pumping out crunches before
you know it. In reading accounts of athletes, the ones I admire
the most (gymnasts, martial artists, yogis and dancers) all say
that trunk strength is crucial to overall condition. I used
to trivialize this concept until I had been working out several
months. But then I noticed that as I was able to increase
the amount of crunches I was doing, the more stable I was in other
workouts. I have a desk job, but do not experience that bane
of seated professions -- back pain. While yes, back pain has many
causes, strong supporting abs go a long way to reducing potential
problems. My skinny husband, who is an artist and spends many
hours at a drafting table notices that if he does not do his crunches,
he will get a horrid backache after a few hours of work. Just
remember to work up to increased repetitions on this. You
do not want to hurt yourself. And also remember, whatever
you can do today is okay. You'll be doing more next month,
and a year from now, if you keep this up, you'll look back on your
progress and be amazed. But if you push too hard, feel bad
about yourself or punish your body in the process, you're going
to be stuck where you are. don't do that to yourself. Really.
you're okay where you are right now.
Okay, so we've got our strength and we've got our cardio. One more thing:
flexibility.
No, stop groaning. Stretching is a sensual delight when you do it right.
Stop
looking at me like that. I'm serious.
Remember, this is not supposed to hurt. If you stretch until
it is painful, you're damaging muscle and tendons. We're trying
to be good to our nice bodies that carry us around and do so much.
No punishing, please.
Confession time: I am fairly flexible for a woman of my age, medical
condition
and weight. I studied things that require a lot of stretching all my
childhood
n ballet, martial arts, that sort of thing. If I am describing things that
make
you laugh at me or wince in pain, remember that the point here is not to
become
a contortionist. The point is to remain mobile. It is not a contest and
your
present fitness level is okay. It's where you are and what you have to work
with, and you're fine person just the way you are. You get fit to feel
better,
not to be better.
So. First things first. Can you touch your toes? No? that's okay. My skinny
husband who finds a two-mile run a pleasant outing cannot, either. When you
get
up in the morning, reach up and try to touch the ceiling, then lean back as
far
as you can comfortably. Then lean over and try to touch your toes until you
feel a pleasant pull. PLEASANT PULL not PAIN. No pain, no pain. You do not
want
to tear anything. Hold it at that nice pulling feeling for about ten
seconds,
then rest for a few breaths then try it again. Then forget about it until
tomorrow morning. Keep doing that until you can touch your toes. This may
take
awhile, and that's fine!
I do a yoga exercise (yogis call it an asana) called the
Sun Salutation
several
times every morning. It stretches and limbers your whole body and feels oh
so
good--especially if I do it after a hot shower, so that all my muscles are
warm and relaxed. If you're limber enough to do this, great, but don't
sweat it
if you're not. The point here is to build fitness, not beat yourself up
about
your present state of fitness.
However, if yoga isn't your thing, there are lots of other things you can
do to
make building flexibility fun. Another thing I really enjoy doing is
putting on
some sexy, groovy music and just stretching out. (Little Red Corvette is a
favorite "stretching" tune of mine). Start slowly with this and always move
slowly. No bouncing. Bouncing is bad and evil and a quick route to a torn
muscle. Be nice to your body and don't do that.
Start standing up with your feet together. Reach your hands
up as far as they will go. Keeping the back straight and
bending from the waist, slowly lean over as far as you
can until you feel a nice pull all along the backs of your legs.
If you hurt doing this, you're pushing to hard, so ease up.
Do this a few times, then move your feet about twice shoulder
width apart (don't lock your knees. Keep them an itty bitty
bit bent!), and reach your hands up as far as they will go again.
Lean over as far as you can with your back straight.
Come up, then lock your fingers and lean to the side as far as you
can, being sure to keep your torso and legs on the same plane.
Then go to the other side. Do this until you feel a nice
pulling stretch. Then lean to the front and try to put your
hands on the floor. If you can ease yourself to the floor
without moving your legs, great. If not, don't sweat it and
just sit down and part your legs in as wide a V as you can manage.
Reach up again, and try to grab your foot and put your chest
on your thigh. If you can do that, you limber thing
you (I can, but it's only because of my far too generous cup size),
try to put your forehead on your shin. Hold that for a few
breaths, then move to the other leg and do the same thing.
Then lean over as far as you can to the center. Aim to keep
your back straight and put your chest on the floor. I never
could do this, by the way, even after ten years of dance classes,
but aiming for it is good because it helps you maintain proper form.
The key to this entire article is to start small and have a plan for
building a
little bit at regular intervals. My own personal fitness goal is do be able
to
do 100 pushups. I am not yet to the point where I can do 20 proper pushups
on
the floor. I started at wall ups, am now doing 20 pushups with my hand
elevated
on a seven inch step, and am probably about eight or nine months away from
my
goal. I know that if I keep going Iill probably be on the floor in a week,
and
will be able to increase my reps every couple of weeks. But I look back on
my
progress and am glad I started very small and carefully.
I am hoping that those of you who have a long way to go will look
back in a year and be amazed at what those little steps to fitness
can do for you.
Update 4/30/2007
In the three years since I've written this, I'd lost an additional
20 lbs, regained 40, then lost another 30 (putting me around 205
this morning).
I also work out a lot more than I did back then. I really did start
out that small. But now, I'm either swimming 1000 yards or walking
two miles five days a week (I tend to take a mile or two stroll
on weekends, but it's not the get sweaty workout my lunchtime work
is).
I really do believe in strength training, but I've gone from bodyweight
exercises to pumping iron. If you check out my blog,
and click on the fitness tag, you can scroll back and see a lot
of what I've been doing. Right now I'm doing a four day upper/lower
body split (I do lower body weights two days a week and upper body
two days a week) and a total dumbbell workout.
© 2004, Noël Lynne Figart