Stepping it up

The word aerobics came about when the gym instructors got together and said, "If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it jumping up and down."  ~Rita Rudner

 
Week 13

I recently had a yearly medical checkup through our college health program and met with our school nurse afterwards to discuss the results.  She explained to me that I should work on trying to get my cholesterol down, especially the HDL  (those are the bad guys).  She told me that diet and exercise are key in making that happen, but I specifically needed to focus on aerobic exercise, you know, the kind that makes you pant and sweat. 

I guess I knew that, it was just hoping that taking more steps would be enough to take care of the exercise piece in my life.

I know a lot of you are gym goers, dance class junkies or obsessive compulsive joggers.   But, frankly I’m just not ready for that step…it feels too big for me right now.  So let me go back and think about my BASIC principals in determining a small step.

Begin it now

Attitude that’s positive

Simplicity

Intentional

Creative

I recently read an article about how we can tell if a person is going to live longer. (“10 Surprising Clues You'll Live to 100” by Paula Spencer Scott, Caring.com) It said that Faster Walkers live longer. “University of Pittsburgh researchers crunched numbers from nine different studies including almost 35,000 subjects ages 65 or older. The result: For each gait speed increase of 0.1 meters per second came a corresponding 12 percent decrease in the risk of death. (That's big!)

This is a reminder to me that I don’t have to sign up for the gym…  instead I can seek out ways in my daily life to move faster and just do more 'jumping up and down'.

I have an office that’s upstairs. So in order to crank up my heart rate, I’ll purposefully climb those stairs more each day, and also put more ‘pep in my step’ when I do. My small step will be to go up and down those steps a minimum of 4 times each day.

I  have a favorite CD I listen to. I find myself acting like a teenager
whenever it comes on;just start movin and groovin...  So maybe I’ll just put it on, several times a week.  I dare you to listen to that music and not find your hips gyrating, and arms circulating as you are 'gettin down' with 'The Commitments'.

I must tell you that I worry that this is going to be a tough one for me…I often come home from work dragging my behind..behind me.  Flaying my body to the sounds of music doesn’t always sound like the best solution…what sounds better would be collapsing in the easy chair and kicking my legs back (and not in an aerobic manner). So I think I’m going to need to set myself up for success. My goal will be to come home and first make myself a cranberry juice on ice, with a squeeze of lemon and put the cd on.. and then if I choose to participate... good for me.  Let's say 4 times a week to start.

I’ve got some small weights that have been hibernating in my closet and I saw them peeking out at me the other day.   I think I’ll do a minimum of 4 minutes of weights each evening, as I'm getting ready for the shower.

So to summarize: 4 my health, I will crank it up with a combination of brisk walking, stair stepping, dancing, and weights.  Watch out you nasty HDL critters, you are about to become history!

Small steps 4 health:
1. Continue last week's goal of more walking, with faster walking

2. Go up and down the stairs at work a minimum of 4 times per day

3. A minimum of 4 minutes of weights- 4 times a week 
4. Join in a ‘Dance fest’ a minimum of 4 times per week