Keep it Moving
Toni-Ann Hall (Staff Writer)
Being active typically means regularly going to the gym, being an athlete, or being into extreme sports. It is often seen as a chore to many who loath sweat and pushing their body to a limit that seems unnecessary for them. Some people actually only partake in exercise routines because it’s healthy, and not because they like it, but regardless, they’re getting exercise. Every one doesn’t care to maintain an active lifestyle, whether they have the excuse of “We’re all going to die anyways,” or “Who has time to do that?”, or “I’ll just go on a diet,” it’s commonly understood that to drive the car, you have to hit gas. Statistics of the Surgeon General’s report regarding daily exercise has been thrown around in textbooks for years, but how can that be applied? An executive summary report of the Surgeon General by the CDC stated that “a moderate amount of activity can be obtained in a 30-minute brisk walk, 30 minutes of lawn mowing or raking leaves, a 15-minute run, or 45 minutes of playing volleyball, and these activities can be varied from day to day.” This exemplifies the point that it doesn’t have to thought of as, “OK, I need to exercise today,” it can become second nature if simply moving around is the norm for mundane activities.
I have always been interested in exercise. I guess I was an odd child for this, but I used to run around my house with a CD player attached to my hip. I remember having The Proud Family Movie’s “Peanut Butter Jelly Time” song playing at one point when I was exercising. I used to do this for about 30 minutes once a week. Although that doesn’t meet the requirement, and I didn’t do it because I knew that it would improve my cardiovascular and muscular strength, it still helped. Years later, I was still adamant that I would have a consistent exercise regimen because I’ve learned how effective it can be for my health.
Last semester, I took HPS 1000 because it was a requirement and I wanted to get it out of the way. As a freshman, I didn’t fit into the stereotype of the Freshman 15, but I did become lazy with exercising. I was slacking on my eating habits, and I felt so guilty because I knew what it does to my body. I would do 30 sit-ups and push-ups nightly, and count my 20-minute journey to the Social Sciences Building as exercise to make-up for the effort I knew I should be putting in. I was not interested in going to a gym, because I thought I could just take a run around campus or jog in place in my room, but this class changed that all.
We had a required assignment of having at least six hours of supervised exercise done through the University. So I had to go to Recreation Center, or I would fail. It was an easy decision, but I procrastinated and didn’t end up getting to the six hours until the week before the assignment was due. Take into account that I used to take a 20 minute walk to and from work three days out of the week. I wasn’t interested in putting my legs to more use. Because I waited so long to get started on the workouts that had to get signed off by either a Group Fitness instructor or someone supervising the floor at the Recreation Center, I had to do at least six hours in one week. There was also an extra credit opportunity for eight extra hours, so I did 14 hours of exercise in about one week and a half. It’s not that big of a deal, but the gym became a comfortable place for me. I was so used to working out for at least an hour for two weeks straight, that it became the norm for me to want to exercise there. Although exercise can be done in many other mediums, this is what I realized work for me. It was the solitude, even when surrounded by others, that I needed.
With that being said, there is not a certain starting point mindset that one needs to have before making the decision to live a healthy lifestyle, or even make efforts toward it. For me, it’s a consistent work in progress, and whenever I slack off, I feel as if I breached a contract with my conscience.
I try to make sure that I incorporate some exercise into my day, even when my schedule seems completely packed. There’s always time and there are so many resources that are offered around the area to take advantage of. You can find dorm-friendly workout routines, jog in place during your favorite T.V. show, go to the Recreation Center, join a club sport, get a personal trainer, take the steps to become one. Just making the choice to be more intuitive to the things that are going inside of our bodies, how they affect us, and making sure that we are treating our bodies with care, makes a big difference. You don’t have to be “buff”, or thin, or have easily noticeable muscle definition. If that’s the goal, then by all means, go for it and pursue it in the safest way possible, but overall health, both physically and mentally is where success falls. Even if there seems to be more things that seem important, pull out that planner, and make sure to take time to keep it moving.
