I like to take charge and put fun into my fitness.
The positive feedback loop of my fitness choices creating situations that make me feel better about myself are priceless. Careful reflection, committed application, and the humility to change when things don’t go as planned, all come into play.
Mindfulness is empowering.
While the frustrating influence of physical aging sometimes forces the issue of revising my workout plans, I like the act of making mindful decisions about my fitness/life balance. I may not exert much control over social and practical issues of my environment but I always have power over my response to those demands.
All it takes is a willingness to step up.
Wearing a Fun Fitness Hat
Cross training was the trending concept in exercise several years ago. It may still be in some circles. It is a good idea.
The concept is simple. Take a vacation from your favorite form of exercise (i.e., running, cycling, soccer, weightlifting, etc.) and engage in some other form of exercise. This change-up in routines provides opportunities to develop other muscles sets, reprogram some neurology and offers a break in routine to the muscles used in your primary activity. It also provides a refreshing mental health break from our fitness routines.
Runners start doing yoga, cyclist start rock climbing, golfers start lifting weights, etc.
The original idea behind training was that you became competitive by practicing only your sport. More enlightened thinking developed the idea that doing something different during the off-season would work well with seasonal training regimes. It turns out that it does!
I think the best-selling point on cross training is the empowerment of choosing other fun fitness activities. After a season of doing just one thing, it feels good to be moving literally in different directions for a change.
Physical and Mental Health
Like most of us, I am so much harder on myself than anyone else. When burnout comes knocking, be it in my exercise routines, work, or life, therapeutic application of fun is indicated.
Intention is important.
Finding fun fitness activities that provide both physical benefits and a mental vacation are de rigueur. A sense of play in these new activities is crucial. If I am dragging my body through yet another routine, I don’t benefit.
I like to reflect on my childhood. I know things are different for kids today but back in the day, I was admonished to just “Go outside and play.” Amazingly, this philosophy still works well for me. Maybe I am more of a kid than I thought.
Anyway, as seasons change, opportunities to fulfill my mindful intentions abound. The oppressive Southern California heat gives way to a more temperate outside environment that does not require the attention to heat stroke prevention that the last five or six months have required. I get to play.
Hiking, walking and (eventually) running become alternates to swinging a leg across the saddle. Even a day of hard gardening, with all of the physical exertion awakening some less commonly used muscles, is a great way of skipping my regular workout routine, sans the guilt normally associated with a day missing an exercise commitment.
Some days there is a Zen-like experience of moving outside in Nature without the imperative to accomplish some mileage or distance goal. To just be moving is sometimes all I need.
Including some indoor activities can be a benefit too. As much as I grumble (because they are usually pretty grueling workouts), I enjoy leg day sessions with weights. In addition to my customary 1-2 sessions of upper body free weight work each week, brutalizing my legs in a different fashion seems refreshingly fun.
There’s that idea again. Fun.
Aging Attitude
Getting older calls on all of us to change. The price for each of us depends on how we respond to the call.
As an older athlete, adapting my mind to accommodate my changing physiology to the natural declines in performance is tough. Probably the toughest challenge I have ever encountered in competition, bar none.
Training harder now produces only marginal gains in performance. I have a choice. Keep beating my heads against the wall of my memories (over-training never bothers my race performance) or I can grow up, hopefully before injuries set in, and learn to loosen my grip. Shifting to a fitness attitude and cross-training help stifle the nags of my inner critic, while still providing control on my management of fitness goals.
Short-term and long-term competition goals are still real. How I manage them changes.
I like to start by adding some fun. Hope you do too.
Granted it’s just a guess at age 63, but I feel ‘longevity’ comes from: sleep, hydration, exercise, and to never stop dreaming.
― Garry Fitchett
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