Springing into Action with Exercise: Starting with Small Steps

It’s definitely spring now, and this spring for me has been a time of renewal and change. It’s been a time of new attitudes, new friends, setting goals and making commitments to do the things that I really enjoy and value. Making time for hobbies I put on the back burner. Not making excuses, but creating a path to do the things I once thought I would never achieve.

One of the goals I have committed to is exercising with aerobics and toning at least 20-30 minutes consistently. The key word here is consistently. Too many times I started an exercise program and did it religiously for days or even weeks, then slid off the wagon for months at a time.

My aspirations were a bit lofty about 2 months ago, when I hired a personal trainer to do one session at my home. She is a multi-time marathon runner and former Manhattan athletic club director, and I met her at a mom dinner and lecture series. She outfitted me with the gear and exercises needed for interval training.I had complete confidence in her abilities, but having not exercised for months previous to her visit, I was panting to keep up with the exercises and felt quite honestly, a bit overwhelmed.

I abandoned the trainer’s exercises for a while, then took to jumping and dancing to high-energy dance and techno music as I put away laundry in my bedroom every weekend. I still do that; it’s fun and highly recommended!

Then one day last week, I was organizing my DVDs, when I came across a Denise Austin exercise DVD that came with an exercise ball. I purchased it last year.

Now I LOVE Denise Austin. She was one of the pioneers in the fitness exercise video/DVD revolution and in my 20s, I used to do her 15-20 minute workouts when she had a program on the Lifetime network.

I decided to give her another try.

But before I put on the DVD, I started doing some warm-up exercises.

My 6-year-old son saw me, and started getting in on it. He does push ups and sit ups in Tae Kwon Do, and he proceeded to teach me how to do leg locks so we could do sit ups together.

I pushed myself to do 20. “You can do it,” he encouraged. He showed me how he does push ups the full length way. Not quite ready for the real deal, I grabbed my son’s little Serenity Prayer pillow and squeezed my knees together on it to cushion my knees from the hardwood floor. I proceeded to do modified pushups. I was struggling just to do 5, but I made it to 10.

“Yes you did it!” he cheered as I felt like collapsing on the floor.

“Next time I’ll do more,” I said, hopeful. “After I get used to 10, then I can do 20.”

“Or 30, or 40, or….” He counted all the way up to 100 and smiled, lying down on his pillow before going to bed.

Right after that, I put on the Denise Austin DVD in my bedroom. I mentally committed to 30 minutes. After a water break and going downstairs to the living room to get my free 3 pound weights, it was more like 20. But I pushed myself, I had a good sweat and I did what I set out to do. And it really wasn’t that bad. (Well, there was one part when you had to lean over the ball (which was supposed to be slightly deflated for this activity, but this one was full to capacity and bursting to the seams) and do push ups. I felt like an apple was in my chest and I remembered reading that lowering your heart below your head when leaning forward is not recommended.) So I skipped that one, but did everything else exactly as instructed.

“You can do it!” Denise Austin cheered with her perky voice and her mile-wide smile. “Just one more, come on,” she said, and when she says just one more she means it. Or a couple more.

There’s always the reward/incentive to her motivation, too. “You want sexy shapely arms,” she reminds you. “You want to wear that backless dress this summer don’t you?!” she chirps. Clearly a rhetorical question, and also a constant reminder of the goal of exercise which is to feel and look great.

I did 20 minutes of her exercise routine the one time last week, and I intend to up the ante to two times this week.

Sometimes the answer is keep it simple. Quite simply, I do what works for me, over and over on regular basis. As the famous Chinese proverb goes, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.