Impromptu exercise again today
Yesterday my activity consisted of impromptu footbag practice after work. I got 5 hits in a row, without much effort! I now know that I’m getting steadier on my feet, even when jumping around all over the lawn chasing a knitted little ball in the air.
Tonight I plugged in my Nintendo Switch to charge, and on a whim I opened Knockout Home Fitness (Nintendo site – on sale as I write this). I haven’t played it in ages, and I really wanted to punch the air in my living room. I kept up with the tricky moves in the current workout, burned 61 calories, and reached 119 bpm heart rate. Most importantly for me, I had fun. (Wikipedia: What is a Nintendo Switch)
It’s winter now. Exercise must be fun, and every day. Easy in my experience. I’ve been at this a while. Reminder, exercise for me includes not just cardio and weights, but also sports and yoga and stretching sessions, totally do-able every day in some way.
Today’s impromptu mini-workout happened after a long day of sitting at my computer at work. And sitting again after work to do some animation. I enjoyed cooking dinner but then I started to feel something I don’t like. Sluggish. No, rather it was just a ’round’ feeling. As in dinner still didn’t digest by 9:00 pm it felt like extra baggage hanging around for no reason.
Exercise was the jolt I needed
Then I realized I hadn’t gone anywhere or done anything today. Just chopping vegetables. It was easy for me to desire some exercise right away before it got too far into the evening. As a type 1 diabetic, my ideal situation is to end exercise at least a few hours before going to bed. Remember I abstain from the word “should” and instead wanted to exercise.
On my to-do list was ‘charge the Nintendo pro controller so the battery doesn’t suffer.’ My brain made the connection for me: I had to plug in the Nintendo Switch anyway, and immediately I wanted to play the boxing game I talked about on my blog a while ago, Knockout Home Fitness.
Then I also remembered that Wednesday/Thursday is my target day for posting to the fitness category of my blog. That was still on my to-do list. Here we have it. I snapped a photo of myself still warm and cozy after working out, and headed to the computer.
Warmth is another reason to work out. I’ve got rainy weather nearly every day here and makes the house chilly in winter. I feel so much better having my own blood flowing better as a way to warm up, rather than piling on extra sweaters or turning up the heater.
Fitness can be imperfect
That’s the lesson for today: Fitness doesn’t need to fit any stereotype or “routine”.
Sometimes you just need something easy to play with, like an exercise game already installed on your video game system.
If I had needed to dig out my old physiotherapy exercise sheets or scroll through long workout apps, I probably wouldn’t have done anything at all. But clicking one button on the TV and starting a fun boxing session felt doable. And once I started, I felt great.
I also haven’t used my Apple Watch in a while, so it was fun to check my heart rate again and see how my body was responding. Little things like that make the whole experience feel satisfying.
How to add exercise minutes to your week
You don’t need a perfect plan or the “right” program. You don’t need an hour. Sometimes a short session is just what you need to build your enthusiasm, every day or two until it feels natural to not think about exercise.
Here’s what it looks like for me:
- Some days have a planned sport, like biking or running to build endurance on Saturday morning when I won’t have family obligations
- Nearly every day gets a stretching for flexibility session
- Yoga (10-15 minutes) at least 3 times a week for muscle tone and joint health
- Often my day has footbag and skipping rope so that my skills keep growing
- I love lifting weights (pretty small ones) but it takes concentration so I do that only when I know I won’t be interrupted, a couple times a week, so that my muscles keep firm
See how I have a reason for everything? Try having one and see if it helps. “I’m going to do 10 minutes of ____ so that I can ____.”
Exercise feels good, if you don’t fight it. Your heart is a muscle; it needs to be strengthened by raising your heart rate for a while, preferably multiple times per week to add up to 150 minutes each week. Smaller workouts count. Walking counts. Try to set goals like those mentioned above. Then a workout of say 10, 20, or 30 or more minutes helps you get there. Notice the outcomes each time.
With some practice at this, you’ll know your goal was important to you if you actually exercise regularly without hesitation.
That’s what easy looks like. Any other opinions on this? Share it below.
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