Keeping Active In the Dead of Winter

Now, I'm sure you've heard this before: exercise is an important part of any healthy lifestyle. However, I wanted to ramble on about why it matters to me personally, and, where else is better to do that than my blog?

First, let me get this off my chest: until I'm done with the exercise and feeling all of the wonderful, positive effects...I loathe it. I'm a fit girl, so it's not that difficult for me physically, but the mental drain is awful. For example: have you ever gone for a really long run, and all you can think about is- "for the love of Pete, when is this going to be done?"- even though you've only been going for about five minutes, and you've got forty left to tackle?

What's worse is when you start thinking about math. Uggh: "let's see...I've done five minutes, so I've got forty left. That means I've only got to do what I just did eight more effing times. I hate my life."

I speak of these awful things to illustrate that I do indeed understand the severe dislike one can feel toward prolonged physical activity.

So why make a post about how glorious exercise is? Because I've found a way to spice things up and to make the entire experience a lot more likable. I count this as an achievement, particularly because it's the middle of winter, and that's usually the hardest time for me to stay active.

What I've been doing is using exercise videos. I've tried them before, but I've never been able to get into the groove and stay there. The ones I've been using are Carmen Electra's Fit to Strip video (the second in her series), and a few videos by Bernadette Giorgi. Carmen Electra's strip video series is criticized by many for not getting your heartbeat high enough for long enough. For many of her videos, this is true. Fit to Strip, the second video in her series, doesn't teach you any dance routines. It is the video that is supposed to kick your butt into shape, in order for you to look sexy while doing the routines introduced on the other videos. It goes through many toning exercises, and lasts for a little less than an hour. All you need is a chair. Bernadette Giorgi has a few ballet/pilates fusion videos, and let me tell you that they kick your butt into shape. For these videos, you need a 2 or 3 lb weight. They help with strength, balance and muscle control.

The things that I love about both of these videos is that they are the perfect pace for me- which means that they aren't too fast. I hate when I put a video in, and everybody's doing some coordinated dance that you have no idea how to do. I feel discouraged, and annoyed, as I fumble through the steps. By the time I catch onto one step, the instructor is moving on to another. In both videos, the exercises you are doing are very straightforward, and more importantly, effective.

You can find some samplings of Bernadette Giorgi's ballet/pilates fusion here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKWd64uU8jk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP4WQ3NMeTc&feature=channel

Benefits of Exercise
Mood: I've had problems with depression in the past, and one way that worked to increase my mood when all else failed, was to stay active. After exercise, your body releases endorphins which make you feel positively cheery, relaxed and in control.

Stress: Exercise is your body's response to the negative effects stress can have on your body. In today's world, most humans suffer from a significant amount of stress in their day-to-day lives. Stress can affect your body in negative ways, including: weight gain, acne, cellular damage, etc. "Stress that continues without relief can lead to a condition called distress -- a negative stress reaction. Distress can lead to physical symptoms including headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, and problems sleeping. Research suggests that stress also can bring on or worsen certain symptoms or diseases." Exercise is a way to combat stress.

Body: Obviously, increased body image is a key reason that many women exercise. Exercise increases both your internal beauty, and external. One thing to keep in mind is that, before you see external results, your body must beautify internally. Be patient. One technique that always helps me is to set an amount of days that you must workout for. When starting a new routine, I tell myself, "give it 21 days before becoming impatient about seeing results." If you can stick with it for that long, it will be easier to continue on, because it takes three weeks to form a habit.

Try to keep active, even when it's cold outside. You don't need a gym membership to work your body. There are plenty of exercise videos on youtube, and when I find something I like, I go to tubeleecher.com. It allows you to save youtube videos to your hard drive.

-Moon