I do not like to exercise. I recognize the necessity, but I just don’t enjoy it. Several of my family members are work-out fanatics, including my husband and daughter. But they have not convinced me sweating is fun.
I used to force myself to exercise by participating in a class. If I was with other people, I wouldn’t quit in the middle of a session. The shame would be too much. However, as I got older, I found it harder to keep up with bouncy thirty-somethings. So I decided I needed to find a way to do cardio work-outs on my own.
For the past several years, I’ve used the elliptical at the local YMCA. The good thing about the elliptical is I can read while I do it. That makes the time go faster.
But our new home is many miles from any YMCA branch. I still attend Pilates and yoga classes at the Y, but I don’t want to drive so far just to torture myself. There is a fitness center in our subdivision, and I’ve tried to get over there to use the elliptical with my e-reader once or twice a week.
What I’ve enjoyed the most since we moved is walking in our neighborhood. As I’ve posted before, the views in our area are wonderful, and I’ve encountered a variety of wildlife.
Now that it has turned colder, however, I often don’t want to go outside, particularly first thing in the morning. I walked in our old neighborhood year-round when we had dogs, because, for some reason, dog-walking was one of my chores, though I had had little input into obtaining the dogs. But now, if I don’t have to bundle up, I won’t.
View from the rowing machine
My husband bought a rowing machine several years ago when he took up rowing. I have used it on occasion, but I never really liked it. It does pack a punch—a lot of calories burned in a short amount of time. But I’ve always found it boring. And I can’t read while rowing—too much motion.
Nevertheless, on the first snowy morning we had this year, out of desperation I got on the rowing machine. I called up a podcast on my phone, and I was surprised at how fast thirty minutes flew by. Since then, I have repeated the experience several times. Listening to a podcast is as good a distraction from sweating as an ebook.
An added benefit is the view out the window of the exercise area in our home.
I’ve been listening to podcasts relating to the writing industry, which makes me feel virtuous and semi-productive mentally as well as physically. So far, I’ve listened to podcasts by Joanna Penn at The Creative Penn, Orna Ross at the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and Mark Dawson at the Self-Publishing Formula. They offer timely and relevant information, and their accents are as entertaining as Downton Abbey.
Other good sources of audio input are KCUR’s Central Standard (the National Public Ratio station in Kansas City) and the PBS NewsHour (video, but I only listen to it).
What podcasts do you like to listen to? They don’t have to be writing-related.
