For several years I have been looking for an exercise program that not only keeps me fit (or as the years have progressed, GETS me fit again), but it keeps me engaged to the point that it becomes habit. It's fun and I want to do it to the point that if I don't, I feel something is missing. Trudging to the gym each morning, or on lunch, or after work, or after the kids go to bed, every other day but twice on Wed except in a leap year or using any other contrived method to convince myself that 'this time will be different' has not quite produced the results I've expected. Round may be a shape, but it's not the shape I was aiming for.
My biggest obstacle is of course my own self-discipline, or lack there of. How do can I overcome my perceived laziness and apathy? What I've come up with so far is this. If the 'need' to exercise feels more like the 'need' to do homework or mow the lawn, you probably haven't chosen the right plan for you and you are more likely to fail. But if you can find a program, sport or activity that fulfills some inner need or compulsion, then exercise won't feel like work and it will become a natural part of you. You don't have to be convinced to play video games, golf or read a book. You just want to do it. Why can't exercise be the same way?
For once, I think I might have found that program for me. Two weeks ago today I started the 60 Day Challenge Class at Dynamic Strength and Conditoning. For 3-4 weeks prior I was taking a FIT class 2-3 nights a week. Dynamic SC provides functional conditioning. They work on 'movement not muscles'. There is no isolation of certain muscles groups, 'back/bicep' or 'chest/tricep' days, no mirrors and NO MACHINES. You learn to move your body with and without resistance. The changes become apparent in your daily activities before they will be seen on the scale or in the mirror. I have found that I can keep up with the kids and take on more house/yard work in this past month than I could before. These sorts of changes are often overlooked when we choose an exercise program. Would I rather have a six-pack or would I rather be able to keep up with the typical trials of life? Why not both? Bench presses, 'dread'-mills and preacher curls won't give me both.
To me, 'Dynamic' is the operative word at Dynamic Strength and Conditoning. Most classes use a 40:20 or 30:30 Tabata interval of 5-6 exercises. However once a week or so, without warning, we break format and get challenged to push ourselves in new ways.
This morning's 60 Day Challenge Class was a rather unique one called 'Deck of Cards'. We had 4 exercises assigned to each suit of a standard deck of cards. The number on the card is the number of reps of that exercise. Face cards are 10 reps and Ace is 11. The deck was shuffled and split in 3 to give us a 2min break between each 'round'. The exercises were (you can check YouTube or dynamicsc.com for videos of some of these exercises) Burpees, sit and reach w/ medicine ball, Hindu squats and Kettlebell swings. Because the deck was shuffled, we had times where we did the same exercise 2-3 times in a row or even 4 out of 6 cards. When that exerice is a Burpee card and it's a face card, you get cooked pretty quickly.
It's the daily challenge and curiosity that keeps me going. I am not going in for 'chest/tricep' day on Monday and elliptical machine Wednesday. I am heading into the unknown 3 times a week at 7am and I am feeling great. I couldn't get out of bed before 7:30 before, now I have a hard time sleeping between 5-6am out of anticipation for the day's class.
Our lives are like a deck of cards. As each hour or day 'flips' we have a new tasks at varying intensity to overcome. Just look at my weekend. Friday afternoon volleyball in the heat, all day painting and housework on Saturday, playing with 'the boy' most of Sunday AM, playing in the pool all of Sunday afternoon with the kids. Never tired, never exhausted. Had that been my weekend 6 weeks ago, I probably would have been too sore to leave the house by Sunday AM and I would have missed the quality time with the kids. But here it was 6am on a Monday and I bounded out of bed looking for a Challenge.This program is more than just a fitness class, it's an ace up my sleeve everyday.
[NOTE: My weekend was a stroll compared to Kevin Buckley's (owner of DynamicSC) weekend. He came in 36th out of 200 on the Mt Ascutney race on Saturday then rode up Mt Washington on Sunday. Check it out here: http://dynamicstrength.blogspot.com/ ]
