One of the items on my growing list of “things I want to do” is to get fit again. Note it’s a list of things I want not need to do.
Health is important and if I am to enjoy life and extraordinary experiences then my health needs to be good.
I used to be healthy and slim, but I’ve realised that over the last few years the combined effects of a fairly sedentary job, large appetite, glass of wine or two… well lets say that they’ve all added up. I know that my ideal size and weight for me is about 12.5 stone with a waist of 34 inches. To American readers this equals about 175lbs (I think!) Currently I need to lose a couple of inches off my waist and about a stone. I know this doesn’t sound much, but it’s important to me.
Anyway, I’ve tried the gym and found that the cost was just too much. I tried running, but it didn’t really do much for me. But then I came back to cycling. I used to cycle a long time ago and thought I’d give it a go again. And then the resistance came up.
My bike was in the shed, and it wasn’t working properly. I didn’t know where to cycle and how could I work out how well I was doing. Luckily for me I took one small step.
This is the lesson I have revisited and learned. Do something to start on your goal, even if it’s quite small. For me, the something was actually taking my bike to the bike shop and having it serviced. That was enough to get things in motion and to begin to establish a much bigger health habit.
A few days later, the bike was back, clean, oiled, serviced and running like a dream. I took it for a spin round the block and began to smile, I realised what fun it used to be. And that evening I took it out for my first fitness run.
Then I found an excellent little app for my iPhone R K Free, which allowed me to map and monitor my workouts using the GPS capabilities of the little gem. I’ve included a screen shot from another day (but a walk) so you can see what I mean. The thing is, until I started to really put things in motion and take some action, I probably would not have noticed this app and therefore not installed it and found another support to my new habit.
Two days later I did it again, gradually increasing the distance in order to see improvement.
I have a new healthy habit, an exercise that works for me and one that I already want to do every couple of days. And on top of that I feel good about myself, for taking action and working towards things that are important to me.
So my message here is simple. Find what works for you, not what others say is best for you, and then take just one small step to start on your path. And before you know it, you’ll probably be smiling about it and wondering why you didn’t start earlier too!
