Staying Fit - For Free!

Rule #1 in the movie Zombieland, for fighting/protecting oneself against zombies is cardio.  That is, if you can't beat them, you will join them.  Fitness is the key.

The likelihood that any of us will be fighting zombies is pretty slim, actually, but being fit is probably a good idea, regardless of whether we're fighting zombies.  What's more likely than zombies is a lifestyle that is a lot more physical.  That is, the way things are going right now, it looks a good deal like we will need to be relying on our own muscle-power to get things done.  

The problem will be for those of us who aren't accustomed to doing things by hand.  Going from zero to sixty is great in a Mustang.  Not so great when it's your body.

The other day I walked to work.  It's not terribly far, although, when some of my colleagues found out that I walked - from my house - they were surprised, because it's far.  It's about two miles, and it takes me just over a half hour, which I think is a slow pace.  

At the top of the one, very slow, long hill I have to walk up was a guy on a zero-turn riding lawn mower.  Not some spectacular sight, for sure.  Except that the lawn mower was nearly as long and as wide as the yard he was  mowing.  

I haven't owned a lawnmower in a lot of years.  When I started turning my yard into raised beds, and forgot to plan the beds ... 

I was going to add "taking into account the width of my lawnmower," but the fact is that I forgot to plan the bed placement.  I think I was just so excited to be getting the frames installed at the end of one of our winters, I just plopped them down and went to work getting seeds or plants in the ground.

We bought a weedwhacker to keep the parts of the yard that aren't "garden" in check.  The area that I have to "mow" is equal to, or perhaps a bit larger, than the area that this fellow was mowing with riding lawn mower.  

I had thoughts.  

I was definitely making judgemental comments in my head.  

To be honest, I have no idea what that fellow's overall physical condition was.  He might be the most physically fit person in my community.

But there are a lot of people in my community who aren't physically fit.  Who think that walking two miles is a monumental task. 

Which is very sad and could be tragic.  See above:  if you can't beat 'em ....

The problem is that when people start thinking about ways to get fit, we too often see in our head, things like a gym membership or costly personal fitness equipment.

In fact, last spring, in March, as the snow started to recede, I decided that I wanted to take up running.  I used to be a good runner.  I could run a mile in around seven minutes, if I pushed hard.  I was clocked at running two miles in fifteen minutes and forty-five seconds.  That second mile was a bit slower than the first, which is how it usually goes.  Five miles would take a bit over 45 minutes, if I could keep a steady pace.

That was a few years ... decades ... ago, and in the time between my runner days and today, I have spent much of it as a stay-at-home/work-at-home Mom, dividing my time between my desk job and my taxi-mom duties.  In short, I've spent a lot of time sitting and the only "running" I can honestly say I've done is running errands.  

But I was determined.  I was going to run.  The only hitch in my plan was that I did not have any shoes that I could run in.  I have sandals.  I have clogs.  I have boots.

So, my ever supportive and amazing husband and I took a trip to a local shoe store, where I purchased a pair of running shoes for myself, and he picked up another pair of cross-trainers (because his were developing holes, and it was time for a new pair).  

And the next morning, I donned a pair of sweatpants, pulled my new shoes on my tender little feet, and set out.

I ran.  

For about a third of a mile, and I thought, "This is not fun!  I'm pretty sure I never liked running." 

I did some sort of walking, running, walking thing for another third of a mile, and then turned around and headed back home.  I think I was gone about twenty minutes or so.  

If you're keeping score, it took me twelve minutes to go one mile.  Twelve minutes.  I can walk a mile in 18 minutes, and I don't feel like I want to vomit afterward.  

One expensive pair of shoes, I probably won't ever wear, and a huge lesson later, and here we are. 

The message I learned from that experience is that getting fit doesn't have to cost a thing.

I stopped running after four days, but I didn't stop doing.  

Over the past seven months, I have lost two digits of pounds and four inches from my torso (bust to butt), and I'm down a pants' size, which is both exhilerating and also annoying, because now I have to buy new pants.  

So, how did I love 20 pounds and four inches, for FREE?

Yoga 

Deus Ex Machina downloaded a free app that gives us three, five-minute yoga sessions per day, for free.  Two of the videos are the same every day, but the third changes.  One of the free videos is a chair yoga session, which I don't like, and we don't do, but the other two videos are great.  We've been doing 10 minutes of yoga five days a week since April.  

The app is free, and while we do have Yoga mats, they aren't required, and if you have carpeted floors, aren't even necessary.  I will occasionally do one of the videos a second time during the day in the room with carpet instead of moving furniture and unrolling the mat.  

The Yoga may have contributed to my weight loss, but the better result has been an overall strengthening in my core (abs), back, and arms.  I am thrilled with my increased upper body strength and the toned look of my upper arms.  You know that "turkey wing" phenomenon that older women experience?  Mine is mostly gone.  

The free app is called Asana Rebel.  

Hiking/Walking

We are very fortunate to live in a place where there are dozens of beautiful hiking and walking trails.  In fact, we have a biking/walking trail right near our house.  

While it was still cold out, we were taking our dogs out on the trail every Sunday for a two mile walk, until it got too hot for our big boy chow, who had Lyme disease as a pup, sustained long-term systemic damage, and has a hard time walking for any distance in the heat.  

When the dog gave up on walking with us, we started looking for more challenging hikes and discovered a huge number of moderate hikes within a reasonable driving distance.

So, yeah, it's not "free" exactly, since we drive to the mountain we're planning to hike, but we aren't buying any special equipment, either.  In fact, we have a long-running joke about the hikes we're doing.  We decide how challenging it is based on whether or not I can comfortably "hike" the trail in my Birkenstock sandals.  So far, the only mountain I have not hiked in my Birks is Mt. Katahdin.  I didn't even try on that one.

We hike or walk two to five miles every weekend, when we aren't working wood.  

And that's it.  

I didn't change what I ate or when or how.

I didn't count calories.

I didn't pay a personal trainer. 

I didn't buy anything special.

When I started working at the beginning of October, I added another two mile walk, twice a week, to what Deus Ex Machina and I were doing, and also, in the middle of September, we added some Adult Ed classes (Qigong and Country Line Dancing), which aren't free, but also, which are very low cost, and just a lot of fun. 

Both of those activities could be free, however.  

The Tush Push is my favorite country line dance, and here's a video of how to do it.  My favorite song for this dance is John Deere Green by the late Joe Diffy.

This dance style can be done to many different songs, and if you only learn one, the Tush Push is a good choice.   The other good choice for a dance that can be done to many different songs is the Cowboy Hustle.

Both dances are fun.

Both are great exercise, and if you get a fast enough song, it's a really good aerobic exercise.

A couple of the forms our Qigong teacher have been published on YouTube.  Here he is doing the Meridian Wash.  We try to do this form at least once a week. 

I know what a challenge it is to find the energy and time to improve one's fitness level.  Believe me, I KNOW!  But what I've discovered over the past eight months, is that even just a little - a very little - five to ten minutes a day - can have a profound and noticable effect over the long term. 

All it takes is consistency and commitment.  

And those are free, too.