Monday, January 28, 2008

Persistence of Motion

In discussing my exercise program, I mentioned to a friend that I have for the past seven and a half years exercised twice daily--walk a couple of miles, then spend about twenty or thirty minutes doing light weights, situps, pushups, and the like.

"But how frequently do you exercise?" he asked.

"Twice daily," I repeated.

"Yeah, I know... but how frequently?" he asked again.

"Every day."

"How many days a week?"

"Every day."

"Every day?"

"Every day."

"But what if it's..."

"Every day," I reiterated.

"Even it it's cold or raining or..."

"Every day."

That's the persistence of motion. I exercise twice a day, every day, 365 days a year, 366 days on leap years. The only exception to this have been two days after oral surgery, when I was bleeding heavily (thin blood and all that) and unable to walk without exacerbating the problem, and one day when I was ill with some sort of virus and unable to walk across the room. In those cases, I exercised an extra session each day for a few days after to make up for lost motion.

On Christmas, I exercise twice a day. When Mom died, I exercised twice a day. When Dad died, I exercised twice a day. When it snowed, I exercised twice a day. I think you get the picture.

The only way I can feel certain that I'm doing what it takes to stop myself from getting as out-of-shape as I was before April of 2000 is to make a commitment to myself that I will exercise every day.

Dr. Mike tells me I'm the only patient he has who has made such a promise after heart surgery and then kept it for years afterwards. I'm willing to be the exception in that regard.

1 comment:

JGMotek said...

I wish my brother the heart patient did as well. I'm afraid he's really slacking off on the exercise part although he tells me he's still pretty much watching his diet. I plan to give him the third degree when I'm in the US in February. I admire your fortitude!