Leading an active lifestyle
Sometimes there’s no time. Sometimes life gets in the way. Sometimes there’s this distraction or that. Really there are a million “excuses”. We all have them. The question is whether or not we give in to them.
Today, mine was that it was too hot. The local news channels issued a heat advisory and the National Weather Service issued an air quality advisory because of the heat index. My “gym” is my garage. Unfortunately, our garage has no insulation and is generally fairly close to the ambient temperature outside. With a high of 98 today as the base temperature, quite the significant level of humidity, and the heat index, I didn’t feel safe working out today.
Instead, I opted to take the kids to the local pool. My son is 15 and my oldest daughter is 10, so they’ve both got quite the energy reserve naturally. My son loves to splash others in the face, so I’m typing this with bloodshot eyes. Upon each splash in my face, though, a chase ensues. Once I’ve caught up with him, it’s picking him up and throwing him somewhere in the pool, followed by a mad dash to get away since he’s going to be coming up splashing. My 10 year old daughter just recently passed the test to be able to go into the deep end of the pool, so she loves going on the slides. The problem is, she wants someone there to catch her, so that requires me being there for her to swim to. Treading water while waiting on her to go is a slight workout, too.
In addition to all this, the humidity in the air makes my knees hurt. I need surgery on both knees, so jumping around can be quite painful, even with the carpet padding in the garage. Yet another reason why I opted for the slightly easier workout of taking the kids to the pool.
My whole point of writing this particular blog is two-fold. One is to show that I’m human, just like you. Sometimes there are injuries or extenuating circumstances that actually justify not doing your workout for the day. However, the second reason is to show you that there are options that can benefit you AND help you to fulfill both you and your family’s need for time together. Not only was I able to spend some quality time with the kids, but I got some exercise in the process.
If there is some reason you can’t complete your daily workout, what’s stopping you from at least doing SOMETHING that can get you a little bit of exercise? Take the stairs instead of the elevator, park a little further away from the store’s front door and walk in, go for a walk or hike (maybe even with a friend or loved one) and enjoy the scenery (or the company). You have options to lead an active lifestyle. Take advantage of them!
