Why I Work Out

[shanmonster]

It all started with a growth spurt in my childhood. I grew about six inches in a two- or three-month period, and as a result, it wrecked my knees. The cartilege couldn't keep up. In order to keep my kneecaps from grinding constantly, my doctor assigned certain muscle-building exercises for my quadriceps. The stronger my quads became, the less pain I experenced in my knees. This was a huge impetus.

I also have hypermobility, as does my sister. It is very important that people with hypermobility keep their muscles strong, or else they have a much greater risk of dislocation. I have had only one dislocation (in a knee when I was a kid). My indolent sister dislocates frequently. My mother, who does not exercise, has arthritis (which doctors tell me I might have) exacerbated by obesity.

Cardio fitness is also very important to me. Within months of being diagnosed with asthma, I couldn't walk for a block slowly without having a terrible attack. I couldn't even speak more than two or three sentences without coughing. Gradually, I've worked myself to the point where I can dance or practice kung fu for three or more hours without needing to take a puff on my puffer. I've also bicycled more than 100 kilometres in a day (in the rain!) without having an asthma attack. And this is on top of my doctor having told me in my youth that I'd probably never be able to go cycling because of my knee problems.

So one of the biggest motivators for my weight-training is simply the urge not to fall apart. If I stop, I have a not-unfounded fear that I may become sick, weak, and racked by constant pain.

I keep myself fit to be a better athlete and artist, and I also do it out of curiosity. Will I be able to lift that heavy weight? What would I look like if I burned off a bit more fat and developed my deltoids more?

My father was a professional athlete in his youth (biathlon), and I suppose part of my urge to keep myself in excellent shape is hereditary. I take after my father in many ways, although I can't see myself being a biathlete. Although I wouldn't mind practicing my marksmanship, cross country skiing never appealed to me enough, much to Dad's chagrin.

To top it all off, I have more than a little pride in my physical fitness level. There's part of me that exercises so I look good in a bikini.

How about you?

Comments

[rebelseahorse.livejournal.com]

I'm very curious to know your workout routine/schedule, if you don't mind my asking.

I've been trying really seriously to keep at it, but I always end up stopping for a week, and have a terrible time getting back into it and when I do it's only usually for 30-45 minutes tops, where I do a mix of stretching, leg work and sometimes weights. Mostly I work out because I'm worried about heart problems and my legs. I hate my upper legs/butt and want them to be firmer/smaller but nothing I do works! Well, squats and lungers were going really well but that's about it. My abs never see the hint of a muscle and it's depressing because I only weigh 90-something pounds! When I try too do kick boxing for cardio I can only go for about ten minutes without feeling like I'm going to pass out and have a terrible time of it! Ok, I feel like I'm writing into a fitness experts to ask for help. Heh. Oh wait, I guess I am.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

My workout routine is all over the place, right now. Ideally, I weight train three times each week for about an hour, with ten minutes of cardio to warm up beforehand.

Two or three times a week, I practice kung fu, which is both cardio and muscle training. For example, standing in a low horse stance and doing dragons are probably the best exercises I can think of for developing leg and butt strength. It's like doing squats and lunges all at once.

I also dance a couple of times a week, which is additional cardio.

On top of that, I walk or bike pretty much everywhere, and throw in extra bits of cardio, like a few minutes of jumping rope, etc. I was doing yoga weekly, but that seems to have petered out. I need to start it up again, as I really enjoy it.

In the summertime, I add kayaking to the mix, which is an excellent workout for the upper body. It also gives me the opportunity to get closer to nature, which is a bit of a rarity for me now that I live in the city.

As for not being able to do the kickboxing for more than ten minutes, don't worry. That's because you're not yet used to it, and you're also pushing yourself more than you can handle. I remember when I couldn't understand how people could go to clubs and dance for more than one song. I'd be drenched in perspiration and exhausted halfway through a pop song!

To start off, try going at half the speed of everyone else. A novice can't be expected to keep up with people who've been doing this stuff for years. Make sure you're hydrated, and go at your own rate. If you start to get dizzy or feel like things are shutting down, stop, lean on a wall if you have to, and breathe deeply and slowly until everything's back under control. Try to keep moving, even if very slowly, so the blood doesn't pool, then try the exercise again, but slow down a bit more.

If you keep practicing every other day or two, you should feel a difference within a couple of weeks. You'll be able to go a bit longer. However, if you only try exercising once every week or two, you probably will not progress, as your body will decide the exercise was a one-off thing and it doesn't need to be prepared to do it again.

You may also want to get checked out by the doctor to make sure you're not hypoglycemic, anaemic, or suffering from low blood pressure. I had the former and the latter, and corrected both through diet and by weaning myself off my migraine meds.

[sidruid.livejournal.com]

I remember when I couldn't understand how people could go to clubs and dance for more than one song. I'd be drenched in perspiration and exhausted halfway through a pop song!

I remember those days too. I hadn't done serious dancing since i started the martial arts, and my whole memory was of lasting only a couple songs before being totally wiped. When i went to Spain in october, i outlasted everyone - including the locals - going for 5 or 6 hours non-stop. I didn't realize until afterward how much i'd gained.

The hydration was also a huge factor.

[abraxasrutrem.livejournal.com]

I like to live vicariously through young people like you!!!


HA!

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Hee! You should see some of my dance/kung fu instructors. Some are easily twice my age, and could dance/fight me into the ground.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Although I must admit, I'm sure I look much better in a bikini than my kung fu instructors....

[tlatoani.livejournal.com]

You're going to repeatedly tell us this, and then maliciously refuse to post pics, right? ;-)

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I'm not aware of any photos of my Sifus in bikinis. Heh heh heh....

[tlatoani.livejournal.com]

ROTFL. You should work on that!

[elanya.livejournal.com]

I would love to see you and Sifu Danny in a dance fight, both wearing bikinis. Hee!

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Now there's an image....

[kamomil.livejournal.com]

I am lucky in that I have had good physical health all my life. I was almost my adult height in Grade 6.

As a small child, I dreamed about owning or being a horse. As a result, I spent many hours galloping around the schoolyard. My dad had us go, for many years, to an indoor swimming facility, probably to ease his back pain in the hot tub, but the effect it had on us kids was that we all became good swimmers. I often spent a Saturday afternoon riding my bike as far out into the country as I could go. So I was fairly active as a kid without realizing it. I stunk at gym class however.

I am fortunate that I never need to diet or work out to keep off weight. However in the past couple of years I have started running in order to just keep fit, overall. I am still at the point where I don't run the entire 3 kilometres, I run for the first 5 min, and walk most of the rest. I don't care. I'm not training for any particular event. I just enjoy the high I get from being active, also because I work in the evening, it's nice to get out and see the morning sun.

I also go on 10km bike rides, stemming from boredom at touring around the neighborhood on my bike. I briefly dated a fellow who ran marathons, and I thought, "I wonder if I could do that," and just started challenging myself physically. One day I biked 20km, over three hours, but that was because I got lost; I was still new to Mississauga.

My big motivation to be active is not for physical reasons, it is to maintain good mental health. There is something grounding about being outdoors. The fresh air and seeing other people's houses and gardens kind of resets my emotional default settings. I enjoy the feeling of achievement when I finish a long bike ride or walk.

I also like being active as a recreation. I love houses and gardens, and I like looking at how people decorate them, and also how they neglect them. I love the feeling of sailing along on my bike, and the smells of the different seasons. Some parts of Mississauga are new subdivisions, and some parts are the old villages, with main streets and churches still in place.

[twopiearr.livejournal.com]

Historically I have been so adverse to physical activity it borders on pathology. As a result I lead a very sedentary lifestyle - i tend to do a lot of sitting: at the office, in my ergo chair at home, at friends' dwellings, in the car, in movie- or live theaters.

In my youth I was blessed with a ridiculous metabolism and fantastic genes (my 90 year old grandfather drinks 2-3 glasses of scotch a day and is in better shape than many people 1/3 his age - myself included, most likely). That served me until about age 26, at which point I finally began showing some of the lesser signs of being severely out of shape, like easily damaging soft tissue around joints. Still nothing drastic, and I'm not even very overweight when you consider how little exercise I get.

The writing is on the wall that this needs to change, but three decades of habit is hard to change. I'm starting slowly by doing the treadmill every weekend and Dance Dance Revolution after work. We'll see how it goes from there.

[sidruid.livejournal.com]

I train and work out because i needed to feel more confident about my ability to handle threatening situations, and in turn it has helped me feel more confident about other physical things (looks, stamina, strength, flexibility, etc).

I also appreciate the focus and physical awareness aspects of it, but that isn't really part of the work-out as much as the system.

[fiachra.livejournal.com]

I like the aftermath, the pain of the lactic acid buildup and the pleasure of the endorphin rush, like a mini-high that doesn't require drugs or sex. There's also the satisfaction of watching my strength go up if I haven't worked out in a while, like my body didn't so much get weak as forget how to move properly and is relearning the process, since my weight limit tends to jump very quickly.

Then there's also the satisfaction of a healthy self-image. I can look in a mirror, and while I'll never be overtly muscular or "ripped", I can compare myself to the pathetic spud I was as a teenager - and became once again after I came back from Canada - and be proud that I've overcome what I once thought was permanent.

Being able to heft and move large pieces of furniture without sweating or breathing hard while my "giant" friends gasp and drip all over the place helping is also an ego boost. :^)

Only problem is, it's one of those things that if I slack off on, I can find myself very unmotivated to get back to doing. Don't know why, it's less than an hour of my time a day total...

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about the slacking off. It is very easy to get out of the swing of things, and starting up again can require an enormous effort. I think it's because people are lazy by nature.

[goth-hobbit.livejournal.com]

A big part of the reason I work out is that I'm a recovering anorexic.

After I developed cardiac arrhythmias and decided that I really didn't want to die just yet, I started eating more normally, but my metabolism had been so depressed for so long, my weight ballooned. (I was actively anorexic for about 15 years.) Once I started getting straightened out mentally, though, other things began falling into place. In the last 3 years, I've dropped a double-digit number of jeans sizes. Oddly enough, I haven't lost that much actual weight, because of my muscle density.

I like yoga, because of the balance, flexibility, and control that I develop when I practice it regularly. I like the challenge of weightlifting (plus it helps me prove to myself that carpal tunnel syndrome does not get to kick me in the glutes, fitness-wise), and I like seeing my muscle definition improve. I use the treadmill for two things: either the weather is too nasty to go out for a brisk walk, or my back muscles are too tight to make weights a wise choice. Dance I do largely for me, because I've danced my whole life. Ballet, tap, a little bit of jazz and modern, and now bellydance. (I've managed to annoy the heck out of more than one gal when I'm out clubbing. They're on the floor, doing the same basic undulation with an occasional shimmy thrown in, over and over. Then they look up to see who's watching, and I've just transitioned from hip drops to camel walk.)

I don't do bikinis, but there's no reason that I can't look fantastic in one of my super-sheer, off-the-shoulder club shirts.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Do you find the anorexia-caused health problems are leaving as time passes?

I had some sort of depression-caused eating disorder in my first year of university, and looked like a skeleton. I just couldn't bear to eat, even though I knew I was very underweight. I was lucky in that I got better and relocated my appetite before any permanent damage.

Exercise is the biggest reason I was able to gain weight. It took me years to break the 124-lb barrier.

[goth-hobbit.livejournal.com]

Slowly but surely, yes.

I managed to escape without permanent cardiac damage (big sigh of relief). I know that I'm at increased risk for osteoporosis, so I make sure to take my vitamins. Other things, like the horrific gut cramps*, took longer to cease; but I can now say that I'm reasonably healthy for the first time since I was a kid.

There are still times, usually when I'm under high stress, when I simply cannot bring myself to eat. Still have a few control issues to work on, but it's gotten a lot better; and I've come up with ways in which I can trick myself. Keeping those canned "weight loss shakes" around works. If I don't have to chew, it's not food. ;) Same with homemade smoothies, but it's less time-consuming to simply pop a tab.

My doctor knows about the eating disorder background, but he was still - very briefly - on my case abut my weight. I tried telling him that my muscle density is just insane. (If my weight was all flab, I couldn't fit into the jeans that I do.) However, he wouldn't believe it until my lab tests came back, and indicated that I'm healthier than someone a decade my junior. After he relocated his jaw, he authorized me to lose no more than 25 pounds. I felt quite vindicated, actually.



*I had been starving myself for so long, my digestive system had "forgotten" how to process normal amounts of food. Ergo, grown-up colic!

[water-of-fire.livejournal.com]

I work out because I enjoy being the fittest woman in the room. In a couple of the social circles I keep, obesity is nearly par for the course -- it's like they actually believe that "big is beautiful" thing. I was a size sixteen once, and I didn't think it was beautiful. I do cardio kickboxing or standard aerobics four days a week, maybe a fifth, take a five-mile walk two days a week, and eat whatever I want on Saturdays. :)

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I believe fit is beautiful. And fit can happen regardless of size, which is pretty frikkin' nifty.

I like being the fittest person in a room, too. It makes my ego swell.

But that doesn't necessarily happen all that much. I hang out with a bunch of martial artists. Heh....

[zombienought.livejournal.com]

Is that thing with the knees called something
like Osgoodslider's disease? We had a kid in
football/soccer who maybe had something like
that. He of course became known as Osgood.

I started exercising so that, if I ever fell
over the side of a cliff, I could hang there
until help came, or pull myself back up.

Also, I hate being fat. I've been both fat
and thin, and I prefer the way I feel when
I'm thin, in clothing, chairs, and during
sex.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

No, that's a different syndrome. I had/have something with the usefully descriptive name of patello-femoral syndrome. With Osgoodschlatter's, I believe that exercise is actually detrimental to the bones. I'm not 100% sure on that, though.

[miraba.livejournal.com]

I've been very lucky to make it through my life so far without the need for exercise to keep my weight in check, considering the quantities of food I used to eat. Good genes and such. I took karate in middle school and high school.
However, I've had to do a series of exercises for my knees, back, etc. Up through middle school, I enojoyed running around the track in gym (I never paced myself, and tried to be the first girl to cross). In high school, I suddenly couldn't go an eighth of a mile before my chest started to hurt.
Two years ago I had pneumonia, and they gave me an inhaler to help clear out my system. It felt like the first time I could ever get air into all of my lungs, so I held onto it for another year. After I had a coughing fit after reaching the top of the Eiffel tower, I saw the doctor and was diagnosed with asthma. It made a big light bulb flash over my head.
This is the first winter I've been on asthma meds, and it's the first winter I haven't had a horrible cough. My breathing feels constricted (during the summer it's great), but I'm putting that down to the weather.
I hope to do a field school this summer, and while I don't expect to enjoy hauling dirt under the sun, I wouldn't mind builing up my arms and back.

[glitterybint.livejournal.com]

I do it for the way it makes me feel. After having a hellish day trying to teach kids who wont behave I come home all wound up. If I go and exercise it calms me down no end. I also feel so much more energised and Im less likely to get into a lethargic and unmotivated mood.

Im also trying to lose weight because I know its going to make me a lot healthier than I am and it will mean I can be more flexible and do more things without being out of breath.

unfortunately I keep forgetting why I want to lost weight and getting into lazy habits again. So its nice to be reminded of all the benefits of being fit. Thank you :]
I need to lose a couple of stone before I can go horseriding, something I haven't done for years. That's my current goal.