My Exercise Plan

Val asked me what my exercise plan was and if I planned it out in advance.

My only real plan is to exercise every day for the rest of my life. I'm going steady right now, and there will be days I don't, but I want it to be as important as brushing my teeth, showering, and eating. I want it to be automatic, a must, just like sleep is a must.

I exercise not with losing weight in mind, but rather to help control my triglycerides, HDL and LDL. I exercise to make my heart strong. I exercise to hopefully prevent diabetes--by hopefully, I haven't been checked in a year, so I'm hoping I didn't develop it within the last year. I do not have the symptoms, but I am pre-diabetic.

That is why I exercise. To help with weight loss, obviously, is a great plus, but I am not out to burn calories, I'm out to improve my health. It goes hand in hand, I know, but when I force myself to do it when I don't want to, it's my health that makes me do it, not worrying about calories.

I do not plan what I'm going to do. Rather, I stare at my box of DVDs and tapes and choose. I tend to do the same over and over for a few days. 99.9% of the time I do a Richard Simmons tape. Why? Because I love the music, I love the way he exercises, and it's fun.

If my small town had an aerobics class, I would probably go. I used to love taking classes at the Y, but that was when we lived in a town that had a Y. We have a gym and a Curves, but no aerobics classes.

I am still resisting resistance training. I do a toning tape every once in awhile. I mean really, if you weigh 257.5 pounds and you lift a leg or arm, aren't you really lifting weights? lol One of the DVDs I do frequently has toning built in. I need to get in the habit of doing more though.

With my recent discovery that I could do the hour-long Sweatin' to the Oldies 4, from here on out I hope to do an hour of cardio daily. My husband and I discussed that I could do toning in the evenings on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I think that's what I'll do. For now, I'll work on Richard Simmons tapes until I build up my strength and learn more about strength training. In order to control triglycerides, duration of cardio is important--the longer the better. So that's why now that I've built my fitness up a bit, I want to try to accomplish that. There will be days, though, where I'm short on time and or attitude and will probably pop in a shorter tape. As long as I move every day, though, I'll be happy with myself.

My favorite Richard Simmons cardio tapes are:

Sweatin' to the Oldies 1 -- 38 minutes long
Sweatin' to the Oldies 2 -- I think about an hour, has built-in toning at the end
Sweatin' to the Oldies 3 -- about an hour
Sweatin to the Oldies 4 -- about an hour
Dance Your Pants Off -- I have to be in the mood for this because it has a lot of woo-wooing in it. If noise is bothering me on a particular day, I would not consider doing this. The noise thing is a part of my anxiety issues. The workout itself is good.

I used to own Disco Sweat but sold it at a garage sale a few years back. I'm going to look for it again at garage sales, as it's a longer tape. I don't know why I sold it.

Right now I am watching Boogie Down the Pounds when I am on the computer. I open it in a tiny box on my computer so I can surf and watch at the same time. That way I can learn the moves. I'll probably work on that next week sometime.

I own over 20 of his tapes so I will never get bored. These tapes will work when I'm much more fit, as I've been sweating with Richard since I was 140 pounds and got a good workout then. That was 20 years ago!

I was talking to a friend on the phone tonight about exercise. I told her that the reason I'm doing well with the exercise is because I have made it mine--I do what I love. I like the music and moves in these tapes, so I'm much more willing to do them over and over. I think the whole key is personalization. If I were told I had to walk every day or do the elliptical, I would revolt.

My husband goes running the other direction when I put a Richard video in. It's not for him! He walks daily. That's what he likes, walking with the doggies. My son does the Wii Fit almost daily. We all do what we love, so we will do it.

So aside from the fact I want to work out every day, I have no plan.