Moving and grooving ...
The crux of the matter in this Memoir has nothing to do with a pay raise or an upward climb along a corporate ladder. It’s about movement as a form of physical activity for achieving health benefits. Barring existing medical conditions, this could entail a formal exercise regimen or adapting one’s lifestyle by climbing stairs rather than riding an elevator.
Easier said than done due to time constraints and obligations, it behooves us to move and groove because the health benefits in doing so include: decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, colon cancer, breast cancer, stress, anxiety, and depression.
Aforementioned in “Eva’s Blog #68: My Morning WRIT-ual” – By 6:00 – 6:30 A.M. it’s time to exercise. Rolling out the mat, I’ll manage abdominal crunches, a few Pilate’s moves to tone the core, weight lifting, and a run on an elliptical trainer.
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Rah Rah Sisboom Bah!
Flashback to the early Sixties when I was in junior high: Our country was under the leadership of 35th President, John F. Kennedy, whose keen interest in physical fitness and funding of various programs, began the fitness boom in the United States.
Accordingly, Lincoln Jr. High’s physical education curriculum incorporated discipline and rigorous training, alluded to in my Memoir, “Dancing Squarely”: Gym class was no spa retreat, but rather a boot camp where we girls wore a regulation short-sleeved, blue gym suit in which we ran the gauntlet of competitive track, shimmied and scurried along a labyrinth of monkey bars, aggressively punched volleyballs over a net, or gymnastically contorted ourselves to sorely test our limits.
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All well and good if you happen to be stranded on a ski lift during an oncoming blizzard, and your only recourse is that of shimmying along the cable to reach the safety of a ski lodge.
Needless to say, I shunned formal exercise for years!
During college, my neighbor, who happened to be a physical fitness buff, motivated me to get off my duff. That’s when I became addicted to jogging at sunrise and sunset. Eventually, I took up bicycle riding.
While I’ve upheld a strict adherence to physical fitness throughout most of my life, and maintained a slim and trim figure, my regimen is primarily relegated to those indoor activities stated in my blog.
These days, the BowFlex TreadClimber and Assault AirBike with moving arm bars have piqued my interest for achieving upward mobility.
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As you may remember from my autobiography, President Kennedy challenged everyone to a 50 mile walk. On the spur of the moment when one of my classmates in college organized one, I joined the small group of 19 students at 6 am that Saturday morning, with my planned bag lunch and a couple of Hershey bars in my cigarette (I never smoked) pocket for energy. As we settled into the walk, a girl from exotic New York State joined me in the walk. She kept wanting to "track it" (run), so I had a little trouble keeping up with her. A car came along every hour or so with our lunches and a couple of sodas that I brought along to drink. Hydrating was not a big thing in those days and I never worried about it my entire active life. It was a beautiful spring day and about 70°. At the 25 mile mark, we reached a neighboring city and most of the group stopped for a big lunch at a restaurant. I waited there for a half hour for the others to eat. For most, it was a big mistake because all that food hurt them later. Many already had blisters from their brand-new boots or their street shoes and had to drop out. I wore my well-worn JCPenney hightop tennis shoes with no pain all day. One hour before the end of the walk, I left my new friend and another guy who were resting under a tree and finished the walk in 11 hours. It was another hour, 6 pm, before she and that other guy finished. I believe only nine finished the walk. I think six were girls. The next day, I was the only one to pick up my free pizza. All the rest were too laid up.
At 20, the same year, when I was paralyzed, I became more active. I never had a regular exercise regimen until now on my Flexosizer for the past four years. I never took the car if I could walk, biked, swam, and took the stairs over the elevator until I couldn't do any of those anymore. As a result I'm healthy. It was with much dismay as I watched my colleagues at work overeat, opt for the elevator, and then, embrace the golf carts that were some kind of status symbol but deadly for their health. Most have serious health problems now except those that had active work regimens.
Sorry this was so long, but it's a real concern of mine that people rely on medicine rather than a healthy lifestyle like you and I did so that we can enjoy our older years (over 100!) and not spend them in sickness.
Ron