Several days ago I issued a fitness challenge to myself and asked you, my darling readers, to join in if you felt so led. Many of you did and either commented or personally messaged me, much to my delight. After all, it’s much easier to accept a challenge if you’re not in it alone.
Here we are, a week later. How are you all doing? My goal was to engage in purposeful exercise for at least 30 minutes each day and I’ve been pretty successful, I feel. Now, I didn’t say I’ve been perfect. Five out of the past seven days I’ve made it to the gym…a personal record. I have the sore muscles to show for it and each day at the gym was longer than 30 minutes. Two other days were very busy and I couldn’t get there so I tried to get at least a bit of exercise in at home. This meant sprinting to the house from my car and back carrying in groceries one day and doing squats and lunges in the kitchen another day while dinner was on the stove. Hey, we do what we can and it all counts.
Keep moving!
I’m going out on a limb and showing a picture of me in the midst of actual exercise, doing a kettlebell move. I’m sure I look like a goof and I feel a bit vulnerable posting, but really, who cares? Let me assure you that nobody in the gym is worried about your form or how much you’re lifting (or not lifting). Everyone gets an A+ just for showing up to workout! I think there’s an unspoken respect at the gym simply because you got there.
If you don’t have time or funds to get to the gym, fret not. The weather is getting better and that makes it more conducive to outside exercise that’s FREE! Hanging clothes out on the clothesline (they smell so good and fresh dried that way!), doing yard work or gardening, cleaning out the garage, doing a DVD workout or one found online, or even doing squats while water is boiling or the microwave is running…all count. They’re all efforts towards making you healthier and stronger!
I feel better about myself and I definitely have made healthy food choices, eating pretty clean. I’ve lost 2 pounds but weight loss is neither my intention nor my goal (doctor’s orders). Gaining strength and muscle, however, are my goals. I feel like I’ve done something healthy for my body, even if it’s ten minutes of fitness in a day. I do what I can and on the two days I didn’t make the 30 minutes, I still did something, and that’s enough. If you haven’t been able to exercise very much or you’ve really dedicated yourself to the challenge but missed a couple days, it’s okay!
Every day is new and just like God’s mercies are new every morning, your chance to do something healthy for yourself comes around every day. Make tomorrow a good one!
