How do you feel about exercise? Do you agree with the Enthusiast or the Couch Potato?
The Enthusiast:
I love the way I feel when I exercise. Not only that, it will add years to my life.
The Couch Potato:
I hate exercise. Besides, if God wanted us to do it He wouldn’t have invented the remote.
I do not know about adding years to my life. I perform a set of yoga asanas every morning without fail. If for any reason, I am unable to do that, I feel out of sorts that day. I do not suffer from the periodic back aches, or shoulder aches and other minor inconveniences that many of my acquaintances experience often.
rummusers last blog post..Innovative Apparel Making.
If I don’t do exercise, I feel bad. It’s psychological mostly. I’m addicted, but it’s a good addiction. If I overdo exercise I also feel bad & I become the cat with the remote. Thank you God.
One problem is that ‘exercise’ can come freighted with connotations. If we replace it with ‘having fun while moving around’ then the feelings may change. Going for a walk in a beautiful setting has a different feel to maintaining an exercise regime.
My main exercise is my partner and I going for a walk together for an hour or so. We don’t dawdle but we don’t walk so fast that we can’t talk. It benefits us both on many levels.
rummuser,
I haven’t done Yoga for quite awhile, but I do work in some stretching during the day.
bikehikebabe,
Thanks for the chuckle. Yes, indeed, thank God for the remotes. In fact one of my mental exercises is remembering which remote does what. 😉
Evan,
I agree. My motto is, “If it isn’t fun it doesn’t count.”
I don’t know about adding year to my life with exercise, but I will certainly feel better for the years that I have left if I exercise.
We visited my Mom last weekend. She is in less than adequate health in my view. I don’t see her very often, in part because she lives so far away, but mostly because I can’t stand how she lives. She is the ultimate couch potato. She never does anything. She doesn’t cook and doesn’t clean. What cooking gets done is done by my stepdad. I can only imagine what their house must be like since the last time I was invited inside was in 1995 — we just pick her to go visit somewhere else or sit outside on the deck. She has never exercised and now she is, in my view, suffering the consequences of doing nothing but watch TV, play her games, and surf the internet.
Mike Goads last blog post..4 1/2 days offline!
Exercise probably doesn’t extend your lifespan – to do this probably means eating a LOT less.
Exercise makes the life you have more enjoyable.
Mike,
On the other hand, my grandmother always ate a lot, was obese and didn’t get any exercise after she had to give up ballroom dancing. She lived to be 98. I don’t expect to do nearly that well, but I intend to keep eating healthy foods and getting some exercise every day. Like you, it does make me enjoy life more.
Evan,
Actually studies show that even moderate exercise can improve our health and longevity. Doing aerobic exercise even more so. But like you I do it for the enjoyment it brings to my life.
I meant extending our possible life-span – living to 120 or more. Exercise doesn’t do this. Eating a LOT less might – it seems to for most critters. But you have to be willing to do the experiment to find out.
Evan,
Yes, I have read that. I’m not willing to be a guinea pig on that one. It seems to me it would be hard getting all the nutrients we need. I’m not saying it isn’t possible, I’m just saying even if I wanted to try it I wouldn’t know enough to do it wisely. 😉
The advocates of the eat lots less approach point out that with so few calories it is impossible to get the full set of recommended daily intakes.
The current experiment is on chimps I think – the closest they have got to humans.
The person who is most accessible is Roy Walford – he has written a book and has a website as well I think.
I confess that I’m not making the experiment either.