While cooking my "Better than Eggs" ham and cheddar omelet this morning, I was considering what exercise I needed to get done today. I've started the Great Weight Loss Quest, which will include lap-band surgery. I took Taekwondo three times a week for about 5 years, and lost a whole 10 pounds or so. Now, I did get my 1st Dan, which I'm very proud about. However, I realized that even that level of working out isn't cutting it for weight loss, so it's time to go on the Surgery Quest. Anyway, I still need to exercise, and my crapped-out knee isn't up to doing roundhouse and spinning back kicks anymore.
I hate exercise.
Exercise is boring. Taekwondo does not count as exercise--there was always something new and interesting to do. Let's face it, there's also a lot of camaraderie in doing 200 push-ups and 100 sit-ups with fellow colored and black belts, and then beating the snot out of each other in the sparring ring. I consider this Fun.
Finding something equally as Fun is very difficult. First, it has to be cheap. With Trusty Hubby on active duty, we have to watch our pennies. So, gym membership is right out. The monthly fees cost too much right now. It also has the side benefit of not having to deal with side-long glances from people comparing themselves to me to feel better about themselves, and/or worried looks about if I'm going to have a heart attack, despite the fact that after 5 years of Taekwondo my heart is probably in far better shape than theirs.
Second, it has to be Fun. I like socializing and I like working towards a goal when exercising, because then it doesn't feel like 'exercising.
Third, it has to ideally be really Geeky. This is important.
So now you're thinking I have a Wii Fit, right?
You're right. I have one of those. It's not serving as a resting spot for books, the large cup of iced tea, and a half-eaten bag of Doritos next to the sofa, either. I'm actually using it. It's totally cheesy, the music is vomitrociously cutesy, but it's fun. My Mii and I run around on some fake cartoon marathon course, do some step-training in front of an entire audience of other Miis like we're some exercising rock stars, slalom, and do hula hoops. I've tried the ski jump. I suck. I keep crashing, even when I bend and jump at exactly the same time as my Mii. The game cheerfully ignores that and tells me it's very sorry, but I went splat off the end of the ski-slide. Wii Fit feeds my goal-oriented mindset--it informs me how many minutes I've exercised and has leaderboards for all the activities, so I can beat my high score as I improve, or get beaten by my kids who do everything better than me because they don't have crapped out knees.
I hit on an even better better way to be active, however. I just turned on Rock Band 2, grabbed the guitar, and started dancing along the music like a real Rock Star. The kids think it's hilarious that their Geeky Mom is rocking out, but they jump around and get active with me, too, so it can't be that ridiculous. Then again, it can. I mean, how serious can you take anyone who dances around in the living room with a video game and a plastic toy guitar? However, I'm earning Xbox 360 achievements playing, and while I have to play on medium so that I don't fail out while dancing around with my guitar, it definitely falls in the category of Fun.
If you add Jae Onasi to your friends list, we can rock out together some time. :D
No comments:
Post a Comment