Fighting Fit

For someone who was at almost peak fitness around 2 years ago and who felt really strong inside and out, I've really let myself go of late. I haven’t exercised full on for almost a year and it is starting to show.

Appearance wise my head hair is starting to show strands of white and light spider veins have made a home on my pale white thighs. I've never viewed being thirty as old but I must say, that for the first time in my life I'm starting to feel my age, physically anyway ( I’ll always be a child at heart).

Back home in Melbourne, during the time I was still living with the folks I used to exercise regularly as I could afford a gym pass and you could say that I was a bit of a gym whore as I changed gyms often.

There was a long period of time where I settled in at one gym that ran the classes that I enjoyed which were Circuit and Body Pump. This then ended when I needed a change. Like most things in my life nothing is forever or certain as I change my mind like Paris Hilton changes boyfriends.

As I flicked though my Women’s Health magazine I stopped on a page which had an advertisement with a special offer for an outdoor fitness group. I called up, tried it and signed up after my first class as it was amazing to be out and getting fit with like minded people.

The drive was over twenty minutes to get to my classes, which clearly was a hassle and more of a struggle when I had to be there at 6am for Cardio class. It is hard enough to get up at 6am and get dressed to hit the pavement outside your home without having to be ready to get dressed, collect your things and drive all the way to the class at that hour of the morning.

My outdoor fitness class was an amazing experience and I count it as the best fitness training I have had in my life and the most life changing. The challenges the group offered to me were something I reveled in and I began to do things that I hadn’t since high school, like run three laps of a neighborhood. I achieved quite a bit, running 4 kilometers in twenty eight minutes was quite miraculous.I watched my fitness reach high levels with each week as it was all charted and counted.

Outdoor fitness is fantastic and I loved the way I felt during those months for grueling fitness. I was even fit enough to complete boot camp with ease; total addiction or it could have been dedication that pushed me on. Looking back, I'm amazed and overwhelmed at how much my body had achieved.  I remember running up and down these steep concrete stairs and each time we reached the bottom there were pushups or sit ups to complete.

I now have made a change and a decision to get out of my self built, cosy rut. This morning I woke at 6am and started to run towards the direction of the beach. I started to feel invincible and strong again and it has left me on a total high.

I want to tell everyone on the train what a lovely and productive morning I've had. I'm sure they will think I'm on illicit drugs! I've never tried illicit drugs but I can safely say that the adrenalin rush and the positive feelings that you get from getting up at 6am to hit the beach for a run is a hundred times better. Of course running and exercise is clearly more rewarding the illicit drugs, both to the body and soul.

Since moving from my home of 28 years, Melbourne to the small town of Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains and then to Sydney I have become a slob and totally lost for direction in all areas in my life. My lack of exercise led to no motivation and no reason to get up, get moving and stay active.

Of late I have been looking at things in a whole different way. Since losing my dear friend three weeks ago my life has changed for the better. I'm still grieving but I have learnt that life is too short; you have to live today as If tomorrow is not coming round.

My run this morning made me feel in control and empowered. I ran along the beach then lifted that loose fence stump ( I found it laying on the sand and I substituted it for weights ) over my head and placed it onto my back as I completed squats and lunges followed by weight lifts over my head.

 Fitness makes me feel alive, positive and I always imagine that I'm stronger then I am when I'm doing it and push myself to achieve a forfilling work out. I feel like a god, like I have the power of Thor and I believe that thinking positive, positioning your body correctly and breathing are important key factors that we must think of during. Eating a healthy diet full of fresh food is just as much important by the way.

It’s a known fact that regular exercise and particularly weight lifting for women gives our bodies lean muscle, not bulkiness (which is what some people think) and of course a longer life span which means you have more days to work out. It’s a win / win situation all round!

To me fitness is not purely about the vanity factor or that I am now starting to have the same body shape as my mother and her sisters, which is not sexy (my body has lost its physical appeal since I’ve stopped lifting weights), its more about fitness and living a long,  healthy life for me. I also know that I am preventing other future problems like neck and back soreness which I have been suffering from of late. Who wants to grow old in bad shape? Not me!

I have always had the future in the back of my mind, as I want to be able to run while pushing the pram with my child tucked inside, cycle with them when they are older and set a good example as a parent. This might sound crazy to some as I am single and unsure if I am ready for a child but that's how my mind works. I see so many older people walking with canes or hunched over a walker, that's not for me. I am not saying that I want to wear Lycra and do crazy things like Madonna at her age either; I just want to avoid the avoidable.

What I am getting at is that it is not too late to move it and make a change. Start today and you will see what I mean and why I am raving on like a broken record about this subject and why I feel the strength of the God of Thunder when I left weights or fence stumps.