The Joy of Exercise

Did you catch me on WBHM today discussing my everyday fitness challenge?
If not, hear an excerpt of the interview here. 

This morning on WBHM 90.3 FM, Birmingham's NPR affiliate, discussing my 365 days of fitness challenge. As I announced at the start of the year, in 2014 I plan to exercise every single day. I am a guest blogger for WBHM's website and for my latest post -- Strong Is the New Skinny -- I explained why I'm embarking on this challenge and had a chat with fitness professional Kelly Creel for some guidance. Creel, who is the co-owner of Inspire Fitness Birmingham, actually doesn't think I'm crazy for planning to work out daily. 

"The human body was engineered for movement, so moving it every day in some form, even if that’s at a light intensity, is a wonderful goal,” Creel said. She did, however, give me some tips on how to prevent injury during my challenge. She recommended light workouts such as restorative yoga or a leisurely walk outside once or twice a week. She also said I should let myself off the hook and take a break if I’m sick.

At this point I've been exercising daily for a month and I'm loving it! If the idea of working out every day sounds absolutely miserable, you probably need to change your idea of exercise. If I were on the treadmill (or dreadmill, as I call) every day or the boring elliptical 7 days a week I would absolutely hate this and probably wouldn't have lasted one week. But for the past month exercise has meant going for a run on my favorite trail, going for a walk with a friend, and grooving and moving with the Wii game Just Dance. It's meant Spinning classes and yoga. It's meant building strength with Jillian Michaels DVDs.  

When I was in college I taught group fitness classes and each time I laced up my sneakers and put on that microphone headset I was in a zone. There was no care or concern that my Funk Aerobics class couldn't dance away. 

But somewhere along the way I started viewing exercise as something that I had to do to shed the extra weight I picked up over the years and tone up muscles that were no longer as firm as they were in college. 

This month, however, I have rediscovered the joy of exercise. Exercise is a privilege. It's a privilege to have a body that, for the most part, moves when and how I want it to. It's a privilege to be able to afford Spinning and yoga classes, running shoes and even $10 Jillian Michaels DVDs. It's privilege to have free time that I may use to do things I love to make my body feel good. Working out isn't something I have to do; it's something I get to do. 

If you missed my interview this morning, I believe it will air again this evening around 5:30 p.m. Tune in!