My Report Card

I am at that stage of life when I need to watch what I eat - and exercise more. A while back, I promised myself that I would start walking for 45 minutes every day. My doctor advised using a pedometer to make sure I walked 10,000 steps - or about 45 minutes.

I haven't gotten into the habit of doing that yet... the problem is I hate boring walks - I want to see new scenery. So my plan is to drive to different neighborhoods in the city and discover them on foot... but so far that hasn't happened.

One thing I did start to do, about three years ago, was to begin exercising at Curves, a fitness center geared to women. It isn't a gym - it's a room with a dozen or so resistance machines in a circle. Music plays and members go around the circle twice, staying on each machine only 30 seconds at a time. A recording calls out: Change stations now - every 30 seconds. The idea is to go around twice, using each machine twice for 30 seconds, then stretch for 5 minutes. This should take only half an hour. The designer of the program (a fitness coach) claims three half-hour sessions a week should keep women fit and strong. I do go three times a week most weeks. The benefit is that I feel markedly stronger - and I have experienced no muscle soreness, as I often have at the beginning of other exercise programs.

It's my kind of work-out: I'm not a fan of exercise classes or smelly gyms!

I try to go in the early afternoon, when it is pretty quiet, so that as I can sometimes linger a little longer on a machine if I want to. If it's busy, you have to move when everyone else does and stick to the 30 seconds... But time passes more quickly if there are more people chatting while they exercise! So there are benefits both ways.

The program works for me - and I have noticed a difference. I haven't lost any weight, but I no longer get a sore back from lifting a garbage can or heavy grocery bag. In fact, my back has been great ever since I started the program...

I recently celebrated my 400th workout, so I got a new shirt to mark that event. I view it as a kind of "report card":














In our club we can get a shirt to mark each 100 workouts. These t-shirts serve as goals and inspiration: I find it inspiring to see a shirt that says 800 workouts on somebody else... It gives me a goal to aspire to!

It works for me!