Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Baby Steps Work for Exercise Too!

When I first joined the gym I thought I was in pretty good shape. After all, I had kept up with my kids, walked regularly and had kept my weight under control. So I was shocked when I lasted a mere three minutes on the elliptical machine.

Apparently, living in a one-story house and not having to climb any nearby hills had taken its toll. My legs ached almost at once, and I was embarrassed at being in such poor shape. But I didn't give up. I decided at least it would be easy to improve on such a poor performance, so I set a goal to last 5 minutes the next time. I made it and increased my goal by two more minutes each time. I didn't always reach my goal, but I kept building up my strength until I was doing 35 minutes on the elliptical, as well as working out with weights.

Baby Steps! Don't give up!

2 comments:

Judy said...

HI Theresa,
Way to go - baby steps are the only way. I learned this lesson last year after knee surgery.

Keep it up.
Take care,
Judy
http://www.localfoodconnections.com

Carma Dutra said...

Hi Theresa,
This is exactly how I approached building my excercise routine up. Good for you. The first time I was on an elliptical I went 5 minutes and swore I would never be able to work up to 40 min.

With baby steps anything is possible.
Carma
http://carmaswindow.blogspot.com