Ah Monday: if you are waiting for me to greet you in an out of breath kind of way, you'll have to wait a little bit longer. The exercise bike is now out of the attic and ready to go. I just haven't got round to sitting on it yet.
That would be my thing I haven't tried before for this week.But I know simply thinking about doing it isn't enough: it's fine, you don't have to tell me, I've worked it out for myself. I've never enjoyed exercise. If you have known me for any length of time you'll understand that. At school, I was the one hiding behind the lockers when the netball team was being picked. I was the one at the top of the sick note queue, thanks, partly, to an understanding mother who signed her name at the first hint of a sniffle. And I was the one who used a mild spot of childhood asthma to excuse myself from the cross country running our teacher believed was the right and the responsibility of every member of the Fourth Form.
Did we love it? The clue is in the name. Each week we ran (or didn't, tick as appropriate), one of two routes: either the graveyard run, or the abbatoir run. Oh no, wait, they weren't named for their effect. We did genuinely have to jog past the cemetery or the meat packing factory. Death stalked our PE lessons like..
..no. It probaly wasn't that bad. I wouldn't know. I held an unbroken excuse record for the entire time I was there.
Why am I telling you this today? Because change is coming. I've been going to PIlates for two years now. A year ago I added a second class and I have discovered, to my complete surprise, how perfectly satisfying it is to come out of that extra class on a Friday morning and know that I've undertaken two - that's two, count 'em - hours of exercise in five days. And now, I'm looking for more! Ask me what I did for the first time this weekend and I'll tell you: I went looking for ways to take more exercise. And so, the bike, which isn't mine, but will do for a trial run. Or cycle. Or maybe we'll use it as a houseplant holder, that remains to be seen, but the thought is there. And that's a first.
No pictures, no, I like you too much for that. So instead, here's one of my default activity: a trip to the bookshop.
How about you? Any new thoughts this weekend? Try anything for the first time? Learn something you didn't know before?
Deb, Helena, Eileen, Jane, Maggie, Melissa, Mitra, Alison, Mary-Lou, Mardi, Susanne, Ladkyis and Karen made a Memorandum on Monday last week. Go on: give 'em a wave! Here's hoping your week has got off to a good start too.
24 comments:
I'm with you on cross country running being somthing to get out of - very satisfying when I visited my old school last year to see the route we were meant to take is now all housign estates. have a great week
When I was in the sixth form one of the PE options was walking. A group of us used to leave the school site, head straight for the nearest shop to buy enough sweets and crisps to feed an army, and then spend the rest of the hour sitting on a bench filling our faces. Our sports teacher was not impressed so she loaded us all into the minibus and dropped us of in the countryside with promises to collect us later. We waved her goodbye and then just sat in the field waiting to be collected. You can imagine our delight when, towards the end of the time, an ice cream van stopped when we waved and cheered and we treated ourselves to huge cornets. We were still eating them when our teacher turned up to collect us ... she was not impressed!
Ah, a fellow PE dodger; I just know we would have been friends! How I disliked PE, and I had a teacher who did not understand the concept of staying indoors when the weather was bad, oh no, get on that hockey pitch and run around, that'll warm you up!
Strange then that I too have discovered that I quite like a bit of exercise, a nice long dog walk in the spring sunshine or an hour of Fitsteps on a Thursday night - sure beats a session on the hockey pitch.
The exercise bike is the exercise I'm most consistent with here at home. Rather than hold the handlebars while I ride, I sit up straight (engaging my abdominal muscles . . . extra credit, right!) and hold a book . . . and read the entire 30 minutes. The best way to keep myself motivated to ride most days is to have a really good book to read and only allow myself to read that book while I'm riding. :)
LOL I was a PE dodger too - especially when it came to team games - I was tiny during my school years, incredibly clumsy and could twist my ankle tripping over a speck of dust - and twice every week I had to endure the humiliation of being last girl standing as the netball and hockey captains picked their teams. How I loved the summer when we could spend our games lessons playing tennis on the beautiful grass courts that our school had (long since been bulldozed to make way for a sports centre for the comp school that took over our beautiful school when they made us amalgamate with the boys' grammar school). If all else fails exercise bikes if stored in the bedroom make an excellent clothes hanger LOL!! Anyway good luck with your endeavours and hope you have a great week - I have managed to join in with you this week!!
Cross Country..... I think of it everytime I pass our old hockey field which is now a Sainsbury's supermarket. Our main aim was to work out the shortest shortcut. I do like my Pilates class but what I don't like is when she picks me out individually with a comment like that's a funny face or Maggie you just stick at that stage (stage 1) . Suddenly I am transported back to PE classes as the duff.
I can see I will have to revisit this page to see the rest of the comments. Your collection so far are hilarious especially Eileen's!
Count me among the clumsy P.E. avoiders! Last chosen for softball, kickball, volley ball - anything involving teams. I preferred the individual sports if I had to do anything and was thrilled in my senior year of high school when an outside dance class was counted for my PE requirement!
Oh your inspiring story has triggered some amazing stories in others. That's a score. I once faked illness so that I could sit out a PE class because the cool girl was & I really wanted to belong. Me, I truly lovely PE classes & running was a favourite - or should I say galloping was a favourite as I mostly pretended to be a horse.
Oh how I hated cross country although I did enjoy netball. Now my main exercise is walking which I really enjoy. Would like to take up swimming again but the times at the local pool just aren't compatible with my working hours. Good luck with your next choice of exercise.
Another PE dodger who used asthma as an excuse for any kind of exercise...am still not fond of exercise but do enjoy walking much more than I used to! Xx
Can't say that I was that was keen on cross-country ... it always seemed to be freezing cold and miserable!
It is fun to get to know you a little better thanks to these Monday posts Sian.
I didn't like PE that much but I always loved swimming class which is compulsory in the French educational system.
A walk or even jog to the bookshop would win out every time in my world. But there is that self-satisfaction thing that can pull us to do the right thing time and again (and again in your case)!
My brother got all the athletic talent in our family. Like you, I did everything I could to avoid it with one exception. My junior year we moved from Ohio to New York, and in my need to belong I joined the field hockey team. It wasn't a memorable experience, but I don't remember embarrassing myself. I read this post this morning, and you inspired me to put on my gym clothes rather than my jeans and sweater, so I finally made it back to the gym for the first time in over two months. Thanks. It will be easier to keep going now.
I'll add my name to your roll call of PE dodgers! I couldn't catch or hit anything but running I could just about manage, so it was my preferred activity. I wish we lived close by - I'd head to that class with you. Safety in numbers and all ...
Although I never really liked running or jogging, I was very athletic as a kid and couldn't get enough of sports. Running was okay if it meant "around the bases of the softball field" or "down the basketball court." I do believe you'll master that bike before too long! You've made the first step to get it out. The best I can do these days is a little walk on the treadmill. Even that hasn't happened in awhile! Somehow getting back in to a good habit is much harder than dropping it!
Good luck with the extra exercise Sian! I've come to exercise late too, and go to a Boot Camp class at the gym 3 times per week, plus lots of dog walking. But, I hurt my knee last week (a dog ran into me!) so am doing lots of sitting about this week:) X
Fun times on the bike, I'd think. We cheat and watch a show on Netflix when we are on the treadmill or the elliptical. If it's a scary show, I go a lot faster! ;-) For me, it's better to not think about the exercising or all those other things you could get getting done!
Always love reading your exquisite writing. Helen
Well done on the pilates classes. I didn't manage to get out of cross country - or most PE, boarding schools are quite firm on such things. I love some exercise but don't manage as much as I'd like.
because we moved to a farm and I had my own pony from the age of 13 I got lots of exercise - some of it trying to catch some of the ponies we tacked for people. At Agricultural college I did one cross country run and also swam in the icy cold water of the River Usk. These days I am so unfit that climbing the stairs exhausts me. Six weeks of hardly walking takes the fitness out of you so I am making myself do more each day. Next week I might start doing housework.................. no, no it's alright I just had a momentary lapse of judgement there.
I hear you on the school PE lessons or exercise in general. WE have a treadmill which is currently housing various household items with no current home. But the intention is there all the same! And looking at me in my photos from our Queen's Tea Party at the weekend, it is urgently needed! I love that quote even if I don't read at all these days. Sad but true.
I love Pilates and our teacher does actually hold another class on a Friday, but I'm going to give it a miss, I think lol. If you want more exercise, get yourself a dog! I don't think I've walked or chased around after them in the past year and a half,maps I've done my whole life lol. And I have a Fitbit to prove it xxx
Once I start exercising I want to do it more and more too! Good luck the the bike :)
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