As it turns out, I’ve been living a fairly sedentary life. What does this mean, you ask? A sedentary lifestyle “is a type of lifestyle with little or no physical activity. A person living a sedentary lifestyle is often sitting or lying down while engaged in an activity like reading… for most of the day.” This is pretty spot on—my exercise consists of walking to class and taking the stairs. I get up, go to class, go to work, and I go home. That’s it. On the weekends, I go to work and either go out with my family or I stay in bed, reading the day away. I only get up on occasions for those pesky biological needs, trivialities really, like eating or using the bathroom. Let’s not even talk about my eating habits, which are spotty at best. Oftentimes, my lunch consists of Pop Tarts from the vending machine. Yes, and not even the strawberry ones, no. I have the chocolate chip ones that are otherwise known as prepackaged diabetes.
I know I have to change my ways, I know. On top of that, I’ve decided to be healthier, so that I don’t have to spend my retirement days drifting from doctor’s appointment to doctor’s appointment, only interrupted by the occasional hospitalization. I spoke to my friend about this and she, brilliant as she is, proposed meeting in between classes to work out together. She’s taking a volleyball course that has her all riled up. We debated on either going to the gym on campus or running at the track [jogging and walking, really]. We decided on the latter because we figured the machines at the gym might be occupied and really, cardio seemed the better option.
So, there we were. All dressed up and ready to sweat for about 45 minutes. I anticipated that I would tire quickly, maybe even faint if it got too hot. Luckily, I had my friend with me, and she pushed me further than I may have pushed myself had I been on my own. We laughed and joked through it all. Initially, I was very conscious of the people around me that could be judging us. They were most likely not even aware of our existence. By the end, I was too exhausted and happy with myself to care.
We ended up jogging three laps and walking one for three cycles. After the cardio, we played some volleyball and did some abs and pushups. Though it was a poor performance from our part, we felt better for having done it.
Actual footage of me doing five pushups:
Fast forward to two days later, and I am still sore, my thighs especially. It will be a long and arduous journey to get to where I want to be. I’m not in a good place, but the important thing is starting. It’s never too late to start making healthier choices. Not necessarily big changes, it could be choosing to drink water with a meal instead of soda or juices that contain tons of sugar, or taking the stairs as opposed to the elevator; small changes that can benefit you in the long run. So take it from me, starting small is better than the alternative, which is postponing it and waiting for the “right time”. Take it from me: the right time is a lie. It’s not about waiting to have the ideal schedule or waiting for the motivation to strike you. It’s about getting up and deciding that you want to do right by you and your body. Even crawling and dragging yourself through a workout is better than nothing. Couple it with copious amounts of water and voila! A healthier you is born.