Walk With Me

For today’s post, you get to join me on a not-so-scenic walk. My stellar view right now is of an eggshell colored corner in the bedroom to my right, with a bathroom door and laundry basket to my left. Our rabbit, Shadow sits in his cage nearby next to a stand holding a 55 gallon tank with our giant oscar, aptly named Oscar.

Yes, I am on a treadmill in my bedroom.

And I’m posting blogs and interacting online while I stroll along.

Exercise isn’t always about pedal-to-the-metal all-out effort. That’s fantastic and has its time and place. But there’s something to be said for a steady, moderate, comfortably challenging activity at a long duration.

In this fast-paced life, I know we often want the shortcuts. There’s a 7 minute workout plan I read about that I intend to review, and of course it seems interesting because anybody can find 7 minutes, right? There’s the tabata concept, which involves short hard bursts of effort like high intensity interval training, which gives me a good full workout in less time than one would expect. Those seem great. Get done fast, move on to the next thing.

But in my experience, nothing reliably melts calories like long-duration cardio activity.

So how do we fit that into our busy lives?

I’ve found I can do a lot of other things combined with my workout. I can get on the stationary bike at the gym and write a chapter of my novel or review office paperwork. On the elliptical, I can dig into the huge pile of books marked “to read.”

If you’ve purchased a piece of equipment to use at home like this treadmill I’m on, then you can set it up to combine with entertainment. Watch your favorite movie or TV show while keeping a decent pace, and you will burn excess calories.

That also deals with the other main complaint about long-duration exercise: no one wants to sit there doing it for so long. By combining it with stationary activity you’re already going to be doing, you won’t be frustrated by doing the same thing in the same place for so long.

Don’t tell her I said this, but I’m typing this and going on this “walk” while my wife is getting a shower and getting ready so we can go shopping. There’s 25 minutes of activity that I might have otherwise spent sitting on my butt.

It doesn’t take much effort, but it can still make a difference.

Opportunity knocks sometimes, but most of the time we have to go out and find it or make it ourselves. This is one way to do it.

Just some thoughts while I’m on my little stroll. Thanks for joining me despite the boring scenery.