Sometimes we have very valid reasons for skipping our intended exercise routine.

Working overtime.  Lunch with a friend.  Getting sick.

Over the years, I’ve learned to listen to my body when I begin to feel a little rundown, and take a day or two off from exercise in hopes of avoiding a full-blown illness that throws me out of commission for a week or more.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Of course, when I give myself permission to skip the gym, I feel like the “disappointed” child who wakes up with chicken pox on the day of the big spelling test. “Guess I’ll have to make it up another day, huh, Mom?”

Despite my precautions of massive vitamins, homeopathic supplements and exercise-skipping, sometimes I still end up sick.  And although I think about returning to the gym once I’m on the mend, I often put it off a few more days. 

“What if I’m almost recovered, but not quite, and a weight training session tips the scales, drops my immunity, and I end up sick for another week?  I definitely don’t want that to happen!  Better take it easy through the weekend.”  Or the quarter.  And my exercise program falls by the wayside.  Again.

However, I now know that’s really my Inner Slug talking, just doing her job.  Nothing personal.

So when I felt a cold coming on recently, I took it easy for a day or two, but still got my butt kicked by whatever germs triumphed my immune system [probably got them at the gym!] and was justifiably off exercise for nearly a week.

When my Inner Slug suggested that I take one more day off from exercise, I ignored her.  But I didn’t go crazy, either.  I headed to the nearby Greenbelt path for a brisk let’s-get-back-to-the-exercise-routine walk. 

And during the walk, a funny thing happened.  I felt good.  I suddenly realized that this was exactly what I needed after so many days of inactivity and lethargy.

Next thing I knew, I was running.  Not at my pre-illness pace - and only for about a block - but it felt great. 

It was then that I realized - gasp! - that I had missed it.  I had actually missed exercising.

I immediately wondered what my Inner Slug had to say about that.

But she was silent!  Speechless, perhaps?

Now that’s progress!

Tags: exercising while sick, Inner Slug, Scottsdale Greenbelt

Not the actual dancing, of course. 

Just watching some of these how-to-pole-dance videos is exhausting.

Look at her! How is that even possible?!

How many bicep curls would I have to do to before I could even attempt that move? 

Note To Self: keep insurance card handy for pending hospital trip resulting from inevitable pole slippage and head cracking!

We began hearing about pole dancing classes when they first hit Hollywood in 2006.  It was then that Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, etc. began getting in touch with their “inner stripper.”  But these classes are now pretty mainstream, and geared toward a general fitness audience. 

In fact, such classes are even popular in China.  China!

While I admit that it’s a skill set I’d like to have, pole dancing classes are definitely not in my future.  And it has nothing to do with being uncomfortable with the “sexy” element of the class. 

Truth is, I’m an uncoordinated klutz with no natural rhythm.

When I dragged my husband to ballroom dancing lessons, I failed miserably. Even at the Waltz.  (I was amazed to discover that any man I partnered with in the class danced quite poorly…until I noticed that they did just fine with other partners.  Very embarassing.)

And if you poke your head into the aerobics class, you’ll find me in the back corner of the room, rapidly looking back and forth at the students on either side of me, trying desperately to keep up with the instructor, but always falling at least four counts behind. 

Plus, I’ve learned that bruising and burning is to be expected. 

So no pole dancing classes for me. 

Think I’ll try something safer.  Like Krav Maga.

Tags: Britney Spears, fitness, Krav Maga, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, pole dancing

So maybe I was being a bit arrogant.  A little too boastful, even, regarding my ability to maintain my committment to a daily workout for two full weeks without missing a day at the gym.

Plus, I had concurrently stayed on top of a variety of projects, including all household activities, pending travel, my daughter’s back-to-school routine and two separate visits from out-of-town family.  A true record for me!  I was riding high on this sense of accomplishment.  Woo-hoo!

But my prideful euphoria and Superwoman self-image was soon whisked away.

I read that Sarah Palin - Vice-Presidential Nominee, Governor of Alaska, mother of five children (one of whom is a pregnant teenager, another an infant with Down’s Syndrome) - is working her way back up to her daily 7-10 mile run. 

In Alaska.

Where - by Slug standards - it’s only possible to go outdoors for 2.25 months per year.

I felt a little hopeful when the reporter asked about Palin’s exercise pitfalls.  Palin said that her biggest obstacle to consistency was being pregnant every few years.  That made me think that she likely falls victim to her Inner Slug, too!

But then:

“If I get lazy and go weeks or months without exercising it’s not because of circumstances but because I’m being less disciplined. Shame on me.”

Great.  She avoided hiding behind an easy excuse and took responsibility.  What kind of politician is she, anyway?

Tags: running, Sarah Palin

                   [art credit: DryIcons]

If you’re having trouble exercising consistently, it might not have anything to do with the highly effective derailment efforts of your Inner Slug.

Michael Smolensky, a professor at the University of Texas and author of The Body Clock Guide to Better Health: How to Use Your Body’s Natural Clock Fight Illness and Achieve Maximum Health, studies the body’s circadian rhythms and proposes that timing is everything - and that even includes exercise!

“The brain’s clock governs whether or not you’re crabby before you have your morning coffee, how quickly you can write a letter and how accurately you can proofread it, how long it takes you to bike 10 miles, whether or not you fall asleep at the symphony, when your ulcers act up, and more,” he writes.

In his book, he states that we all have an optimal time of day for activities such as work, creative pursuits, or exercise.  He classifies people as either larks, hummingbirds, or owls - and these labels can help identify the best time of day for you to exercise, if you hope to keep a consistent schedule. 

Larks wake up early and have the most long-term success exercising first thing. Hummingbirds generally sleep past dawn and have the best luck with a mid-to-late afternoon workout plan, while owls typically don’t head to bed until after midnight, and tend to be more consistent with a late evening exercise plan.

This leaves me with just one question: what about us slugs?

Tags: circadian rhythms, Exercise