Good Enough

Do exercise you like to do, do it often and if possible, do it with friends, like these chaps at a Washington, D.C. YMCA, circa 1920. 

“I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.”
— Daily Affirmations With Stuart Smalley

A key consideration when exercising is to ask yourself why you are doing it in the first place. Do I do it to look good or feel good? Do I do it so that people like me? Hell no, I do it so I like me. I really don’t worry anymore if other people like me but I do worry about me liking me. I’m my own worst critic after all. Years ago I realized no matter how fit I got I would never have that cut physique so in fashion amongst the Hollywood elite or gym bros. I used to think “I just want to look good naked.” But I also realized how rarely anyone sees me naked. Nowadays I’ll settle to look good fully clothed, but maybe I should just buy clothes that fit.

My true reasons to exercise may be hidden in my lizard brain, and vanity is part of it. Mostly though it’s to stave off the side effects of aging. The worst side effect of aging is of course, dying. Less final side effects include heart disease, stroke, diabetes, dementia, immobility and looking terrible in a snug t-shirt (again, a reminder to buy clothing that fit).

Recently, after a bout of inactivity, due in part to travel and laziness, my back seized up. Having back pain, if you are unfamiliar, can be debilitating. You can’t move freely (or at all) and the pain can cause numbness in your limbs if a nerve is pinched or constricted. It can lead to numerous headaches and other aches (hips, knees etc) and most annoyingly, grouchiness and despising people who just flaunt their ability to walk on a balance beam or even down the sidewalk. I can’t recommend any quick fixes to back pain (osteopaths, chiropractors, massage etc.) but I do know a slow and gradual fix. Apply heat, apply cold, massage, stretch and strengthen, which I’ve done solidly for a couple of weeks and I’m finally recovering, by which I mean I can stand up without looking like I’m trying to pass as an 80-year-old.

What got me into this mess in the first place was ignoring one of my few sacred tenets: frequency. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve given up on tracking my watts per kilo (never knew it anyway) on the bike, or my swimming SWOLF score (don’t understand it anyway) or my time per kilometre running speed (too slow to brag about). That is, I don’t really track or compare the intensity of what I’ve done. The one thing I do try to keep track of is how often I’m active. That is to say, the frequency. Despite being close to various pools and gyms I still finding getting there a trial fit for heroes of antiquity. No one ever commemorated a person making excuses not to go to the gym on the side of a vase. I’ve also noticed the less often I go, the less often I want to go. If I make it a habit and always allot the time, then the easier it is to maintain what you might call momentum.

For me, it hardly matters what I’m doing as long as I’m doing it, and doing it often. I discovered this years ago but only saw it in action during last year’s Christmas break. I ate, napped and relaxed with everyone else but over a two week period I did get in a few swims, a few walks and even a bike ride (a very wet cold bike ride). After a week of eating out, eating in, eating pound cake, chocolate and generally enjoying the couch, I hadn’t gained a single pound. It was very eye opening. What it opened my eyes to was that thing I had found a few years ago when I did 100 days of exercise. Exercising frequently was the most important factor for my losing twenty-something pounds and finding exercising kind of easy, fun and something I missed when I didn't do it. When I exercised more intensely, "pumping iron" and running hard, but less often, I gained weight (which, to be honest, was probably a healthy weight gain) and every workout was an unpleasant task.

Another thing frequency gives you, is consistency, and for me, consistency equals routine, and those are the ways I find room to play around a bit to keep things interesting. Routine is a framework that gives a reliable way to experiment. Not just in how often I go to the gym but how I well I eat, sleep, keep up with friends, read interesting books and so on.

Thus, I have modified my Rules for My Health:
Sustenance - eat well but don't indulge (too often).
Stamina - get the ticker going and at least do some kind of cardio.
Strength - as I age, I should focus on adding strength training.
Stretching & Stability - do some yoga or similar.
Sleep - make every effort to get the sleep you need. Find what works for you and keep consistent.

I wish this was catchier. The Six S's is hard to say and is easily misheard. Maybe it's just my version of The Six. I'll never be picked for the next James Bond or Spider-man doing this. I'll never convert my pudding pack to a six-pack. No one is going to mistake me for a younger man. It won't make my hair grow thicker, reset my immune system or make me taller. It probably won't even change my "biological age" (whatever that is), but it's good enough, it's smart enough and doggone it, I like it.